Nocturna Creatures by multi-award-winning Malaysian artist Khairul Azmi Shoib (aka Meme)
PUBLISHED March 10th, 2015 07:18 am | UPDATED June 17th, 2020 06:05 pm
Albert Einstein is believed to have said, ‘Logic will get you from A to Z; imagination will get you everywhere.’ Regardless if one is an adult or a child, that ticket to everywhere is often found stuck between the pages of a good book, but a new series of three exhibitions to be held at SPRMRKT from 26 March to 18 August will focus on the unsung heroes of the imagination – book illustrators.
The exhibitions will be held in conjunction with the Singapore launch of non-profit children’s book publisher Magicbird Publishing and organised by SPRMRKT and Galerie Steph. The series will coincide with the Asian Festival of Children’s Content happening from 30 May to 6 June.
‘Depending on where you are in the CBD, the fast and furious pace can get in the way of imagination and creativity. We hope that by showing these works – many of which are amazingly illustrated – people will be inspired,’ said SPRMRKT co-owner Quek Sue-Shan.
The series will begin with Malaysian artist and Magicbird co-founder C. K. Koh whose illustrations are influenced by manga, pop culture and Western fairy tales. C.K. has illustrated two picture books which feature his signature box-head characters. He will be followed by Malavika PC from Tamil Nadu whose illustrations are in a book by Ken Spillman, one of Australia’s most prolificwriters of children’s books. The final exhibition will be by multiple-award-winning Malaysian artist Khairul Azmir Shoib whose works have been exhibited around the world.
The exhibitions will feature a mix of the artists’ personal works and those created for Magicbird’s books. Pop-up book sales will be held at SPRMRKT on the opening weekend of each exhibition. A reading of The Magic Bird, written by Ken Spillman and illustrated by Malavika, will also be held. Under its Wisdom Club Programme, Magicbird Publishing channels its profits towards literary and reading projects.
Khairul Azmi Shoib (Aka Meme):
Meme was born in 1975 in Taiping, Perak, Malaysia. His oeuvre, which treads the macabre, often denies or betrays categorisation. Meme draws his inspiration from fairy tales and children books, and projects his works through this language. He exhibited his works in Malaysia, Singapore, Australia, Italy and Japan. Meme received his BA of Fine Arts from UiTM, Shah Alam, Malaysia, and MA (Fine Art and Technology) in 2004. He was the recipient of Juror’s Award from Young Contemporary, National Art Gallery KL in 2000; and 1st Prize in Life Drawing Competition from National Art Gallery KL in 2005. He is currently a Lecturer of Arts at PJCAD, Petaling Jaya.
This event is running from Thursday, 9 July to Tuesday, 18 August at SPRMRKT.
For more information, please click [here](http://www.sprmrkt.com.sg/).
