For over a decade Wei-Ling Gallery has nurtured the development of Malaysia’s contemporary art scene. With the opening of Wei-Ling Contemporary (the gallery’s second space in Kuala Lumpur) in 2011, and the launch of the gallery’s third space in Penang, the gallery has established itself as the leading platform for art in Malaysia.
The objective of the gallery is to promote and cultivate contemporary art in Malaysia, working with a core stable of artists who are dedicated to their artistic journey and vision. Today, they represent some of the country’s most prominent and important contemporary artists.
Over the last year, the gallery’s program has shifted away from exhibiting more traditional art forms such as paintings and sculptures, in a concerted effort to push the boundaries of art, to give artists the opportunity to move beyond their comfort zones to experiment and to take risks in their practice. This has allowed for the gallery to play a more instrumental role in educating the public and bringing to the forefront, alternative ways of looking at and interacting with art in Malaysia, something which is still lacking in the country at the moment.
In so doing, the gallery had the opportunity to present Rome-based Malaysian artist H.H. Lim’s first solo exhibition in Kuala Lumpur in January 2014 and in 2013 it commissioned the first site-specific installation in Malaysia, Fiberspace, a light installation by Venezuelan light artist Claudia Bueno which made its debut at their gallery space in Brickfields, Kuala Lumpur.
In 2014, the gallery also implemented a fully-funded Artists' Residency program, where emerging international artists are invited to live and work in Kuala Lumpur for two months, to resolve a pre-determined art project.
They are also on an expansion plan to build a foundation and exhibition space to create a much needed public space in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. This will be a space where collectors can exhibit and share their private art collections and where dialogues, discussions and intellectual discourses by artists can take place. It will also act as an exhibition centre which will host specially curated exhibitions by international artists and selected leading Malaysian artists. The soft-opening for this space is slated for November 2014.
It has also played a significant role in introducing Malaysian contemporary art to international audiences, taking major exhibitions of Malaysian art to China, India, Hong Kong, Pakistan, Singapore, and Taipei.
In its mission of fostering local contemporary art, the gallery has also become the largest publisher of art books and catalogues in Malaysia with close to 100 titles to its name.
