By Rachel Jena

An exhibition this month takes the spotlight away from the finished artwork and puts it on paper. By Rachel Jena

‘The toilet bowl,’ said Haslin Ismail, an artist I had emailed for this month’s art feature.

I’d written to ask what the most unusual item he’d ever drawn on and the ceramic throne featured on a list of answers that includes wire, wood, irons, cassettes, cloth, boxes and machines.

Haslin’s answers prove art can find a home on just about any surface, but I bet you’re still thinking about the toilet bowl, aren’t you? Well, that was just a ruse to get you to read on because this month Galeri Chandan is hosting a nifty group exhibition featuring works on a far more delicate subject: paper.

Titled ‘Paper Works: Marks and Trails of Creative Minds’, the exhibition aims to give you the rare treat of viewing a wide selection of works from the embryonic stages of the creative journey. In other words, the exhibition will be a chance to look at the earliest stages in the artistic process.

You’ll see studies, sketches, mind maps, notes and annotations on paper on both floors of the gallery in Bukit Damansara from June 26. And, as mentioned, this paper-centered exhibition is really a rare treat.

Portable, cheap and available in abundance, paper has been a perennial favourite for artists to experiment on and explore creative ideas. It’s an indispensable medium for drawings, rough sketches or notes even, and these objects are great insights into the artist’s mind and a superb way of studying the creative process.

Works on paper offer you a behind-the-scenes look at how artworks come to life. One thing’s for certain though, it’s usually the finished product – that beautiful oil painting, the monumental sculpture, or those phallic twin towers – that gets all the attention.

Preparatory works are often relegated to playing the role of the less popular, less pretty stepsister. They’re rarely in the limelight.

Galeri Chandan’s exhibition this month, however, gives these works the opportunity to stand out. It’s also a step towards recognizing the importance of paper works, or preparatory studies, for artists.

After all, Michelangelo didn’t just climb up that scaffolding and paint directly on the Sistine Chapel ceiling without any preparatory work. Many drawings led up to his masterpiece, and five centuries down the line, these intimate documents have evolved into priceless works of art of their own. They’re worthy of their own exhibitions in major institutions and visitors revel at the intimacy of the celebrated Italian artist’s initial studies.

Malaysia’s own ‘Michelangelos’ are no different. Rafiee Ghani – who admits to having used ATM receipts and the brown paper in nasi lemak wraps when there wasn’t any conventional paper handy – says, ‘They (his preliminary studies) are very important as they were the battlegrounds of ideas. Where I came up, churned and digested them.’

Haslin echoes Rafiee’s thoughts. He also says his drawings are more important than his finished works. ‘I call it “progress”. Without this “progress”, I cannot produce the solid work. The finished work just represents the “completed mission”’.

Haslin’s toilet bowl did not meet the exhibition criteria (and just so you don’t get the wrong idea, the toilet bowl was actually part of an installation piece he made in university), but the artist’s drawings and collages did. Heavily influenced by comics and graphic novels (he cites HR Giger, Dave McKean, and Shaun Tan as influences), these two-dimensional studies will certainly provide fodder for the more imaginative amongst us, as will his three-dimensional pop-ups and foldings.

Other works in the exhibition are Rafiee’s never-before-seen studies made for an automobile commission (‘A car dealer awarded me with a project to come up with hand-painted versions of one of their car models’), Yusof Ghani’s studies for his ‘Segerak’ series, and rare works by the late Peter Harris, founder of the legendary Wednesday Art Group from the 1950s.

At time of print, other participating artists are Jeganathan Ramachandran, Ilse Noor, Ismail Mustam, Hamir Soib, Raja Shahriman, Wong Perng Fey, Ahmad Fuad Osman, Awang Damit, Yeoh Jin Leng, Nazri Abdullah, Gan Chin Lee, Abu Bakar Idris, Mansor Ghazali, and Raja Azhar Idris.

Each artist has contributed about four pieces to the show, so Galeri Chandan will turn into a veritable Aladdin’s cave of artistic treasures – but only in paper, of course – at the end of this month.

Do look out for Gan’s highly detailed studies for his award-winning painting at the Malaysian Emerging Artists Awards last year. He depicted a busy scene at a mamak and the artist’s studies show that the process was a highly planned and meticulous one. If you’ve ever looked at an artwork and thought, ‘That looks easy’ or ‘I could’ve done that’, this exhibition may change your mind.

So, are preparatory documents just as important as the final outcome? Decide for yourself. You have until August 2, when the exhibition ends.

Paper Works: Marks and Trails of Creative Minds, Galeri Chandan, 15 Jalan Gelenggang, Bukit Damansara, KL (2095 5360 / www.galerichandan.com). Exhibition from Jun 26 – Aug 2, 2010