PUBLISHED IN YOULIN MAGAZINE
The psychology of human relationships is layered with emotional, physical and spatial awareness that is experienced consciously and subconsciously throughout the various stages of life. Their cyclical nature and visual motifs are explored in the multimedia series of artworks by Natasha Malik in her solo exhibition currently on display at Khaas Gallery. The figuration intertwined with various obscure scapes is meticulously compartmentalised with mystical interpretations and ephemeral perspectives created by the artist. The main protagonist of these metaphysical realms is the artist herself, seen engaging in the act of painting in the paintings “Artscape” and “Phantom Pain '' surrounded by a complex host of narratives that are autobiographical and deeply introspective. Malik’s curatorial practice led her to form The Creative Process in 2017, which has been a platform to curate exhibits with a primary focus on the intersectionality in art.
The playful overlap of social, professional and personal is simultaneously activated in “Artscape”, which is the box cover of a board game she has created based on these themes. The artist has created a simulation that allows the player to experience the stress, anxiety, successes and failures experienced by each of the four players that are The Artist, The Gallerist, The Critic and The Collector. “Artscape” is a microcosm reflecting back on the dicey dynamics of the art world where each player must enact various scenarios taking turns to make difficult career-impacting decisions, solving social riddles and exchanging calculated responses that will allow moving further, or causing losing social credit points as players try to reach the centre of the spiral. The board game has a Rule Book that aids in understanding the various components of the game with instructions on how to use the deck of cards named Riddle, Discuss, Gatekeeper and Prize. The interpretation of Money and Social Credit in the game is based on the artist's observations of the professional infrastructure of the art world that is plagued by social manipulation and pressures. It highlights the role of artists as practitioners, the instrumental nature of social leveraging and the unpredictability of the art market. The artist challenges passivity and confronts the patriarchy and capitalism heavily embedded into our social fabric as an art community.
Malik’s paintings leave behind the traditional compositional structure, paint rendering and brushwork of miniature allowing the space to create her own visual language. Her miniature training has been internalised and has evolved using interventions of highly personal subject matter, personalised imagery and interrupting the picture plane with sections of void space. The deliberate separation of images within, “A swim through time, concluded”, amplifies the unfinished nature of the composition to draw attention to the narrative of each individual scene as a sequence of events. The open eye, gestural hands and wings of a bird are recurring visual elements in her painting series. There is a visual crescendo taking place in the painting “Les Couleurs”, where the protagonist appears to be injured by a rooted shaft connected to a fluttering cluster of wings that spread across the sphere where several versions of transient hands are placed gesturing to the protagonist. There is a ghostly reclining figure and rabbits emerging from the muted tones of the colour wheels. The orb hands over a sea crowded with eyes lined up to the horizon line. An infinite vastness is suggested here that alludes to the complexity of the subconscious and a mirror to the internal world of the artist.
The artist reveals a precious memory or a series of recollections of an emotional state that she has experienced in “Contemplation”, where her portrait is peaceful and her head is resting on a seashell framed with a collection of pebbles and stones. The seashell triggers the viewer's sensory imagination, signaling a memory of listening to the white noise within a seashell. An intangible auditory layer adds to the visualisation the artist presents using it as an anchor to connect with the viewer, while her self-portrait shows her in deep slumber.
Each of Malik’s paintings presents multidirectional readings, these pathways connect each figurative and representational entity with each other, creating a cyclical composition reflecting back to the artist's inner emotional state. In “Phantom Pain”, these compositional perspectives are amplified with the usage of floating heads with long braided hair and the roots of trees mimicking each other as elongated limbs. The organismic energy of the painting is further emphasised by the interaction of the three-headed artist connected to an injured figure lying on the grass. All these versions of the artist are presented simultaneously, but in contrasting states expressing contemplation and pain as one. The light installation, “The Mourning Flower”, is a callback to the previous explorations of the artist involving X-rayed lungs, while the single suspended lung has a large purple flower inside with neon light outlining the boundaries. The installation has a larger-than-life presence creating a tribute to the fragility of human existence. Viewers interact with the installation through its illumination and radiating neon light, the sculptural weight of the object becomes secondary as our associations with the lungs become the primary focus, revealing the visceral hidden inside the anatomy of the body.
The artist’s understanding of the emotive and intellectual nature of art drives her practice to push the boundaries of interdisciplinary creation. Her ability to deconstruct and recontextualise narratives as a phenomenon, creates immersive experiences for the viewer that creates self-awareness.
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