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ART IS STILL RUBBISH: A Decade of Hin
by Ernest Zacharevic, curated by Ivan Gabriel
Hin Bus Depot Exhibition Space
26 January – 12 February 2024
Review by Miriam Devaprasana
I am sitting under a tree across the deck at Hin Bus Depot. In the hour that passes, I watch as acquaintances, friends, and strangers walk toward the gallery; others stand tentatively peeking at the commotion happening inside. By the deck, a DJ works some tunes as a group of friends start to dance under the reticent gaze of a boy once hidden.
Art is Still Rubbish: A Decade of Hin, held in January 2024, featured two standalone narratives within a shared space. The first was a collection of artworks by Ernest Zacharevic, a multidisciplinary contemporary and public artist based in Penang. The second was a display of images (posters) of past exhibitions that have taken place at the gallery over the past decade. While both shared equal importance in terms of spatial representation, one strives to draw connections between the two to find the relationship of one with the other — Art is Still Rubbish is heavy on visuals exploring naturescapes, human activity, and environmental issues; A Decade of Hin features text and images depicting the journey of Hin Bus Depot. A primary thread, perhaps, is found in Zacharevic’s personal role and contribution to transforming Hin Bus Depot as a gallery space for his first solo exhibition in 2014. This way the exhibition explores the relationship between artist and space, rather than artworks per se.
Art is Still Rubbish
Art is Still Rubbish stands as a continuation of Zacharevic’s journey in exploring how “one man’s trash is another man’s treasure”. The idiom was the basis of his exhibition in 2014, titled Art is Rubbish is Art. In the current exhibition, Zacharevic features the works Expectations vs. Reality, Still Rubbish, and unHINged, the latter of which is a print of a mural created in 2013. Of the three, Zacharevic’s more arresting work is Still Rubbish, the 30-foot-long oil on canvas and mixed media installation that sits across the right wall of the gallery. It dominates the space and the integration of physical rubbish provides a three-dimensional layer to the piece.
The triptych is a nod to Impressionism, though its subject is less serene than that of Monet’s Water Lilies series, to which Still Rubbish pays homage. Instead, it is a commentary on the unregulated palm oil farming practices in Indonesia (the piece lies in Zacharevic’s involvement with the Splash and Burn project).
The artist reproduces a visual impression of children swimming in murky, waste-infested waters, with the harmonizing of contrasting colours depicting movement in the natural scene. The variations of hue provide a less deliberate disposition of objects within the frames of the canvas, one that “bleeds” into the physical installation. This also draws the visitor to consider how the objects within the painting interact with the placement of objects in the physical installation, and how the composition of both creates the whole.
The physical installation extends the piece to realities in the here and now, presenting ongoing, universal battles between human activity and our impact on the physical environment, as well as our inability to treat and honour our naturescapes. Another nod to the artist’s journey is the depiction of children – a common thread in most of Zacharevic’s artworks. Grounding the narrative in the lives of children, Still Rubbish adds a sense of wistfulness and pensive sadness — one cannot help but grieve the loss of innocence, loss of time, loss of space, and loss of community memories.
I appreciated engaging with the more tangible presence of the piece. While ruminating on the triptych, I began to catch a whiff of a faint, musty scent. It ushered me into the present, my gaze eventually focusing on the group of black ants gradually forming a trail along the bodies of waste. The queer surprise added a third layer to the experience — while the piece captures a contemporary moment in age-old concerns, how many of us in the present are compelled to engage with discourse or activism that brings necessary change?
Despite Still Rubbish having its “wow” factor, it was Expectations vs. Reality that stood out to me the most, both for the curiosity it aroused and its placement within the exhibition. Nestled in a slightly quieter, more reflective space and time, the piece allowed me to consider the gravity of how we impact our physical environments. The visual dialogue in this diptych is engaging for the sense of movement and activity it depicts. On the left is a group of koi active on the surface of the water. On the right, a similar blend of colour and patterns seems the same from afar. Draw closer and we notice waste floating on the surface.
It is easy to consider the piece as merely presenting what used to be, and what is now — contributing to how waste has replaced life. Another layer to the narrative questions what waste does to the ecosystem — reducing the quality of living conditions within these environments (koi are often found active on the surface of water largely due to the low quality of water), gradually displacing and destroying life. Against the cacophony around me, Expectations vs. Reality had a stronger impact, for the silence and stillness depicted on the right, as opposed to the image teeming with life on the left. Here, Zacharevic gives voice to the state of nature and reminds us how nature suffers the most under human misdeeds.
While both these pieces provide criticism of human impacts on the environment, I wonder how much of it encouraged visitors to engage with the urgency of these environmental issues. And if indeed this was the intention of the artist at all. With relation to the exhibition title, do the artworks present a thesis statement that the works are to be considered rubbish and, therefore have lost economic, cultural, and social value? Or is the artist trying to challenge that notion, by including waste and debris into an art piece whilst moving away from upcycled or recycled art? How rhetorical is the artists’ rhetoric in the case of Art is Still Rubbish.
The conundrum is less obvious with the inclusion of the third piece, titled unHinged — a print of the mural titled The Rainbow Boy, which Zacharevic created at Hin Bus Depot in 2013. The mural was unfortunately concealed with wooden panels, which were removed in time for the current exhibition’s opening. This offered new and old community members a chance to reminisce and reflect on the artwork, and by extension, personal and collective memories of Hin Bus.
As noted, Zacharevic often uses children as a vehicle to carry meaning in his artworks, placing them as central and integral to the setting of the art piece and its place in the surrounding ecosystem and environment. I spent the most time viewing the mural and observing how others interacted with it, perhaps because of how it encouraged a sense of human connection and emotion as compared to all the other artworks in the space. It also provided a surreal glimpse into a different life and existence, resonating with passing time.
Having worked in the inner city of George Town over the past four years, I see a decreased presence of children who call it home. The Rainbow Boy depicts a being stuck in a time and space, the shy, poignant gaze of the boy glazed with a tinge of nostalgia as I, the observer and watcher, realise that the portrait can only exist within the mural and print. Everything around us has changed.
The Growth of an Artist; The Growth of a Space.
Hin Bus Depot’s story began with the search for a location to host Zacharevic’s first solo exhibition in 2014. Zacharevic was no stranger to the Penang scene and had already built a reputation and following — his public mural pieces, painted in collaboration with George Town Festival 2012, became the catalyst for the boom of street art murals in Penang. His growth and continued presence, however, is unique to a very small pool of artists in Penang, whether local or international.
While there are parallels between the growth of the artist and the space, I am reflective of the impacts of their growth. Hin Bus has become one of the few sustainable creative hubs in Penang, offering opportunities to many, and often being the place that launches artists, artisans, and performers to the public and press. Zacharevic’s works, on the other hand, have brought a three-pronged impact: a) the increased presence of (street) art in the city, b) the arts as a commodity for tourism, and c) UNESCO-cide (a term coined by Italian writer Marco D’Eramo).
On the one hand, Zacharevic (and other mural artists) prove that old, forgotten spaces can be brought to life with art providing meaningful avenues for the preservation of community memories, stories, and placemaking. But mural art transformed how stakeholders and institutions viewed and weaved art, culture, heritage, and tourism. As a consequence, these spaces are constantly being transformed to appeal and cater to tourism. Without regulated and sustainable measures and mechanisms, even the best intentions fall into the snares of capitalist gain.
In reflection of the exhibition, Zacharevic’s work does not seek to transform waste into works of art (apart from Still Rubbish). Instead, they act as a vehicle to extend discourse — on perceptions, on what is agreeable or disagreeable, on human activity, on the physical environment, and even grief for what we are losing. There was also space to consider artistic merit in the turning of rubbish into art — can I take pieces of scrap metal, fishing net, and plastic wrappers, place them together, and call it art? Who is to say it is, and who is to say it is not? Can it exist on its own, or does it need to be complemented with another piece to increase its artistic value or narrative?
Either way, Art is Still Rubbish: A Decade of Hin stood as a commemorative exhibition of many things; a celebration of hope in the ever-changing landscapes of life.
Reviewer Miriam Devaprasana is an observer and dabbler of creative expressions. She is currently pursuing a PhD in Urban Sociolinguistics and hopes that, one day, her work will help form a new way of thinking ‘Malaysia’.
All photos in this article by Thum Chia, except the poster of unHinged, photo by Hin Bus Depot.
This review was commissioned by Hin Bus Depot.