Htein Lin Signs Of The Times

Signs Of The Times Htein Lin­ Solo ShowCurse (2)





Signs Of The Times Htein Lin — Solo Show ForewordIn this, Htein Lin’s third solo show in River Gallery, we see once again how returning tohis homeland has fed his creative spirit, providing an abundance of raw materials for hisartworks. In these new works, many of Htein Lin’s favorite themes are on dazzling display,as he reflects on Myanmar’s transition from a pre-industrial agrarian society to one that isfast adopting the trappings of modernity.Htein Lin finds beauty in the cast-offs, the objects left behind once money andtechnology invade. He collects these traditional objects and incorporates them intohis art to comment on our rapidly changing society The wooden wagon wheels of hisinstallation cannot turn and move anything forward, as they are not aligned - an appositemetaphor for the struggling reform process of today.Overcoming adversity is another theme that we often encounter with Htein Lin – whetherit is from his life experience or reflected in his art practice. In the “Bug” series, he goesone step further: showing not only how to make the best of a bad situation, (termitesmade holes in some of his favorite paintings), but how a disaster can be turned into atriumph, destruction into new and splendid creation.In this exhibition, we will travel with Htein Lin’s ambivalence about material progress.With his gently provocative works, he helps us to step back and reflect on what we mightbe losing for the sake of progress. At the same time, he encourages us to embrace thecycle of destruction and creation, subjecting ourselves to the often painful experience ofloss, to make the space for new beginnings.Gill Pattison – October 201601

October 2016 River GalleryHtein Lin seated with his painting “Bugs Ate My Memory of Khin One” - 2016 02

Signs Of The Times Htein Lin — Solo Show Bug SeriesHtein Lin first painted two of these works while he was living in London. In returning toMyanmar, he stored them temporarily in a nearby studio. When he came to unpack themone month later, he discovered to his horror that termites had bored small holes throughthe rolled artworks. He was especially upset because one of the works was a homage toKhin One, a modernist master revered by Htein Lin.He discovered that repairing the holes in the canvas so that they would be invisible wouldbe expensive and time-consuming. It was then he realized he was thinking about it thewrong way – he was trying to restore it to the state it was before, rather than using thisopportunity to create something completely new. He says, “Once I brought the bugs intothe story, it became fun, I didn’t hate them anymore.” He says he “beat the bugs” withthese exuberant and whimsical works, enjoying the creative process so much, that heapplied patches and drawings of bugs to two other paintings that had not been chewedby termites.Note: The holes in the two canvases – “Bugs Ate My Memory of Khin One” and “UnholyBugs” have been thoroughly repaired with glue, paint and canvas patches.03

October 2016 River Gallery “Patchwork Bugs (2)” 92 cm x 122 cm Acrylic on canvas 04

Signs Of The Times Htein Lin — Solo Show Signs Of The TimesWhen Htein Lin was a small boy, he would watch the signboard makers of ShwebonthaStreet cutting out words and letters from sheets of plywood with tiny saws. Nowadays,many of these craftsmen have become brokers – collecting orders from customers, takingthem to the laser cutting shops where a designer enters the words into the computer. Thelaser cutters are motivated to pack as many words as possible onto one acrylic sheet,and a good designer is one who can avoid wasting even one square inch of space. As aresult, the names and phrases and even words are deconstructed and jumbled up; afterthe cutting , someone has to break up the jigsaw and reconstruct the phrases that thecustomer ordered.Htein Lin found the discarded acrylic sheets from which the words and letters had beencut intriguing and took them back to his studio. He felt there was something poignant intheir cast-off status and aesthetically pleasing in the not-quite-random combinations ofletters and words juxtaposed on each sheet. Artfully applying paint and imagination to theacrylic sheets, he turned them into this strikingly original new series of artworks ,- SignsOf The Times07

October 2016 River Gallery “Signs of the Times (3)” 122 cm x 92 cm Acrylic on acrylic sheet 08

Signs Of The Times Htein Lin — Solo Show “Signs of the Times (2)” 122 cm x 122 cm Acrylic on acrylic sheet09

October 2016 River Gallery “Signs of the Times (5)” 92 cm x 92 cm Acrylic on acrylic sheet 10

Signs Of The Times Htein Lin — Solo Show ClockworkPainted in 2009 in London, the inspiration for this work was the question that peopleoften asked him: “How do you find London after Myanmar?” In replying, he said thatone of the biggest differences was how people thought about time in the two places.In London, he saw that people were time-poor, but back in Myanmar, there was alwaysplenty of time. His reflection on the value of time resulted in “Clockwork”.. Htein Linsays, “ It is funny to be showing this now in Yangon in these days when people are busyand always pressed for time. Now time is valuable – like in London.”11

October 2016 River Gallery “Clockwork” 100 cm x 100 cm Mixed Media 12

Signs Of The Times Htein Lin — Solo Show WheelsThese two sculptures featuring wooden wagon wheels is Htein Lin’s homage to thebeauty of traditional forms, and how things that have been thrown away can beresurrected and still serve in many ways.Immobilise – (opposite)Htein Lin says, “Wagon wheels are made to move but they are being overtaken bytrologyis and motorcycles. I collected these old wheels from my village which wereno longer being used. In our society we try to mobilise people to act by calling forthose of the same view to come together and unite. People want to move forward, butuntil everyone’s wheel is pointing in exactly the same direction you will get gridlock –immobilization. This is what we have now.”Orbit of Dhamma (overleaf)This work is another meditation on the symbolic importance of the wheel. Htein Linsays that as he created this work he was thinking about how the wheel represented thecelestial heavens for the Ancient Egyptians, and the “Ashoka Chakra” for the Indians - thewheel of the Law of Dhamma. The symbol of the wheel appears on the Indian flag, andthe creators of the flag said that the wheel also meant motion and life, the opposite ofthe death contained in stagnation. – a message that resonated with Htein Lin13

October 2016 River Gallery “Immobilise” Sculpture Wooden wagon wheels 14

Signs Of The Times Htein Lin — Solo Show “Orbit of Dhamma” Sculpture Wooden wagon wheels15

October 2016 River Gallery Collaborative WorksWherever he can, Htein Lin includes others in his creations – whether it is a performance,or production of a physical artwork. The next two works were the result of collaborationswith different groups of non-artists. The first – “Take Me to the River” was created withthe audience at Htein Lin’s last solo show in River Gallery in 2014. After many differentpeople had gleefully waded in to put their own fingerprints (literally) on the work, HteinLin finished it off by highlighting and coloring certain sections, and adding or extendingcertain motifs. A similar process was followed with “Sandalwood Trails”, this time witha group of comedians who were meeting with Zaganar when Htein Lin was visiting hisoffice to re-design the cover of Zaganar’s new magazine. The clear enjoyment of theparticipants in these creative endeavors carries over to the works themselves, infusingthem with a restless energy. 16

Signs Of The Times Htein Lin — Solo Show “Take Me to the River” 105 cm x 147 cm Acrylic on canvas17

October 2016 River Gallery “Sandalwood Trails” 100 cm x 150 cm Acrylic on canvas 18

Signs Of The Times Htein Lin — Solo Show “Recycled (A)” 86 cm x 102 cm Acrylic on recycled cardboard19

October 2016 River Gallery “Homage to Buddha” 99 cm x 81 cm Acrylic, Pastel on Shan Paper with Cardboard 20

His StoryHtein Lin is a Burmese artist (painting, installation, performance) and writer, and has alsobeen a comedian and actor.Born in 1966 in Ingapu, Ayeyarwady Region, Myanmar, he was active in the 1988 studentmovement at Rangoon University where he studied law. Going underground after themilitary takeover, he spent almost four years in a refugee camp on the Indian border,where he studied art with Mandalay artist Sitt Nyein Aye, and in an ABSDF (NorthernBranch) student rebel camp at Pajau on the Chinese border. In Pajau, he and otherstudents were detained for around 9 months from 1991-1992 and suffered physical abuseat the hands of other students in the most notorious episode of the opposition group’shistory.Escaping and returning to Yangon in May 1992, he finished a law degree in 1995 beforetaking up work as a film actor. He held two solo shows in 1996 and 1997. Arrested in1998 and jailed on spurious accusations of opposition activity, he spent almost sevenyears in jail (1998-2004). During this time he developed his artistic practice, using itemsavailable to him like bowls and cigarette lighters in the absence of brushes to makepaintings and monoprints on the cotton prison uniform.Htein Lin pioneered performance art in Burma in 1996 and continued to perform forfellow inmates while in prison. Following his release, his Rangoon street performance‘Mobile Art Gallery/Mobile Market’ in May 2005 led to 5 more days of interrogation.During the period 2006-2011 he also performed in the UK and Thailand, at the US Libraryof Congress (2009) and at festivals and events in Finland, France, Philippines, Japan,Malaysia, and Bangladesh. Many of his performances are intended to raise awareness ofthe political situation in Burma.

Since leaving Burma for the first time in 2006, Htein Lin regularly participates inexhibitions and art festivals globally, as well as events and projects to promote freedomof speech, particularly in Burma. He is a founding member of the Burmese languagearts website www.kaungkin.com to which he contributes poetry, prose, and artisticcriticism. In 2010 curated the first Burmese Arts Festival in London. In recent years hehas expanded his practice to include 3D work and video.Htein Lin practises vipassana meditation for daily, and a major inspiration for his work isBuddhism whose themes, stories and philosophy he incorporates in his art. He movedback to Burma in July 2013, having lived in London from 2006-2013. Since returning, hehas taken advantage of the new reform atmosphere to embark on a major documentaryand participatory performance piece, A Show of Hands, capturing in plaster the armsof hundreds of Burma’s many thousands of former political prisoners.Htein Lin is represented in Yangon by River Gallery. A selection of his works areincluded in the Artists Pension Trust collection. Two of Htein Lin’s paintings werepurchased for the US Embassy in Yangon, opened in 2007. His installation SoapBlocked has been purchaseed by the new M+ contemporary art musum in Hong Kong.Others are in private collections in Belgium, Netherlands, Hong Kong, India (includinga specially commissioned piece, Night Shift, for Lekha Poddar, 2014), Singapore, Spain,Sweden, Thailand, US and UK.

SHOWCASING MYANMAR’SLEADING CONTEMPORARY ARTISTSRIVER GALLERY www.rivergallerymyanmar.comChindwin Chambers facebook.com/rivergallerymyanmar33/35. 37th & 38th Street, @rivergallerymyanmarYangon, MyanmarTEL: (951-1) [email protected]