NO MAN'S LAND (2017)
In his works of mixed media on glass and drawings on paper, Rifqi Amirul continues his interest in transit spaces and border places that is informed by his past experience of daily cross-border commuting between Malaysia and Singapore. His new series explores the physicality of these places and our relationship with them by mapping a psychological space onto the architectural environment. The architectural focus is emphasised by deploying the same glass used for windows as his support medium. On the surface of the glass pieces, he employs both painting and printing techniques: applying acrylic and resin with brush, pouring and screen printing enamel, spray painting and etching directly on them. Sparsely populated by silent anonymous figures, these glass pieces depict cold, detached and isolating spaces. In contrast, noisy lines both thin and thick overwhelm his drawings, imposing a sense of movement and chaotic rhythm to these same places.