Fresh Faces: Alvin Lau

30 Aug

Photographing architecture in Malaysia
By Lim Sheau Yun

A&M's Fresh Faces is where we profile an emerging artist from the region every month and speak to them about how they kick-started their career, how they continue to sustain their practice and what drives them as artists. Read our profile on Malaysian artist Alvin Lau here.

Could you talk about your background as an artist?
I am a self-taught artist. Photography has been my main medium of consolidating and expressing my ideas. It started out as a hobby when I was 16, and I was then selected for a few photography programmes over the years, which included a six-month artist residency programme with HOM Art Trans.

Could you share how you have maintained your practice after university? What are the important factors that kept you going?
Maintaining my own practice after school has not been an easy feat , since I did not technically finish my Diploma in Business Administration. A large portion of my understanding of the fine arts are from cumulative experiences I gained over the years. Staying curious has kept me going. I ask myself questions instead of arriving at answers most of the time.

Alvin Lau, ‘Borderline’, 2020. Image courtesy of the artist.

You write that your series, ‘Meditation is the Practice of Death’, concerns “where physical life form meets its very own cessation”. But I think this idea is broadly applicable to your practice at large. Your photographs of infrastructure, in particular, take this impermanent state and freeze it in a picture. Do you see photography as a kind of cessation?
I see the term “cessation” in photography as a personal acknowledgement that photography has its form of limitations. But acknowledging such terms also means that I make attempts to challenge the boundaries of photography.

You grew up and live in Sentul, and have developed a body of work around it. Could you tell us more about Sentul, its recent gentrification, and your attempt to capture a sense of place? Why does it fascinate you as a subject?
I think what fascinates me about photographing Sentul comes from the idea of wanting to understand a landscape , initially taking inspiration from William Eggleston and Stephen Shore, who tried to define mundanity in much of their work.

I have an emotional attachment to Sentul and thus find it fascinating. I make works that are hints of Sentul to decontextualise the place and define it in my own way.

Your series ‘Is This What Love Is’ is quite a departure from your other work. For one, there are human subjects. When do you choose to photograph people? What do you see as the difference between portraiture and still life? Is there one?
This is based on the nature of most projects that I work on , but I guess being a bit more objective with my photographic works, I do not categorise subjects much more. Photography is photography.

Who has been a mentor or an important artistic influence, and why?
Maggie Steber, Jorg Bruggeman, Tobias Kruse, Sim Chi Yin and Ian Teh. While they have different styles, they are all larger-than-life personalities who have taught me more than I could ask for.

What was one important piece of advice you were given?
Be prepared to fail but stay optimistic.

Could you share your favourite art space or gallery in your country? Why are you drawn to that space and what does it offer to you and/or your practice?
The Backroom and Zhongshan Building. There are many other creatives working within the building , and getting to interact with them and see how they work has been an eye-opening experience.

What are your hopes for your own local art scene, and regionally as well?
I hope as a whole, artists will talk to each other more, regardless of practices. It would be good to engage with each other not because of work , but to be friends and understand each other in a more humanistic manner.

Are there any upcoming projects or exhibitions that you would like to share more information on?
I have started on a new project, but nothing to announce for the time being.