Chinese Diaspora and the Emergence of Alternative Modernities in Malaysian Visual Arts

Abstract. This paper investigates the early history of modern Malaysian art as evidence of alternative modernism. More specifically, we look at the Nanyang artists as representing a particular section of early modern Malaysian art whose works propose a particular brand of modernism that is peculiar to this region. These artists were formally trained in the tenets of both Western and Chinese art and transplanted into Malaya in the early 20th century. Consequently, their artistic production betrays subject matters derived from diverse travels, resulting unique stylistic hybridization that is discernible yet distinctive of the Malayan region of Southeast Asia. By positioning their art within the problematic of the modern we argue that this stylistic innovation exceeds the realm of aesthetics. Rather, it weaves a particular social and historical discourse that elucidates the Malayan experience and production of modernity. The art of Nanyang must therefore be understood as a local artifact within the global archaeology of alternative modernism. It is a site where modernity as a plural and culturally-situated phenomenon can be continually historicized and articulated in context. Research methods comprise a combination of archival research, field research which includes viewing the actual artwork as well as interviews with pertinent experts within the area such as the artists themselves, friends of the artists, art writers, historians and curators