VIOLENT DELIGHTS 

Solo Exhibition by Joshua Kane Gomes

10th - 24th March 2024 @ temuhouse, 49, Jalan 16/9e, Seksyen 16, 46350 Petaling Jaya, Selangor.

Richard Koh Fine Art & temu house are pleased to announce a solo exhibition by Joshua Kane Gomes, Violent Delights, which narrates the anxieties and expectations of reconciling dual timelines of a 30-year-old artist versus a 30-year-old adult. 

Through the mediums of sculpture and installation, Gomes raises concerns of long-term stability and sustainability in the pursuit of self-actualization with consideration to conventional responsibilities such as filial duty and self-care. The necessitation of cost to one’s self in relation to creative output is called into question in works such as All That Glitters Isn’t Gold, a series of skeletal unicorn pinatas, gutted with almost comically oversized pink plastic cake knives, offering up sweets to viewers as they bleed rainbow hues.

Text also plays a significant role in Gomes’ presented works, combined with objects into amalgamations that confront the viewer with moods oscillating from mania to melancholy, such the exhibition’s namesake: VIOLENTDELIGHTS, a spiked baseball bat with soft embroidered text, hinting at roots of tenderness in self-destructive behaviours. 

While the exhibition is whimsical and playful with an emphasis on birthday paraphernalia, there is an atmosphere of world-weary heaviness to Gomes’ sculptures, which are presented as parts a tongue in cheek commentary on millennial woes, and a sincere expression of existential angst, self- doubt and vulnerability.

Gomes, who was a recipient of the 2023 Khazanah Nasional Associate Artist Residency Programme, involving a 12-week residency at Acme Studios, London, England, also recently exhibited in Art Basel Hong Kong (2023) and S.E.A. Focus (2024) in Singapore, a leading art showcase dedicated to Southeast Asian contemporary art.

Artist Bio

Joshua Kane Gomes (b.1993, Malaysia) documents his mental states through sculpture and installation. The introspective nature of Gomes’ practice focuses on captured moments of vulnerability with sprinklings of levity as he explores the line between rational and sentimental sensibilities within our interpersonal relationships, leveraging the art-making process into a platform for conversations often held behind closed doors.

Further information on the artist’s portfolio is available at https://joshuakanegomes.com/

Khazanah Nasional Associate Artist Residency (KAAR)

This exhibition is supported by the Khazanah Nasional Associate Artist Residency (KAAR) as part of the Khazanah Residency Programme (KRP).The KRP is one of many capacity-building initiatives by Khazanah under its long-term strategy of Advancing Malaysia, by supporting outstanding and distinguished young Malaysian artists through a 3-month art residency at Acme Studios in London.

For more information on KAAR, visit www.khazanah.com.my/our-community/khazanah-residency- programme/ and on Instagram (@khazanahresidency).