“Painters 100 years ago—” explained the late and cherished artist Roslisham Ismail aka Ise in an interview “—also went to the market to buy vegetables and put them in a still life painting. For me it was the same. I went to the market and put the food on display. It’s just another way of working.” In the basic arithmetic operations and their specific properties that constitute the title of this solo project — Campur, Tolak, Kali, Bahagi, Sama Dengan (Add, Subtract, Multiply, Divide, Equals) — the artist saw a reflection of his artistic practice. Actions are performed differently; yet the results could be the same. Held a little more than one year since the artist’s saddening passing, this exhibition captures Ise’s distinctive ways of navigating the world in journeys and artistic residencies, and continuous interest in the virtues and intricacies of the social.

Roslisham Ismail aka Ise, Shutdown Re.start, Operation Bangkok, 2014. Image courtesy of the artist.