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EXHIBITED
Malaysian Artists Association Titian, Hanoi School of Art, Vietnam, 1992.

Although born in Indonesia, Kelvin Chap grew up in Sabah, forming a fascination with the culture of the Dayak tribe, which is where Kelvin has appropriated Borneo tribal culture through symbolisms in both his prints and paintings. The work was inspired by old photographs by Lim Poh Chiang (1923-2004) in his book Among The Dayaks (1988) to comment on the emasculation of tribal identity (represented by the hudok masks) in the modern world with symbolisms of birth and regeneration, love and marriage. Such manifestations of life are represented in a mandala-like sphere linking the mystical elements between the earthy and the divine. The mandala itself is created as an ideal of environmental order to bridge these worlds. Using silkscreen techniques, Kelvin duplicates and replicates images on the canvas surface creating rhythmic effects that imitate Borneo tribal patterns. Gamal, like many of his works is intense in color, enhancing the specific stenciled images of his recurring motifs - old Dayak chiefs, carved totem poles, the skulls of decapitated enemies and other tribal symbols and forms. It tells a story about the rich cultural background of the tribe, the essence of Dayak society in the past and what stands behind the Dayak youth of today.

Kelvin was educated in Fine Art at the Malaysian Institute of Art (1992 to 1994) and has been a fulltime artist ever since. His first solo, Belawing and the Great Mamat, was held at Pelita Hati Gallery of Art in 1996 and this was followed up by another titled Idea#9. There was a longer gap until he came up with Planet of the Masks at the Aoyama Gallery in Petaling Jaya in 2002 and it was a decade again before his next major solo, Old Masks Modern Man, at MOMA Fine Arts Gallery in Kuala Lumpur recently. In 1994, Kelvin Chap won the 1st Prize in the Swatch ‘Street Painting’ Competition and in 2001, he won the Juror’s Choice (Malaysia) at the Philip Morris Asean Art Awards. He was selected for major international exhibitions such as the RUPA Malaysia in London in 1998; Gema: Resonance in Praque, the Czech Republic in 1998; the Asian Art Biennale in Bangladesh in 1999; and Titian Budaya in Brunei in 2006. Most recently, Kelvin has exhibited at the Shanghai World Expo 2010 in the Malaysia Pavillion in China. His works are held in the collections of Petronas Gallery, Sabah State Gallery, Hilton Hotel Malaysia and in Chamalires, France. His artworks have been published in Arts of Southeast Asia by Fiona Kerlogue in 2004, and in the Atlas of World Art by John Onians also in 2004.