Chin and Seet's collaborative installation 'Where The Tides Meet The Sky' (ceramics and bronze, 2025), on display at G13 Gallery in Petaling Jaya. - Photos: LOW LAY PHON/The Star
As a child, did you ever gaze up at fluffy, marshmallow-like clouds in the skies above and transform them into different shapes and characters through the power of your imagination?
In The Imaginarium: Tales Of Wisdom Giants and Curious Whimsies exhibition, G13 Gallery in Petaling Jaya has been transformed into a whimsical dreamscape where artistry and fantasy soar freely.
Artists-sculptors Chin Wan Kee and James Seet bring bronze and ceramic sculptures and installations to life in artworks that appear to float on air and water, pulling you back to days of childhood past.
The exhibition features 30 pieces: 17 bronze works by Chin, 10 ceramic, glass, and iron works by Seet, and three collaborative pieces. Together, they explore playfulness and the extraordinary in the ordinary.
A visitor admires Seet's 'The Whispering Hamlets' (ceramics and mixed media, 2025) at the exhibition's opening. – G13 Gallery
Between them, Chin and Seet bring decades of mastery to their respective crafts, but The Imaginarium, which took about a year to prepare, marks a long-awaited return to the unbridled creativity of youth.
“We’re going back to where it all began – back to innocence,” says Seet, 55.
The Imaginarium is more than just an exhibition – it’s an experience. Small details like the enchanting sounds of wind-chimes and pipes playing in the background, inspiring quotes by William Blake and Pablo Picasso placed on the walls, and the softly dimmed lights add to the show’s overall dreamy, otherworldly atmosphere.
“This show is a celebration of creating with joy, of imagining without boundaries. We hope visitors will take a moment to reconnect with their own childhood wonder and rediscover the little things that make them happy,” says Chin, 63.
Head in the clouds
The centrepiece of the show is Where The Tides Meet The Sky, a sprawling installation of Seet’s ceramic clouds and lily pads, which are populated by Chin’s small bronze figurines.
Here, these two distinct mediums merge seamlessly, creating a dialogue between strength and fragility, past and future, real and imagined.
Floating above our heads, the clouds gradually get lower and lower until they meet a small, glittering pool filled with wishes (actually silver dust), where the lily pads and figures drift around and around in slow circles.
'The Sky Within'. Ceramics & Bronze, 2025, Chin Wan Kee & James Seet. — Low Lay Phon/The Star
Chin, formerly Seet’s lecturer at the Malaysian Institute of Art, shares that Seet approached him with the idea for this joint exhibition.
“We reconnected a couple of years back when I invited him to be a guest on my podcast,” says Seet in an interview at the gallery.
“For this show, I wanted to feature bronze because only a few Malaysian artists specialise in this medium, so I wanted to highlight Wan Kee and his works,” he adds.
Chin's bronze piece titled 'Beyond Mind And Words Series: No.152 Awakening' (2024). – Low Lay Phon/The StarChin’s bronze sculptures hark back to simpler times, depicting figures playing around and exploring the world around them with the untethered exuberance that only children can express.
“I grew up in Rawang near a rubber estate, spending my childhood exploring outdoors, fishing in streams, and doing what kids back then typically did,” says Chin, who still resides in Rawang.
If you look closely at his works, you’ll also notice a repeating motif – many of his pieces feature birds, which to him represent “the freedom of youth”.
Chin's 'Beyond Mind And Words Series: No.141 Life Itself Is Heaven' (bronze, 2024).A sweet escape
Growing up, Seet used plasticine as the building blocks of his imaginary worlds. “It was my escape, my happy place. I would make so many little animals that they would cover a whole table,” he shares.
Though Seet now focuses his creativity through ceramics, his love for animals is still evident in his artwork, as his pieces for this duo show feature fantastical animal hybrids, like a cat-chameleon, dog-bunny, or crocodile-ladybug, all with even cuter names like the Chameowleon, Pugbbit, and Chomperbug.
However, Seet has never been one to stick to only one medium – he points out various parts of his works that are made from melted recycled materials, like glass bottles and marbles, lichen, woodchips and iron.
'The Winged Chomperbug'. Ceramics, Mixed Media, 2025, James Seet. — Low Lay Phon/The Star
“As an artist, I think it's good to try out different materials. Overseas, people will recognise you as a sculptor, and they don’t limit you to just one material. One day, you could be working with stone, and the next, ceramics.
“So it’s good to show others that you don’t need to limit yourself to just one specialty, or one material. Material is just a medium; it’s not how you express yourself,” he says.
Seet adds that through The Imaginarium, he was able to revisit that happy place from his childhood again, although in a different time and space.
'The Dreambound Pugbbit'. Ceramics, Mixed Media, 2025, James Seet. — Low Lay Phon/The Star“As you go through life, you accumulate a lot of baggage and restrictions – you can’t do this, you can’t do that – so for both myself and Wan Kee, we wanted to step away from these expectations and just play and have fun with our art again.
“This show has come at the perfect time, because I think it will not mean anything if we do it when we're young. Now, since we are older, it's like rediscovering our childhoods and going back to the simplicity of what makes you happy,” he concludes.
The Imaginarium: Tales Of Wisdom Giants And Curious Whimsies is showing at G13 Gallery in Petaling Jaya, Selangor until March 1. Open: Tuesday to Saturday, 11am to 5pm. More info: g13gallery.com.
