USM PENANG, 2 June 2022 – The Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) Tuanku Fauziah Museum and Gallery (MGTF) is pleased to present the ‘Go Block Vol 5: Contemporary Expanded Printmaking Residency Project’ featuring the works from Juhari Said, Shahrul Jamili, Faizal Suhif, Samsudin Wahab, Awang Damit Ahmad, Jailani Abu Hassan, Stephen Menon, Hafiz Shahimi, Jerome Manjat, Rizo Leong, Agnes Lau, Fadhli Ariffin and Fadli Mokhtar from 17 May to 17 June 2022.

The exhibition is complimented by a ‘Talk by Juhari Said’, ‘Printmaker & Paper Workshop’, and ‘Pohon Kehidupan’, a community co-creation project with children from SK Seri Lindungan Raja, Sedim, Kedah.

In this new series of works, this exhibition displays the senior and young printmakers’ venture into new areas and realms of printmaking.

Besides showing the results of the ‘Go Block Printmaking Residency Project’, the aim of this exhibition is to reintroduce innovative ways of printmaking art to the audience.

‘Go Block’ is an initiative of a group of artists who made their first exhibition at Petronas Gallery in 2009, curated by Badrolhisham Tahir. The group was led by Juhari Said and was later joined by Zulkifli Yusof, Kim Ng, Izan Tahir and Shahrul Jamili.

‘Go Block’ has presented four exhibitions and workshops locally and internationally.

The term ‘Go Block’ was chosen because it has the potential to carry a variety of related meaning with print art, and the phrase can also be seen as a cheer to celebrate alternative printmaking.

Go Block can be interpreted as celebrating the block print (Go…Block!) or discarding directly the block (off you go, block!), other than the element of joking in the sense of a collection of languages in the archipelago that carry the meaning of ‘stupidity’ (stupid).

The exhibition is a collective movement of several local printmakers who strove to push further the development of its discipline to another level.

Go Block is more than just a movement, as it is an idea that is fluid in terms of its movement and dynamism in terms of its practice.

The exhibition is open to the public at MGTF at no charge, from 10.00 am to 4.00 pm, on Mondays till Saturdays.

Text: Nur Farrah Ezlin Mohd Suhaimi/Photo: Courtesy of MGTF USM