Something striking happens when we lose a loved one. A common item, like a toy or even a pair of keys, suddenly becomes imbued with a spiritual meaning that reminds us of the life energy of the person we’ve lost. For example, Chinese funerals often include paper recreations of ordinary objects, and keys and coins were found in a 1,500-year-old grave in Germany.
The Origin of Savage Beauty, a solo show by Malaysian artist Anne Samat at Marc Straus Gallery’s new location in Tribeca, springs from a place of loss. At first glance, her grand installations resemble woven, brightly colored altars. Samat borrows from traditional weaving techniques of the Iban people in the Sarawak state in Malaysia. But a closer look reveals toy soldiers, rake heads, and plastic keychains, along with swords with plastic handles — and there’s even a plastic bra holder.
All of these things have meaning behind them. In “Never Walk in Anyone’s Shadow #2” (2024), the centerpiece installation, Samat has constructed a memorial to three late family members — her sister, brother, and mother. The work’s title comes from the words of her brother, who encouraged her to find her unique voice as an artist.
Samat was at the gallery during my visit. She pointed to a no smoking sign and explained: “I pick up a certain characteristic of [the person who’s passed]. For instance, my brother was such a heavy smoker. And that’s the reason why he passed away. But we’re not talking bad about him.” She gestures toward a hub cap. “He loved cars very much. He was crazy about cars. Look at this! I immortalized that certain characteristic of these people to build the figure.”
Having recently relocated from Kuala Lumpur to New York, Samat sources materials locally; this in turn inspired the exhibition’s title: “Savage beauty means unconventional beauty. I consider this a very beautiful installation by using the unconventional material,” things she gathered from scrap yards and estate sales.
Even without these stories, the artist’s work rewards a careful, close-up examination, where small surprises abound. In her Kalambi series, she creates ceremonial jackets made with coconut shells, spoons in the shape of hibiscus (the national flower of Malaysia), steel washers, and wooden beads. The jacket, she noted, is traditionally worn for battle, and it has served as a form of symbolic armor in her move to New York, a long-running dream that she finally realized.
Through it all, Samat exhibits a curiosity, even a reverence, for the mundane. I asked her about the bra hanger that appears in “Freedom 2… to Love” (2017), a self portrait. She initially didn’t know what it was for, so she asked the elder woman who was selling it. “It’s beautiful, right? It deserves a second chance. It deserves to be out there.” She points to the altars for her sister and mother, in which she uses the same object, connecting the three of them through it. “We can find it there on my sister. You can find it here on my mother. It’s everywhere now.”
The Origin of Savage Beauty continues at Marc Straus Gallery (57 Walker Street, Tribeca, Manhattan) through December 21. The exhibition was organized by the gallery.
