TWO art collectors are asking the National Art Gallery to return the pieces they loaned for the ongoing exhibition featuring paintings by visual artist Ahmad Fuad Osman.

Bingley Sim and Pakharuddin Sulaiman said they are no longer keen to loan their collection to the gallery following a decision to pull down four of Ahmad Fuad’s pieces.

On February 4, the gallery removed four paintings by Ahmad Fuad after a board member alleged that the pieces were political and obscene.

The four artworks were part of an exhibition titled At The End Of The Day Even Art Is Not Important (1990-2019) that started on October 28. It ends on February 28.

“I have no choice but to ask the gallery to return my collection that I had loaned for the exhibition,” said Sim in an Instagram posting.

He had loaned two panels of Ahmad Fuad’s work from 2003.

One of the affected pieces, Imitating The Mountain (2004), is from Pakharuddin’s collection.

Earlier, he had asked for the return of five loaned pieces.

“I want the gallery to stop exhibiting these five pieces in the compromised exhibition and to return them to me,” said Pakharuddin in his Instagram posting.

The gallery had defended the removal, saying it was done according to its standard operating procedure.

It added it has the right to remove any work “that touches the dignity of any individuals, religion, politics, race, culture, and the country”.

“An exhibition is a continuous process and not a final product, and even if the exhibition is ongoing, this process (of deciding) will continue to obtain suitable maturity of patrons and our society,” said gallery managing director Amerruddin Ahmad.

Ahmad Fuad had demanded an explanation from the gallery and for the exhibition to be closed.

He has receive support from more than 400 Malaysian artists and art lovers who had signed an open letter to the gallery. – February 12, 2020.