ILHAM is a public art gallery committed to supporting the development, understanding and enjoyment of Malaysian modern and contemporary art within a regional and global context.
ILHAM aims to appeal to a diverse audience and serve as a resource for those who are engaged in the arts and those for whom art is a new experience.
Through our exhibitions and public programmes, we seek to bring people into closer contact with the art, the artists and their ideas.
Chia Yu Chian: Private Lives
This exhibition focuses on the last decade of artist Chia Yu Chian’s practice by showcasing his paintings from the late 1960s until his passing in 1990. In 1963, the very year that Malaysia was formed, Chia Yu Chian handed the management of his Penang gallery and art supplies store to his younger brother. He packed up his belongings and moved down to Kuala Lumpur, the capital city of this new country, ready for a new adventure. The exhibition features over 180 artworks and archival materials, drawn principally from the Chia Yu Chian family collection as well as other private and national collections.