Haffendi Anuar

HAFFENDI ANUAR (b. 1985, Malaysia) is a multi-disciplinary artist working with painting, sculpture and textile based in London, UK. His works critically examine themes on post-colonialism, identity and architecture.

He studied at the Rhode Island School of Design, Central Saint Martin’s College of Art and Design, and holds an MFA from the Ruskin School of Art, Oxford University. Anuar has exhibited widely, and his solo shows include Flat Lands at A.I. Gallery in London (2021) and Midday Stanza at Richard Koh Fine Art in Singapore (2019). Recent group shows in 2024 include: Of placebos that sing sweet in the mouth and ache in the soul, curated by Louis Ho, Richard Koh Fine Art, Singapore; Not Just in Black and White, Works from the Steve Wong Art Collection curated by Rogue Art, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; and With Every Fiber, Aicon Contemporary, New York. 

Anuar’s body of watercolour paintings are an exciting development and build on his previous practice, which explores his cultural heritage (including the kain pelikat, a 'male skirt' favoured as a domestic garment in Malaysia and other parts of the global south). These recent automatic paintings, which reference pre-photography botanical and scientific illustrations by Ernst Haeckel (amongst other early European naturalists and colonialists), follow Anuar’s rigorous research at the Kew Library and Archives (UK) and his desire to understand, amongst others, how the colonies of Europe were perceived as ‘living’ colonial gardens/archives.

His works are in both private and public collections including the Kirin Nadar Museum of Art, Singapore Art Museum, Collection of Richard Koh, Steve Wong Collection, Ashmolean Museum, UK, and others. Recent commissions include Battersea Power Station & Cass Sculpture Foundation (2017); Facebook, Singapore.