Azliza Ayob Sold at Auction Prices

AZLIZA AYOB (b. 1975) THE ENCHANTED RIVER (OF TEMPTATION), 2013, Acrylic, collage & glitter on canvas

Azliza Ayob spools an imaginative arcadian world using photo cut-outs, ornamentative glitter dust and acrylic paint. It’s like something from Hieronymus Bosch’s The Garden of Earthly Delights but with a decidedly feminine touch and not so weird. It’s a woman’s secret garden, her space, amidst the verdant and friendly butterflies and untainted by the pesky human world, and where women can bathe or be in rhapsody and turned into beautiful swans. It’s an olden day narcissim not so like today’s selfie, bathing in the clear river like some mythical water nymphs away from the prying eyes of intruders. She always fancies herself as a bird. This work was part of her solo, All That Glitters, at Wei-Ling Gallery, Kuala Lumpur, then at its MidValley outlet in 2014. Azliza was an artist-in-residence at the Fukuoka Art Museum in Japan in 2012. Her other international engagements include the Asian Art Triennial in Fukuoka (2005), Kembara Jiwa in Fukuoka and the curator-organisers-host Galeri Chandan, Kuala Lumpur (2013), and the Malaysian travelling exhibition, Of Shadows and Images, in Sweden and Spain (Barcelona and Madrid) in 2003. She also took part in the Living Room: Artist Couple Project at Jendela KL and Annexe Gallery, KL, in 2009 together with her artist-husband Ilham Fadhli Shaimy a.k.a Kojek. She won the Anugerah Bina at the Young Contemporary Artists (SMS) competition in 2006 and a Special Mention Award in 2002. She had also been a facilitator, judge, educator, writer and set designer for various events. Azliza received her BFA at Universiti ITM, Shah Alam, in 2002, and a Diploma in Fashion Merchandising, ICS, Singapore-Scranton, United States in 1996.