Ismail Alwi is the master of the mock-Gothic, horror-surreal. If you have stomach, no pun intended, you’ll find it a disturbing to see all the guts spilling out, apparently from a brick cell that looks like an abattoir. Central in the diptych is a horned (horny) horse snorting out the word, ‘OUT.’ The bull-horse seems to have taken over the role of the Skull Man, an Ismail Alwi staple. What’s in, what’s out, you are not keen to find out, but it’s an intriguing narrative, with the only redemption, if at all, being the release of birds from the cage. Then again, it’s not your tweety-pretty canary, but ugly-looking black crows. Is the artist a killjoy, or what? Ismail Alwi is an up-and-coming artist who was among 12 artists featured in the Tanah Air Ku showcase at the Malaysian Embassy in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. It was organised by Galeri Chandan and all the works belong to the embassy, that is the Culture and Tourism Ministry. In July-August 2016, his work also made it to the Curate Henry Butcher exhibition called ‘A Raya Celebration of Generations in Art’ and in May 2017, Segaris Art Centre’s Sketchbook.