Hoo Fan Chon is a visual arts practitioner based in George Town, Penang. His research-driven projects are often set in local geographies and concern class aspiration, cultural identity, informal histories, and colonial legacy. By reframing everyday life with irony and wry humour, his works observe the oscillations and assimilations between social classes, the official and the informal, the highbrow and the lowbrow.

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Hoo Fan Chon is a visual arts practitioner based in George Town, Penang. His research-driven projects are often set in local geographies and concern class aspiration, cultural identity, informal histories, and colonial legacy.

︎ email ︎ cv

✺ 2025 ✺ 2024 ✺ 2023 ✺ 2022 ✺ 2021 ✺ 2020 ✺ 2019 ✺ 2018 ✺ older works ✺ photography ✺ video ✺ painting ✺ sculpture ✺ installation ✺ writing ✺ george town ✺ archive ✺ fish ✺ durian ✺ badminton ✺

Kopi Jantan Series



Yusmira - Kopi Ali Jantan Plus Ubi Jaga Mistra - Kerbau Jantan HH2 - Kopi Misai Kucing Kopi Harimau Hari Hari Mau Kopi Jantan Tradisional Kopi Panggung Al-Ambiak Kopi Tok Janggut Kopi Burung Cenderawasih Kopi Jantan Plus


Kopi Jantan series (Masculine Instant Coffee series)
Instant coffee with gum arabic on acid-free 300gsm watercolour paper, 41.8 x 52.8 cm each (framed), 2019

Featured in Biro Kaji Visual George Town
Locals have found a way to appropriate coffee culture, creating a more conveniently consumed and affordable tonic drink infused with vernacular remedies, especially Tongkat Ali. One type of premixed instant coffee is colloquially known as “kopi jantan” (masculine coffee) because of its supposedly aphrodisiac properties. Although sometimes tainted by controversy because its proclaimed medical benefits are unsupported by scientific evidence, this coffee is readily available at local mamak (Indian-Muslim) stalls. I replicated the premix’s packaging design using instant coffee pigment to create a series of sepia-toned paintings, as a way of studying its visual vocabulary that promotes masculinity while celebrating the use of traditional medicinal roots and plants.

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© Hoo Fan Chon