Sabah Art Gallery
The Sabah Art Gallery is a feast for art lovers, in Kota Kinabalu. The museum is situated on a 1.7 hectare land of Sabah Art Gallery Conservation Centre. This unique octagonal ‘basket’ shaped building is located in Layang district of Kota Kinabalu on Mile 3, Jalan Penampang. The museum exhibits the decorative cultural motif panels of the indigenous people of Sabah.
The Sabah Art Gallery was established in1984 and was placed under the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Environment Sabah under the administration of the Sabah Cultural Board. The founder and director of the Art Gallery was ‘Datuk Mohd. Yaman Hj. Ahmad Mus’.
The building uses renewable energy and rainwater for automatic lighting and air conditioning. In 2012, it has been certified as the 1st green building in Sabah and Borneo with silver accreditation by the Green Building Index Accreditation Panel. The construction of the building amounted to a total of 16 million ringgits.
Inside the Sabah Art Gallery
The gallery plans and showcases more than 12 exhibitions annually. It also organizes monthly exhibitions, weekly workshops, occasional seminars, various competitions and a lot more. The exhibitions are aimed at featuring new artists, new themes, new work, new faces as well as new approaches in art. It tends to promote new approaches in visual art especially in the local context for educational and promotional purposes. The museum strives to collect, store, preserve, interpret and exhibit local as well as foreign works of art. It aims to promote the appreciation of art in the state by uplifting the quality of artworks and increase the quantity as well.
The new building has two different gallery spaces in it to showcase art of different themes. The Museum showcases over 3000 paintings, carvings and sculptures, installations and so on. This place is worth a visit for art aficionados or just someone who simply appreciates art. Half the galley is dedicated to abstract paintings by their ‘resident’ European artist. As the abstract paintings look pretty similar to each other, one might find it a little disappointing and boring. The tourists here look forward to see the art of Sabah artists.
Getting to the Sabah Art Gallery
It is about a 7km drive from the city. Taxi or bus, both can be taken to the Sabah Art Gallery from city centre.
The Museum opens daily from 9:00am in the morning to 5:00pm in the evening, except public holidays.
