PERTARUNGAN : AMRON OMAR

MEDIUM, TUBUH DAN AIDA REDZA

HENRY BUTCHER MALAYSIAN
ART AUCTION 2012
BATIK AND ANN DURHAMS LEGACY
ART & CULTURE AS AN
INTERDISCIPLINARY PROCESS
THE PRIMORDIAL AND FANTASTICAL
WORKS OF CHANG YOONG CHIA
EXIT FROM MANDALAY
16
#
Ambassador Dato Mohd Yusof Ahmad
Editor-In-Chief
Salam Sejahtera dan salam 1Malaysia!
Selamat bertemu kembali dalam .
Kita telah pun mencecah pertengahan tahun ini dan kami
di BSVN telah berjaya mengusahakan pelbagai program,
pameran dan aktiviti berkaitan seni seperti yang dirancang.
Saya sukacita mengumumkan bahawa kami sedang dalam
usaha menubuhkan Galeri Potret Negara yang pertama
di Malaysia yang akan bertempat di bahagian tambahan
BSVN. Ia akan mempamer potret tokoh-tokoh terkenal yang
telah memberi sumbangan kepada perkembangan Malaysia
moden, yang dikaryakan oleh pelukis-pelukis terkenal dan
pelukis-pelukis yang sedang mengukir nama.
Saya berterima kasih kepada Kementerian Penerangan,
Komunikasi dan Kebudayaan terutamanya kepada Dato
Seri Utama Dr. Rais Yatim diatas sokongan berterusan
dan juga kepada Dato Ghafar Thamby, Timbalan Ketua
Setiausaha (Kebudayaan) diatas bantuan kewangan diawal
penubuhan dan pengubahsuaian Galeri ini. Pembentukan
galeri ini merupakan satu lakaran sejarah seni moden Malaysia
sekaligus membentuk perkembangan seni potret sebagai satu
genre yang lebih serius di Malaysia pada masa hadapan.
Alhamdulillah, khidmat sebagai Ketua Pengarah BSVN telah
dilanjutkan dan ini memberi saya lebih masa untuk membuat
lebih perubahan didalam hala tuju BSVN untuk terus member
khidmat kepada pelanggan dan pihak yang berkepentingan
kami. Banyak yang telah dirancangkan, dan izinkan saya
berkongsi sedikit tentang apa yang sedang dijalankan
pada masa ini. BSVN akan menerbitkan semula buku atau
katalog penting yang kehabisan stok seperti katalog Visions
and Ideas, Rupa Malaysia, Semangat Pelapor Seni,
Photography:History and Beyond, Young Contemporaries
in Review dan lain-lain di dalam format yang bersesuaian.
Katalog ini akan diterbitkan di dalam dua bahasa iaitu Bahasa
Malaysia dan Bahasa Inggeris yang boleh diperolehi pada
hujung tahun ini.
Kami juga akan melihat kemungkinan mendapatkan hak
untuk menerbitkan semula sebuah penerbitan yang amat
penting berkait rapat dengan seni moden Malaysia terbitan
Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka (DBP) berjudul Rupa dan Jiwa
oleh Seniman Negara Datuk Syed Ahmad Jamal dan Modern
Malaysian Artist yang diedit oleh T.K Sabathy dan Redza
Piyadasa. BSVN juga didalam proses mengumpul terbitan
rangkaian penulisan-penulisan seni dan dokumen diantara
tahun 1960-an - 2000 untuk diterbitkan semula sebagai
Malaysian Modern Art: A Reader. Ia mengandungi antara
lain tulisan terpilih yang diambil daripada dua peristiwa yang
monumental iaitu Asas Kebudayaan Kebangsaan (1971) dan
Akar-Akar Kesenian Pribumi (1979) yang ditakrifkan sebagai
watak seni moden Malaysia hari ini.
BSVN dengan kerjasama Universiti Malaya (UM) akan
menerbitkan beberapa siri monograf berkenaan seni
kontemporari Malaysia lanjutan dari perjanjian persefahaman
yang telah ditandatangani oleh BSVN dan Universiti Malaya
(UM). Bahagian Penyelidikan dan Bahagian Pendidikan
pula akan menganjurkan siri kuliah/diskusi ilmu sebagai
penghormatan kepada tokoh intelektual utama dalam
dunia seni tempatan dan antarabangsa iaitu Ismail Zain.
Dengan tajuk Siri Kuliah Ismail Zain, program ini menampilkan
beberapa penceramah yang merupakan tokoh-tokoh utama
di dalam bidang seni, sastera, sosio-politik dan budaya
sepanjang tahun ini dan akan datang.

Kuliah tersebut akan diadakan di BSVN dan dibuka kepada
golongan profesional yang mempunyai latar belakang ilmiah.
Segala maklumat akan dipaparkan melalui laman web dan
Facebook BSVN.
Bulan Ogos ini, BSVN akan mencatat usia 53 tahun. Telah
sampailah masanya untuk BSVN mewujudkan pameran tetap
karya seni yang bertindak sebagai dokumen/bukti sejarah
60 tahun Seni Moden Malaysia. Pameran karya yang dipilih
dari koleksi tetap BSVN akan memperlihatkan kronologi seiring
dengan rancangan kami untuk menamakan setiap galeri
BSVN dengan nama tokoh-tokoh dari tiap era masing-masing.
Saya amat sedar akan kepentingan mengadakan pameran
tetap ini dengan mempamerkan karya ulung negara. Ini
secara efektifnya akan mendidik, memupuk kesedaran
dan penghargaan orang ramai kepada rakyat, sejarah,
pertubuhan dan pelukis. Ia juga akan menanam kebanggan
negara, menggalak pemikiran yang kreatif yang sekaligus
meraikan ekspresi masyarakat yang menyumbangkan
kepada kewujudan negara.
Dua tahun yang berlalu ini adalah perjalanan dan pengajaran
yang amat berguna bagi saya dan kakitangan saya, dan
saya berharap dengan penyambungan khidmat saya serta
sokongan dari kakitangan dan juga masyarakat, BSVN akan
lebih maju khasnya dari sudut penyelidikan, kuratorial
sekaligus pameran.
Terima-kasih sekali lagi diatas sokongan berterusan anda.
Greetings and Salam 1Malaysia!
Welcome once again to the latest installment of .
We have now reached the frst half of the year and have
successfully carried out the programs, exhibitions and art-
related activities as planned.
I am also pleased to announce that we are in the midst of
setting up the countrys 1 st National Portrait Gallery which will
for now, be located at an extended section of the NVAG. It
will feature portraits of prominent fgures who had contributed
to the developments of modern Malaysia, painted by equally
prominent and up coming and past Malaysian artists.
My sincere thanks to the Ministry of Information,
Communication and Culture, especially to our Minister
Dato Seri Utama Dr. Rais Yatims continual support and
Dato Ghafar Thamby, the Deputy Secretary of Culture for
the fnancial assistance in the initial set up and renovation
of this Gallery. The formation of this gallery is a milestone in
the history of modern Malaysian art and will set standards in
the further developments of portraiture as a serious genre in
Malaysia for years to come.
Alhamdullilah, my tenure as Director-General of the NVAG
has recently been renewed allowing me more time to
carry out more changes in the direction and running of the
Gallery to better serve our clients and stakeholders. There is
plenty in store but allow me to share with you some of the
plans that are currently underway. The NVAG will republish
important seminal books/ catalogs that are already out of
print such as Visions and Ideas, Rupa Malaysia, Semangat
Pelapor Seni, Photography:History and Beyond, Young
Contemporaries in Review among others in formats that
are affordable. The catalogs will be printed in both Bahasa
Malaysia and English and will be available to the public by
the years end.
We will also look into the possibility of obtaining the rights to
republish important publications related to modern Malaysian
art by Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka (DBP) namely Rupa dan
Jiwa by Malaysias Art Laureate Datuk Syed Ahmad Jamal
and Modern Malaysian Artists edited by T.K Sabapathy
and Redza Piyadasa . We are in the process of compiling art
writings and documents published between 1960s-2000 to be
republished as Malaysian Modern Art:A Reader. It contains
among others, selected writings taken from two monumental
events namely the Dasar Kebudayaan Kebangsaan (1971)
and Akar-Akar Kesenian Pribumi (1979) which defned the
character of Malaysian modern art today.
We will also be publishing a series of monographs on
contemporary Malaysian art in collaboration with the
University of Malaysia (UM) following the recent signing of
MOU between our two institutions. Our research department,
supported by the education division is organizing a series of
talks/ lectures in honor of the key intellectual fgure in local
and international art scene, Ismail Zain . Entitled the Ismail
Zain Lecture Series, it will feature a host of speakers who are
prominent fgures in the felds of art, literature, socio-politics
and culture throughout this year and next. The lectures to
be held at NVAG are open to professionals with diverse
intellectual background. Information will be made available
through our website and Facebook.
In August, the Gallery will be 53 years old. It is timely that
the Gallery establish a permanent display of artworks that
serve as documents/testaments to the 60 year old history of
Malaysias Modern Art. This exhibition of selected artworks
from the Gallerys permanent collection will be presented
in a chronological order and will coincide with our plan to
offcially designate each of our exhibition gallery the name
of prominent fgures who have defned the era in which they
operated. I am fully aware of the importance of having a
permanent display of master artworks for a country. It is an
effective means of educating, inculcating awareness and
appreciation for our people, history, society and artists. It
instills national pride, promotes diverse and creative thinking
as well as celebrates the expression of the peoples that
makes a nation.
The last two years have been a great learning curve for me
and my staff, and I hope with my extension of service and
with the support of my staffs and the public, the Gallery will
see more improvements in terms of research, curatorial as
well as exhibitions.
I thank you again for your continual support.
16
PUBLISHER
Balai Seni Visual Negara (BSVN)
National Visual Arts Gallery Malaysia(NVAG)
Ministry of Information, Communications and Culture Malaysia
No 2. Jalan Temerloh Off Jalan Tun Razak 53200 Kuala Lumpur MALAYSIA
P : 603 4026 7000 F : 603 4025 4987
www.artgallery.gov.my
www.facebook.com\artgallery.gov.my
| EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Ambassador Dato Mohd Yusof Ahmad l EDITOR Tan Seihon
| ASSISTANT EDITORS Hasimah Nyok, Osmihamidy Osman, Norsharzeela
Shaharuddin | HEAD DESIGNER Shamizar Rahim | DESIGNER Norhaslina Ahmad
Kamsin | PHOTOGRAPHY Mohd Khazrul Sharuddin, Mohd Yuzaini Ahmed, Mohd Adzim
Abd Wahab, Intan Idarina Mohammad Kusaiirry & Mohammad Hisyamuddin Ramli |
Translation of Editor's Notes by Zuriyadi Sarpin
senikini is designed by Nuzaihan Mustapa
Medium, Tubuh dan Aida Redza | Intan Rafza
10
Batik And Ann Durham's Legacy/ Shing Yi Tan
Art & Camoufage
Seni di Sini: Ayuh Mengayuh! Charactors Go Cycling
26
29
31
14
24-
25
Art & Culture As An Interdisciplinary Process | Peter Tomaz Dobrila
22
George Town Festival 2012
17
Badan ku 'Journal', 'Tatoo' ku Ceritanya | Hasimah Nyok
11
Tiba Masa Kurator Muda Berperanan Dalam Senirupa Malaysia | Erry Arham
Mengingati Seorang Pop: Ahmad Azhari Mohd Noor | Baktiar Naim
21
Of Glimpses and Inspiration at 'Time Past is Present' | Kenry Lye
Rabindranath Tagore : The Last Harvest
23
28
30
32-
33
15-
16
Pertarungan : Amron Omar
18-
19
Membaca Objek | Faizwan Mat
20
C O N T E N T S
can be accessed at
www.artgallery.gov.my/web/guest/senikini_bsln
www.facebook.com/senikini.bsln
senikinibsln.blogspot.com
Any feedbacks and comments please email to us at :
sharzeela@artgallery.gov.my and tanseihon@gmail.com
The publisher, National Visual Arts Gallery Malaysia,
holds the copyright to all editorial content.
SENIKINI (ISSN : 1985-7233) is published four times
a year by the National Visual Arts Gallery Malaysia.
All Rights Reserved.
Copyright 2012 SENIKINI Malaysian Art Now
Printed in Malaysia.
COVER ART for #16
by Amron Omar
'Pertarungan', (2007)
Oil Pastel on paper,
74 cm x 54 cm,
Collection of Bingley Iskandar
& Ima Norbinsha
Exit From Mandalay : Chelsea Hikes
Mat Salleh or not Mat Salleh : Mishko Desovski
BSVN Sana-Sini
Malaysian International Contemporary Art Exhibition at Soka Gakvkai
Henry Butcher Malaysian Art Auction 2012 | Ooi Kok Chuen
"Liu Cheng Hua, Apa Khabar Kamu?" | Arham Azmi
8-9
Sam Karuna: Contemporary Batik Artist
27
The Primordial and Fantastical Works of Chang Yoong Chia | Tan Sei Hon
13
G A L L E R Y
COMING SOON
Portraits of Malaysians about Malaysia
www. ar t gal l er y. gov. my
3
KUASA,
HARAPAN
DAN TANAH
www. ar t gal l er y. gov. my
7 Ogos-19 Nov 2012
*Pictures taken in 2011
KUASA,
HARAPAN
DAN TANAH
www. ar t gal l er y. gov. my
7 Ogos-19 Nov 2012
*Pictures taken in 2011
Baru
-baru ini, saya sempat untuk membuat
kunjungan santai ke rumah perupa Malaysia
Zulkifi Yusoff, beliau pun sudah beberapa kali mempelawa
saya mengunjungi Serigala Art Space, katanya Arham,
meh la datang sini, durian banyak ni dalam satu
perbualan telefon sebelum itu. Selepas dari pameran
NEGARAKU di Balai Seni Visual Negara, rasanya hampir
berbulan juga saya tidak berborak panjang dengan
Zulkifi Yusoff memandangkan terlalu sibuk dengan urusan
duniawi lainnya. Oleh itu saya memilih satu hari yang
sesuai untuk berkunjung ke rumahya dan ketika tiba di
hadapan rumahnya saya ternampak seorang anak muda,
berkulit cerah, bermata sepet dan berbangsa cina berdiri
menunggu seseorang disebelah rumah Zulkifi Yusoff.
Liu Cheng Hua, graduan Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris,
menimba ilmu dari adigurunya Zulkifli Yusoff, seorang
perupa muda yang begitu cekal dan yakin untuk
menjadikan perupa sepenuh masa sebagai profesionnya.
Kemunculan Liu dalam industri seni rupa Malaysia tidaklah
begitu tampak jelas akibat dari kesaingan yang sangat
hebat pada abad ke-21 ini oleh perupa-perupa muda
dari institusi-institusi lain, namun Liu, seorang anak muda
berbangsa Cina yang boleh saya katakan sangat berbudi
bahasa, dan fasih ketika berbicara dalam bahasa
kebangsaan Malaysia tetap utuh mahu menjadikan
pragmatik kreasi seni rupanya sebagai sokongan kepada
arus industri seni rupa di Malaysia.

Mari saya bawa pembaca mengikuti dialog saya bersama
Liu Cheng Hua memandangkan dia orang pertama saya
jumpa ketika tiba di Tanjung Malim.
ARHAM : Yo Liu, Apa Khabar...
LIU : Khabar baik Arham...
ARHAM : Apa cerita Liu?, aku dengar hang
pi residency... kat mana?
LIU : hahah, ya...saya baru balik dari Surabaya,
Indonesia... ada Biennale Jawa Timur..
ARHAM : Ha! Biennale Jawa Timur... apa ada kat
Biennale Jawa Timur tu ? (oleh kerana terlalu banyak
biennale, triennale dan lelele yang seangkatan
dengannya pada masa kini, saya pun sengaja tanyakan
pada Liu tentang Biennale yang dia sertai tu)
LIU : Saya difahamkan bahawa pameran seni rupa
Biennale Jawa Timur atau singkatannya Biennale
Jatim berlangsung dua tahun sekali. Penganjurnya
adalah Dinas Kebudayaan dan Pariwista Pemerintah
Provinsi Jawa Timur. Biennale Jatim sebelum ini hanya
mengundang perupa-perupa khususnya di Jawa Timur
dan sekitar Indonesia.

Tetapi Biennale Jatim kali ini yang keempat IV telah
mula membuat satu keputusan yang luar biasa dengan
mengundang perupa-perupa luar daripada Indonesia
iaitu Malaysia, Thailand, Filipina dan Perancis. Saya juga
difahamkan bahawa Biennale Jatim kali ini merupakan
salah satu event untuk memeriahkan Hari Jadi Provinsi
Jawa Timur dan Visit East Java 2011.

ARHAM : Bila dia start ni? siapa kuratornya bro?
LIU : Biennale Jatim IV yang bertemakan Transposisi
bermula pada 16-24 Oktober 2011 di beberapa lokasi
di kota Surabaya. Di antara lokasinya adalah House
Of Sampoerna, AJBS Gallery, CCCL, GO Art Space,
Orasis Art Gallery dan Galeri Surabaya. Kurator Biennale
Jatim terdiri daripada dua orang iaitu Agus Sukamto
| ARHAM AZMI
dan Syarifuddin. Kalau tak silap, Agus Sukamto
atau lebih dikenali sebagai Agus Koecink
aktif sebagai kurator dan beliau adalah salah
seorang penulis dalam majalah Visual Arts
di samping Ketua Jurusan Seni Rupa di STKW
Surabaya. Manakala Syarifudin pula mendapat
Pendidikan Seni Rupa IKIP Malang gemar
memberi workshop penulisan seni rupa, camera
tracking, teori seni dan EDUanimate.
Arham : Siapa-siapa lagi yang terlibat dalam
biennale ni bro?
LIU : Sebanyak 113 perupa yang menyertai
Biennale kali ini. Di antara perupa dari Indonesia
yang saya ingat adalah Agus Triyanto, Agung
Suryanto (Tato), Taufk Monyong, Imam Abdillah,
Monika Ary Kartika Soetjipto, Nani Sakri, Rocka
Radipa, S.Dwi Satya (Acong) dan Acong),
Yaksa Agus dan lain-lain. Perupa dari luar
Indonesia adalah saya, Dennis Montera (Filipina),
Jakraphun Jack (Thailand) dan Alexandre
Eudier (Perancis).
ARHAM : Semua aku tak kenal...hahahaha...kau
sorang je yang aku kenal, Yaksa Agus tu macam
friend aku kat Facebook jer...friend facebook la,
borak tak pernah lagi...hahahah..
LIU : hehehehe (ikut gelak juga)
ARHAM : Habis tu hang pi ni atas jemputan ke
atas permohonan ni Liu?
LIU : Saya dijemput oleh penganjur sebagai
perupa mewakili dari negara-negara ASEAN.
Saya meletakkan Biennale Jatim sebagai pentas
antarabangsa yang sangat penting buat diri
saya dan negara.
ARHAM : Habis tu kos ke sana amacam, hang
tanggung sendiri ka?
pg/08
LIU : Sebenarnya, setelah saya mendapat surat
jemputan daripada pihak penganjur, saya agak
runsing dan tertekan. Sebagai perupa muda, saya
berdepan dengan pelbagai masalah. Masalah yang
paling menghantui saya adalah berkaitan dengan
kewangan. Saya mengambil keputusan untuk
memohon dana untuk menampung kos perbelanjaan
dalam proses berkarya, kos penghantaran karya
(dua hala) dan kos pernerbangan (dua hala).
Pelbagai masalah yang saya hadapi dalam proses
permohonan dana tetapi saya tidak berputus-asa.
ARHAM : habis tu dapat ke dana yang
kau mintak tu?

LIU : Saya telah mendapat tajaan dari tiga pihak :
House of Matahati (RM500), Balai Seni Visual Negara
(RM1800) dan Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris
(RM1000). Jumlah keseluruhan yang saya
dapat adalah RM3300. Saya pakai duit sendiri lebih
kurang RM1700.
ARHAM : Eh, hang bawa work hang yang mana satu
ha?...work baru ka work mana yang ada je..hahahah
LIU : Hahaaha, tak lah Arham, saya buat work baru.
Saya ambil masa lebih kurang sebulan dalam proses
menghasilkan karya instalasi saya yang bertajuk
Kebanggaan, pelbagai saiz, bahan gentian kaca,
resin, besi dan peranti elektronik, Tahun 2011 dipamer
di Pameran Seni Rupa, Biennale Jawa Timur IV, Galeri
Surabaya, Surabaya, Indonesia.
ARHAM : Hang citer kapitan cina lagi ka Liu..?
LIU : Ye la Arham, Karya saya melihat kembali
sejarah Kapitan Cina Larut Matang dari tiga sudut
iaitu pendidikan (keluarga), teknologi (kamera)
dan pakaian. Pertama, kemampuan orang kaya
dulu iaitu 'Kapitan' untuk menghantar anak2 mereka
belajar tinggi khususnya di sekolah Inggeris dan luar
negara. Kedua, peti kamera di kediaman Kapitan
merupakan satu alat perakam yang teristimewa
kerana bukan semua golongan masyarakat pada
zaman dulu mampu memiliki dan boleh merakam
setiap peristiwa dan hari kebesaran. Ketiga, pakaian
keluarga Kapitan yang berciri tradisional Cina yang
telah diadaptasi dengan masyarakat tempatan
Melayu.
ARHAM : Ha, sambung lagi..aku nak dengar
pasai work hang ni..
LIU : Jika melihat pada zaman sekarang, pendidikan
diberi adalah sama rata semua orang boleh belajar.
Semua orang boleh melanjutkan pelajaran dan
tiada alasan untuk tidak berpeluang untuk belajar.
Kedua, kemungkinan istilah 'kamera' mungkin pelik
untuk masyarakat dulu. Tetapi alat ini sangat biasa
bagi kita pada zaman sekarang. Boleh merakam
saat walau di mana kita berada. Ketiga, permakaian
baju tradisional tidak diamalkan lagi pada zaman
sekarang. Kalau ada, mungkin untuk tahun baru iaitu
setahun sekali. Konsep yang saya terapkan dalam
karya Kebanggan adalah dalam suasana harmoni
untuk menjelaskan penceritaan kisah Kapitan
Chung Keng Kwee. Olahan bentuk semi sfera dalam
menggabungkan cahaya lampu yang terpancar
dalam instalasi sebagai bahantara kontemporari
serta interpretasi dan presentasi baru (dalam konteks
seni rupa Malaysia) dalam penceritaannya yang
dapat dilihat melalui bayangan visual yang terpapar
di permukaan semi sfera. Terdapat tiga saiz sfera
yang digabungkan supaya gaya persembahan karya
lebih dramatik dan kontra.
Sfera-sfera yang wujud itu secara langsung
dapat menyatakan bahawa mesej yang hendak
disampaikan oleh saya adalah bersifat universal yang
boleh diterima oleh masyarakat umum.
ARHAM : Ni Liu, aku nak tanya sikitla, penting
sangat ka Biennale?
seni rupa sejak 2007 telah menampakkan hasil.
ARHAM : Hang rasa Biennale patut buat kat Malaysia
ka?, aku rasa tak payah la.., buang masa je..
(memprovokasi Liu, hahaha)
LIU : Apa salahnya kalau negara kita ada Biennale.
Mungkin ianya satu perkara yang baik kepada
negara di mana semua perupa, pengkritik seni,
penulis, pencinta seni dan penggiat seni dapat
bekerjasama untuk menjayakannya. Kita perlu
melihat di sekitar negara jiran ada Singapore
Biennale, Jogja Biennale, Jakarta Biennale dan
sebagainya. Saya rasa perkembangan seni rupa
kontemporari di Malaysia setanding dengan
negara jiran. Saya juga yakin negara kita mampu
untuk mengendalikan pameran besar
seperti Biennale.
Seiring dengan Akta Lembaga Pembangunan Seni
Visual 2011 baru-baru ini di Balai Seni Visual Negara,
kalau tak silap saya iaitu: 'Memperluas skop seni
lukis, Melangkaui operasi sebagai galeri, Seni visual
sebagai industri, Membantu kemajuan pengusaha
seni visual dan Meneroka pasaran produk seni visual',
saya rasa dengan adanya Biennale, ianya adalah
lengkap dan sesuai dalam memartabatkan seni
visual negara serta boleh tunjuk kandungan seni
visual kepada dunia. Lebih ramai perupa, kurator,
penulis, pengajar, pengiat seni dan pencinta seni juga
akan lahir melalui Biennale.
ZULKIFLI YUSOFF : Arhaaaammm..!
ARHAM : Oii Liu, tu Zul dah panggil tu, nak ajak aku g
serigala la tu, jom sekali
LIU : jom...
G
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:

L
iu

C
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a
LIU : Saya rasa sangat penting. Seperti yang sedia
maklum, perkembangan seni rupa di Indonesia
berganjak dengan pantas. Adalah satu peluang
dan pendedahan yang sangat berguna kepada
saya untuk melihat aras seni rupa di antara Malaysia
dan Indonesia. Keterlibatan saya di dalam Biennale
ini juga telah menjadi satu titik mula persefahaman
dua hala iaitu Malaysia dengan Indonesia serta
signifkan Biennale Jatim IV terhadap Malaysia atau
disebaliknya.
ARHAM : Habis tu, apa yang hang dapat
masa kat sana?
LIU : Di samping peluang dan pendedahan, saya juga
dapat berkenalan dan berinteraksi dengan perupa,
kurator, penulis, pengajar, pengiat seni dan pencinta
seni di Indonesia khususnya di Jawa Timur. Di situlah
saya berkongsi pemikiran, konsep, teori, media, teknik
dan gaya untuk menghasilkan karya seni dalam
nafas baru. Saya dapat respon yang positif apabila
saya menerangkan pernyataan karya saya kepada
audien. Ini bermakna masyarakat di sana telah mula
mengetahui budaya dan sejarah Malaysia. Saya
selaku perupa dan anak Malaysia yang pertama
untuk menyertai pameran seni ini adalah sangat
penting dalam mengembang identiti negara. Ini juga
merupakan satu pengiktirafan kepada saya. Saya
bersyukur kerana kegigihan selama ini dalam bidang
Recently
I traveled to Delhi and Mumbai on
my college summer vacation. It's
amazing that the city of Mumbai and Delhi has numerous
art galleries and art museums, namely, the National Gallery
of Modern Art (NGMA) Delhi, NGMA Mumbai and Kiran
Nadar Museum Of Art (KNMA) which has a wider range of
art collections for example.
I visited the NGMA Delhi, coincidently where they curated a
show entitled 'In the Seed of Time'....When I got there, I was
completely overwhelmed by the arrangements according
to the different periods of Indian Art. They began with the
'Indian Miniature Paintings' which were small paintings of
Indian fgures coupled with very decorative patterns, some
of which depicts the life of a king in a palace and flled with
many beautiful female fgures while others were images of
people playing Indian classical instruments. The technique
of the painting is unique in terms of the color pigments used
and is two dimentional in its presentation. However, the
objects and spaces and every element was drawn with very
fne and delicate lines.
Then came the period of time when British colonized India
and introduced oil painting. They brought a few famous
British painters like Thomas Daniel to paint the sceneries
of India and to document the architecture. One of the
renowned indian artists who explored oil painting was
Raja Ravi Verma who developed a technique called
'Oleography' print making.
Most exciting thing about Indian art history is that they had
few major changes and transition in visual art languages.
Only a handful of major movements occured in a few
centuries. For example, after the introduction of oil painting,
there was a famous Bengal art school that came up with
very different visual works including the thought processes
and techniques that are completely different from what
they knew from oil painting and miniature painting.
The Bengal school had infused oriental Chinese and
Japanese elements into a new visual language. I was
introduced to the type of wash painting technique that is
taught at the Bengal school by my artist friend.
The paintings will indergo many washes of watercolor using
the layering method, and he applies colors and washes the
painting repeatly.
I stayed on until the opening event ended and had a
peaceful time looking at the works and also chatted
with the artist. Sudip Roy took a long breath, spoke
about his works and I saw a glimpse of happiness
in his eyes.
Personally, what I have experienced from this
exhibition was very inspiring; I saw the developments
of an artist who found different ways to express his
personal subjects and also the transformation of visual
forms and expression from the past till the present,
where he found a new voice in painting with which
he could express himself more beautifully in a different
way. It is a process of growth that I can identify with
and appreciate.
1 . TIME PAST is PRESENT exhibition in
Jehangir Gallery, Mumbai
2 . Pritish Nandy(on the left, well known poet and flm
producer) with Sudip Roy and his most
recent abstract painting.
3 . OIl paintings with abstract forms and refective
metalic panels in between two canvases.
| KENRY LYE
Kenry Lye is a young artist from Malaysia and is currently
residing in Baroda City, Gujarat.
1 .
2 .
early works till the present, of various subject matters
that also touches on his personal experiences. I
noticed that he painted one beautiful fgure entitled
'Charulata', the name of a character from a Bengali
movie(The Lonely Wife). He also painted alot of
Mumbai's architecture, the Sadhu ('Saint' in Hindi)
over the Ganges Rivers and most recently, abstract
works which were a tremendous personal change
from his realistic subject matters. I spontaneously
asked a visitor; "How do you respond to this 'TIME PAST
is PRESENT' exhibition?" He replied, "Its an amazing
journey of how he found himself in painting, in this
retrospective collection of works."
Later, another progressive movement emerged,
namely the Bombay Progressive Artists Group,
around 1947. This infuential group was initially
formed by Francis Newton Souza, S. H. Raza, S. K.
Bakre, M.F. Hussain and K. H. Ara and is associated
with Expressionism to elements of Abstraction. They
initiated progressive changes and encouraged the
expression of more personal ideas as well as freedom
to explore personal visual languages. At the same
time, I saw a few works by Amrita Sher-gil which
captures the ordinary daily lives of Indian villagers.
One of her work while she was studying in Paris had
earned her an 'Associate of the Grand Salon'. Her
works too were as equally impactful as the Bombay
Progressive Artists Group.
From what I've observed, there were many
progressive art movements and actions initiated by
artists to bring about change in order to break the
montonous rhythm of artistic developments in India
in the past. I am moved by the stories I've heard
and by the history of Indian Art. This phenomenal
event in art gave new hope for the search for more
breakthroughs in visual perception and especially
in visual art making. I am even inspired start a
movement to lead many potential painters to create
an impact again! The sense of responsibilty as an
artist to think critically is vital so as to prevent the
domination of convention of thoughts in society and
in artistic practices in general.
While in Bombay, the frst gallery I came across
was Jehangir Gallery. I was attending one of the
exhibitions in that gallery, called "Time Past is Present"
by Sudip Roy. Jehangir gallery is one of the most
recognized galleries and has a warm atmosphere
cafe named Samovar. I had a very pleasant time
there, enjoying good food and nice Indian music
for company. Jehangir Art Gallery is Mumbai's
most famous art gallery and is managed by the
Bombay Art Society. Interestingly, there are not only
curated exhibitions being held inside the gallery
but they also allow the outside walkway space for
any artists interested to display and sell their works
too. The location has become very attractive and
encouraging for people to visit.
I sneeked into Sudip Roy's exhibition before the
opening of his show that night and the hustle and
bustle of arranging as well as managing the paintings
on the walls. He personally handles the displays. I
did manage to speak with his sons and him, to fnd
out more about his works. This exhibition shows his
3 .
pg/10
Dilahirkan di dalam masyarakat Lun
Bawang yang merupakan salah satu
pecahan dari sukukaum Orang Ulu di
sarawak , persekitaran dan cara hidup
kaum Lun Bawang banyak mempengaruhi
karya-karya Peter. Lalu anak kelahiran Lun
Bawang ini menerapkan nilai-nilai budaya
masyarakatnya di dalam pengolahan karya.
Bagi khalayak di Malaysia mungkin nama Peter
Lagan tidak begitu dikenali, namun bagi khalayak
seni dan rakan-rakan pelukis Peter dikenali sebagai
pengkarya seramik yang menerapkan subjek
fgura di dalam penghasilan karyanya dengan
menggunakan kaedah 'tatoo' sebagai
kajiannya. Telah banyak mengikuti
pameran-pameran di sekitar
lembah Kelang antaranya
ialah Pameran Seramik
Antarabangsa Kontemporari
Balai Seni Lukis Negara pada
tahun 2007. Beliau juga banyak
berpameran di galeri swasta sekitar
Lembah Kelang. Beliau juga
banyak menyertai pertandingan
seni lukis antara yang membawa
kejayaan di dalam hidupnya
ialah karya Mata Enggang
telah memenangi Anugerah
karyawan muda pada tahun
2003 anjuran Kraftangan
Malaysia.
Meneliti karya-karya awal Peter yang bermula
dengan siri 'Pottery' dan 'Teapot' tidak lari
dari kebiasaan seniman seramik yang lain.
Dari tahun ke tahun karyanya berkembang
dari siri 'Topeng' ke siri 'Fosil' dan kini beliau
menjadikan fgura sebagai subjeknya dan
menginspirasikan teknik 'tatoo' kepada karya
arca fguranya. Penghasilan karya fgura Peter
menggunakan manusia sebagai model.
Peter Lagan akan
mengadakan pameran
solo di Muzium Seni
Sarawak pada bulan
Ogos 2012.
| HASIMAH NYOK
Kebanyakan arca fguranya memberi penumpuan terhadap
riak wajah, tangan, kaki atau separuh badan. Jalinan
dan keindahan motif 'tatoo' yang diadaptasikan dari suku
kaum di Sarawak diolah mengikut kepakarannya. Peter
seperti menemui suatu kepuasan di dalam penghasilan
arca fguranya dan siri ini terus dibawa sehingga kini.
'Tatoo' menurut kepercayaan ,
merupakan suatu simbolik berkaitan
pangkat dan kedudukan di dalam
masyarakat Orang Ulu. Bagi kaum
lelaki 'tatoo' tidak boleh di cacah
dengan motif sebarangan kerana ia
akan mendatangkan bala kepada
sipemakai. Menurut Peter berdasarkan
amalan suku kaum di Sarawak,
bagi si Pemengal kepala, 'tatoo'
yang dibuat ialah sebagai tanda
dan bagi menunjukkan dia seorang
pahlawan. Bagi seorang perempuan
dari suku kaum Orang Ulu pula, proses
mencacah 'tatoo' ialah apabila dia
mula akil baligh. Proses menyiapkan
'tatoo' ini mengambil masa selama
berbulan-bulan. Menurut kepercayaan,
'tatoo' diibaratkan sebagai simbol
lampu bagi mereka selepas meninggal
dunia kelak.
Peter
Lagan, anak kelahiran Sarawak,
telah berhijrah ke Kuala Lumpur
bagi meneruskan pendidikan di dalam bidang
seni seramik. Mendapat pendidikan seni di dalam
bidang seramik di Institut Kraf Negara, beliau telah
meneruskan kerjaya di dalam bidang seramik hingga
ke hari ini.
Lahir dari keluarga yang menghasilkan manik
perhiasan seramik yang untuk tujuan perniagaan
di Sarawak , Peter sememangnya telah diberi
pendedahan awal di dalam bidang seramik. Bermula
dari perniagaan manik perhiasan yang diusahakan
oleh ahli keluarganya ini Peter mengorak langkah
dan mencipta impian mahu menerokai bidang
seramik dengan lebih luas lagi.
Di awal usia 20an Peter pernah bekerja di Jabatan
Pengairan dan Saliran di Bahagian Limbang
selama 4 tahun, bagi memenuhi tuntutan hidup
yang anak lelaki perlu menjana pendapatan
sendiri bagi kelangsungan hidup dan berdikari
serta sebagai anak muda di kampungnya, dia
mahu mendapatkan perkerjaan yang lebih baik
daripada hanya sekadar menjadi petani seperti
ayah dan datuknya juga kebanyakkan penduduk
dikampungnya.
Namun setelah 4 tahun bekerja di situ jiwa dan
minda tidak menemui kepuasan yang dicari. Jiwa
terasa kosong seperti mahu melakukan sesuatu
yang lebih diminati. Lalu Peter mula menerokai
bidang seramik dan dengan kemahiran dan bakat
semulajadi di dalam dirinya dia membantu ibunya
yang mengusahakan manik perhiasan dengan
menghasilkan inspirasi lukisan motif
motif baru bagi manik
yang diusahakan
oleh ibunya.
pg/11
Dengan latarbelakang unik dan cara hidup suku
kaum Lun Bawang dan identiti Sarawak, karya-karya
Peter tidak lari dari subjek mengenai cara hidup dan
budaya kaum di sarawak. Gabungan motif dari
kaum Iban, Penan dan Orang Ulu telah membuahkan
hasil di dalam karya Peter. Menurut Peter, dengan
gabungan media seramik dan fgura sebagai subjek
sememangnya ianya begitu mencabar kemahiran
kita untuk mengolah karya. Bukan semua model atau
karya yang dihasilkan tersebut berjaya dihasilkan
mengikut jadual yang telah disusun untuk sesebuah
pameran jika silap sedikit ianya akan retak dan
perlu diulang semula. Penghasilan sesebuah karya
seramik memerlukan kesabaran dan usaha yang
gigih. Bagi Peter, kesempurnaan amat perlu didalam
menghasilkan karya. Pernah beliau menghasilkan karya
bagi Pertandingan Bakat Muda Sezaman 2010 namun
kerana karya tersebut mengalami sedikit kecacatan
semasa proses pembakaran, Peter menarik diri kerana
baginya ketidaksempurnaan itu akan menjejaskan
arca itu nanti.
Sememangnya tanah liat merupakan sebuah media
hadiah dari alam yang begitu sempurna, unik dan
feksibel untuk melahirkan expressi idea seni tampak
yang mencabar keperluan, yang menuntut kita untuk
memahami karekteristiknya yang tersendiri secara
teknikal dan sejauh mana kemampuan media tersebut
boleh dimanipulasikan dan dieksprimentasi untuk
menghasilkan produk atau karya seni yang lebih
jitu. Melalui karya Peter kita telah melihat tentang
kegigihannya dalam menghasilkan karya dari bahan
yang unik ini.
Menghayati karya-karya Peter, ianya seakan berdialog
dengan khalayak dan meninggalkan banyak
persoalan yang minta jawapan. Reaksi dan ekspressi
fgura yang dijelmakan melalui arca seramik beliau
banyak menggunakan ekspressi mimik wajah yang
menuntut penghayat meneka-neka mesej yang mahu
disampaikan oleh artis.
Tahun
-tahun kebelakangan ini, peranan
Kurator sudah mula untuk
dibicarakan, didiskusikan dan diperdebatkan didalam
pameran, didada akhbar mahupun di media
elektronik seperti Facebook.
Mengapa ia mula diperkatakan?
Meninjau kebelakang sejarah peranan Kurator sekitar
60 an hingga 90 an, seolah-olah ia wujud dalam
keadaan diperlukan demi memeriahkan seni rupa
Malaysia. Bolehlah disebutkan disini antara yang
sudah pun mengamalkan kerja seorang Kurator ini
adalah seperti Syed Ahmad Jamal, Ismail Zain, Redza
Piyardasa, Sulaiman Esa, Hasnul Jamal Saidon, J. Anu,
Wong Hoy Cheong, Badrul Hisham, Rahimi Harun,
Nasir Baharuddin, Zanita Anuar (sekadar menyebut
beberapa nama), tetapi di dalam menjalankan kerja
Kurator tersebut, mereka-mereka ini juga merupakan
perupa/artis Malaysia, pengarah-pengarah di institusi
seni rupa, pensyarah-pensyarah universiti mahupun
di kolej. Maka sebab itu, penulis merasakan bahawa
kewujudan Kurator di Malaysia ini bukan sekadar
kerana wujudnya institusi seni rupa seperti Balai Seni
Visual Negara tetapi juga adalah atas landasan
keperluan agar ada yang menguruskan perihal karya
seni rupa Malaysia pada waktu itu.
Apakah yang sebenarnya dikatakan dengan
peranan ataupun kerja seorang Kurator?
Asasnya, Kurator pada mana-mana defnisinya
yang mudah sering diperlihat adalah sebagai
orang yang bertanggungjawab terhadap koleksi,
memilih karya atau perupa, membangun pameran
dan menulis mengenai karya dan pameran.
Sekiranya anda mahukan pengistilahan yang
sering dituliskan, bolehlah dirujuk pada mana-
mana Wikipedia atau Google. Namun begitu, saya
juga mungkin boleh meminjam istilah yang telah
diberikan oleh kurator-kurator lain seperti contoh;
Asal istilah kurator (Curator), dalam kamus bahasa
inggeris Oxford University Press, adalah sebentuk
kata kerja, iaitu Curate yang bererti menyeleksi,
mengorganisasikan, dan memelihara berbagai
barangan (koleksi atau muzium), sedangkan bentuk
kata bendanya, iaitu Curator bererti pemeliharaan
atau penanggungjawab sebuah museum atau
bentuk pengoleksian lainnya (Rizki A Zaelani, Visual
Arts 2005:034).
Kini, setelah Seni Rupa Malaysia menyelusuri kurang
lebih 80 tahun, peranan Kurator sudah ada yang mula
ingin membicarakan tidak kira sama ada ia bertujuan
untuk menyedarkan atau mempertikaikan. Namun
sebagai pelestarian dari nama-nama pengamal
Kurator yang disebut pada awalan penulisan
tadi, perlu ada generasi muda yang meneruskan
praktik kerja kurator ini agar seni rupa Malaysia terus
membangun.
Kursus pengurusan seni yang kini mula dipertaruhkan
sebagai sebuah kursus di dalam Univeristi mahupun
kolej swasta mungkin bisa membantu pelajar-pelajar/
anak muda dalam memahami apakah peranan
kurator dan tanggungjawabnya pada perupa dan
masyarakat. Namun, kursus atau subjek kuratorial
secara khususnya masih dilihat belum ada dan duduk
di dalam universiti-universiti ataupun
kolej melainkan sekadar dibicarakan
didalam seminar kecil ataupun art
talk yang dianjurkan oleh pihak
galeri swasta seperti Galeri Shalini
Ganendra Fine Art (seingat saya)
yang kerap membawa kurator
dari negara luar ke galerinya
untuk membicarakan perihal kerja
kuratorial.
Selain Galeri tersebut, House of
MATAHATI (HOM) sebuah lagi ruang seni persendirian
yang sedang dalam usaha menjana keperluan dan
kepentingan ahli-ahli seni rupa melalui bengkel-
bengkel seni seperti manager seni, penulis seni,
pelukis dan kurator didalam industri seni rupa di
Malaysia. Sebagai lanjutan dari kerja kuratorial yang
telah dilakukan oleh orang terdahulu, HOM telah
mengadakan satu Bengkel Seni yang bertemakan
"So You Want To Be Curator" dengan menjemput
Kurator independen Indonesia iaitu Hendra Himawan
yang kini merupakan Kurator jemputan di Sangkring
Art Space, Indonesia. Sebagai fasilitator untuk bengkel
seni tersebut, latarbelakang Hendra dilihat bermula
sebagai graduan daripada Institut Seni Indonesia
(ISI), Jogjakarta dan memulakan praktik kuratorial
nya sekitar 2009 secara sepenuh masa sebagai
Kurator Independen. Bengkel ini merupakah
sebuah bengkel yang bersifat jemputan yang
menyenarai pendek para pesertanya dari
golongan anak-anak muda yang punya
potensi dan yang sedang menjalankan
kerja seorang Kurator sama ada dibawah
naungan institusi mahupun yang bergerak
sendirian.
Bengkel ini yang
pada dasarnya
ingin dijalankan
selama seminggu
hanya sekadar
dapat diadakan
selama 2 hari iaitu
pada 18 dan 19
Februari 2012, atas faktor
kekangan masa. Sebagai
orang yang pernah menjalankan kerja-kerja Kurator,
saya juga telah dijemput oleh pihak HOM untuk
sama-sama menyertai bengkel ini untuk melihat dan
mempelajari sesuatu yang mungkin saya tidak tahu
dari seorang Kurator muda Indonesia ini.
Hari pertama ketika salam suai kenal, Hendra
bertanyakan kepada para peserta yang terdiri
daripada Pensyarah, Pengurus Galeri, Pemilik
Galeri, Kurator dan Penolong Kurator Balai Seni
Visual Negara(BSVN) serta pelajar-pelajar berkaitan
tujuan dan keinginan para peserta dalam bengkel
yang diadakan ini. Kebanyakan peserta yang hadir
menyatakan pandangan bahawa tujuan mereka
hadir ke bengkel tersebut adalah
keinginan untuk mengetahui
peranan kurator dan bagaimana
caranya menjalankan kerja/tugas
sebagai seorang Kurator.
Sebagai langkah pertama,
Hendra mempertanyakan kembali
kepada para peserta berkaitan
apakah kepentingannya sesebuah
pameran/event itu diadakan
atau diselenggarakan. Pelbagai
respon diberikan oleh para peserta, namun menurut
bicara Hendra, kepentingan sesebuah usaha
menyelenggarakan pameran adalah sangat
penting kepada 1), Perupa/Artis itu sendiri iaitu
apabila Kurator bertanggungjawab dokumentasi,
menyelidiki, memahami dan menginterpretasikan
karya seseorang perupa, 2) Penyelenggara/ Art
Space, bilamana seorang Kurator bertanggungjawab
terhadap menyelenggara ruang pameran yang akan
diusahakan sekaligus ia juga bertanggungjawab
menjaga nama baik galeri yang diusahakan, dan 3)
khalayak/ pengunjung/ pemerhati pameran, iaitu
bertanggungjawab terhadap khalayak pameran
kerana disinilah sesuatu usaha mengadakan pameran
itu berguna dan baik sekiranya seorang Kurator
itu memahami konsep asas gagasan yang ingin
dibawakan dan dikongsikan dengan khalyak yang
datang melihat karya seni rupa dalam pameran.
Ketiga-tiga perkara ini adalah sangat mustahak dan
ditekankan oleh Hendra dalam penyelengaraan
sesebuah pameran oleh seseorang Kurator dan
merupakan tugas dan tanggungjawab yang harus
dipikul oleh seorang Kurator.
1
Hendra Himawan, 2012, So You Want To Be A Young Curator, A Two
Day Curatorial Workshop, House of MATAHATI ( HOM), Malaysia.
Rizki A Zaelani, 2005, HIPOTESIS KURATOR [-IAL], Majalah Seni Rupa Visual
Arts #10, Disember 2005/Januari 2006
ERRY ARHAM AZMI MERUPAKAN BEKAS KURATOR DI BALAI SENI VISUAL
NEGARA DAN KINI MERUPAKAN PENSYARAH DI FAKULTI SENI HALUS
AKADEMI SENI BUDAYA DAN WARISAN KEBANGSAAN. KETERLIBATAN
BELIAU DIDALAM SENI RUPA MALAYSIA DAPAT DILIHAT MELALUI KERJA-
KERJA KURATORIAL, PENULISAN SENI, BICARA SENI
DAN BIDANG AKADEMIK
| ERRY ARHAM AZMI
pg/13
Setelah itu, Hendra meneruskannya dengan
memberi pertanyaan sekali lagi kepada para
peserta berkaitan apakah yang dimaksudkan
dengan kurator. Apakah Kurator itu penulis?,
apakah Kurator itu perancang pembuatan show?,
dan apakah Kurator itu sekadar membuat kerja-
kerja teknikal dalam sesebuah pameran?. Sekali
lagi para peserta melontarkan jawapan mengikut
pandangan masing-masing, namun bagi Hendra
ketiga-tiga persoalan yang diutarakannya ini
merupakan kerja-kerja yang acap kali dilakukan
oleh seseorang Kurator, dan tanpa salah-satunya,
mungkin gugurlah tanda nama bagi mereka
yang ingin memakai gelaran Kurator. Hendra juga
menawarkan satu kaedah (metode) khusus dalam
menjalankan tanggungjawab sebagai seorang
Kurator iaitu dengan menggunakan kaedah
Curator as Ethnographer sebagai sebuah model
kerja kurasi. Menurut Hendra (2012: 30), Etnograf
adalah sebuah tulisan atau laporan mengenai satu
suku bangsa tertentu yang dituliskan oleh seorang
antropologi atau hasil penelitian lapangan (feld
work) selama kurun waktu tertentu yang ditetapkan.
Metode tersebut lazimnya dijumpai dalam bidang
ilmu antropologi. Tambah Hendra lagi, metode ini
juga bisa diterapkan pada bidang seni, khususnya
pada praktik kuratorial. Sebagaimana yang sudah
diketahui, kurator sering diposisikan sebagai pihak
kedua yang memediasi seniman dan audien. Di sini,
Kurator juga dapat diibaratkan sebagai etnografer
yang sedang melakukan kerja-kerja etnograf atas
karya-karya seniman.
Setelah selesai pewacanaan berkaitan apakah
Kurator itu dan unjuran kaedah Kurator sebagai
Ethnographer pada hari pertama bengkel, pada
hari ke-2 bengkel ini diteruskan dengan kerja-kerja
simulasi pameran dan para perserta dibahagikan
kepada beberapa kumpulan yang mana setiap
kumpulan memperolehi enam atau lima ahli. Perkara
pertama, peserta diminta berbincang dengan ahli
kumpulan masing-masing dan membincangkan
konsep idea pameran yang ingin dilaksanakan
sehingga terjadinya sebuah cadangan proposal
pameran. Setelah usaha konsep idea itu selesai,
kumpulan-kumpulan tersebut haruslah memikirkan
konsep pembuatan pameran (show) yang mana
mengandungi karya yang ingin dipamerkan, teks
pengenalan di dinding pameran, caption karya,
susun atur karya, pandu arah laluan untuk para
khalayak yang datang mengunjungi pameran dan
sebagainya dengan mendirikan model pameran
pada permulaannya sebelum ia di realisasikan.
Selesai pada pembinaan konsep pameran itu,
para peserta di minta untuk membentangkan
dan mempersembahkan hasil kerja berkumpulan
mereka. Di sini juga para peserta lain di minta untuk
bertanyakan tentang konsep pameran peserta
yang membentang, dan di sini juga di lihat wacana
berkaitan mendirikan pameran sudah mula berjalan
apabila sesi soal jawab diantara peserta telah
mewujudkan satu pendekatan mempertahankan
konsep pameran agar ia bermakna dan mempunyai
halatuju yang jelas. Cabaran diperingkat ini dilihat
mempunyai kesan yang mendalam kepada para
peserta kerana disinilah mereka harus memikirkan
secara rasional pameran yang mereka ingin dirikan
dengan ilmu-ilmu yang mereka fahami dan bisa di
hujahkan kepada peserta lainnya.
Proses evaluasi dilakukan oleh Hendra setelah
kesemua para peserta membentangkan hasil
kerja mereka. Didalam proses Evaluasi ini, Hendra
menekankan pada apa yang ada dan telah
dilakukan oleh para peserta secara baiknya dan
menambah kekurang terhadap apa yang kurang
didalam pembentangan sesebuah pameran yang
ingin dilakukan oleh kumpulan-kumpulan peserta.
Pada akhir sesi sebelum penutupan bengkel ini,
hendra meninggalkan pesanannya buat dirinya dan
juga peserta, katanya;-
"JANGAN MENGANGGAP REMEH PADA SETIAP HASIL
KARYA YANG DIHASILKAN OLEH SESEORANG PERUPA"
dan "JANGAN MENGANGGAP REMEH PADA SETIAP
PAMERAN SENI RUPA YANG DIHASILAN"...kerana kita
tidak tahu apa yang akan jadi pada masa
akan datang...
Bengkel Seni Kurator yang dijalankan selama 2
hari telah meninggalkan kesan dengan minda
yang terbuka terhadap apa yang dimaksudkan
dengan Kurator dan tanggungjawabnya. Semoga
bengkel ini menjadi asas kepada pelestarian kerja
kuratorial untuk anak-anak muda yang mahu
menyemarakkan seni rupa Malaysia sejajar dengan
perkembangan ilmu pengetahuan.
Kini, sudah tiba masanya giliran Kurator muda
berperanan dalam Seni Rupa Malaysia!
An
exhibition gathering 12 representatives of
Malaysian Contemporary artists entitled
Malaysian International Contemporary Art Exhibition
2012 opened its door to the Malaysian public from 12th
to 27th May 2012 at Wisma Kebudayaan SGM, No. 243
Jalan Bukit Bintang, 55100 Kuala Lumpur. The exhibition is
organised by Soka Gakkai Malaysia, Malaysian Modern
& Contemporary Art Academy and Association of
Artists, Klang and was offciated by Yang Berbahagia
Ambassador Dato Mohd Yusof Ahmad, Director-General,
National Visual Arts Gallery Malaysia on 12 May 2012
(Saturday) at 3.00pm.
Mr Koh Sia Feai, General Director, Soka Gakkai Malaysia
in his welcoming remarks emphasized that art and culture
exchange providing valuable opportunities to learn from
each other, establishing true friendship and promoting
understanding and co-operation among the participants.
He quoted SGI President Mr Daisaku Ikedas saying,
There is nothing more powerful than a culture that is
deeply rooted in its people. Cultural exchange bridges
people together, it is a grand rainbow of peace cultural
exchanges are the friendly waves that connect people.
Dr. Foo Yong Kong, President of Malaysian
Contemporary Chinese Painting & Calligraphy
Association, in his speech stated that the artworks
in this exhibition are signifcant as they represent
Malaysia, as a contemporary country with abundant
tradition, culture and identity. He also encouraged
young Malaysian artists to challenge themselves and
bring Malaysian contemporary art scene to the
next level.
Yang Berbahagia Ambassador Dato Mohd Yusof
Ahmad, Director-General, National Visual Arts Gallery
Malaysia, in his opening speech complimented the
twelve participating artists artistry achievement
and contribution to the history and development
of Malaysias modern art. Many of their works are
represented in the National Visual Art Gallerys
permanent collection. He also acknowledged
the artists contribution through SGMs platform in
promoting awareness and appreciation of Malaysian
visual art.
The Malaysian International Contemporary Art
Exhibition 2012 is initiated by Richard Wong, the
President of Malaysian Modern & Contemporary Art
Academy, with the purpose of promoting Malaysian
contemporary art by drawing attention to its unique
diversity while being respectful of individual styles.
The exhibition serves as a means to contribute to the
development of Malaysian contemporary art and the
promotion of international exchanges. Participating
renowned artists include Dato Tay Mo-Leong, Dr Foo
Yong Kong, Sia Boon Chuan, Tan Tong, Yap Hong
Ngee, Loo Foh Sang, Chew Fang Chin, Chong Buck
Tee, Ng Bee, Goh Ah Ang, Richard Wong and Awang
Damit Ahmad. The exhibition showcases artworks
resulting from their new discoveries and insights since
the past years.
For more information about exhibitions and art related
activities, please contact SGM Public Relations
Department at Tel. No: 03-2144 8686 / 03-9075 6876,
email: sgmpro@sgm.org.my or refer to SGM offcial
website www.sgm.org.my.
EAGER
buying saw the Henry
Butcher Malaysian Art
Auction 2012 turned
into a record fest that is
however mildly puzzling in
the midst of the celebratory
whoop.
That the auction sales hogged
RM4,007,300 with all save
one of the 86 works sold, is
phenomenal. The 2011 turnover
was RM3,173,710 on the back of
98 works sold from a
104-work largesse.
While there were phone bidders (who
did not really measure up to expectations)
and proxy buying, the buying frenzy for art could
have been fuelled by record prices of art in world
markets. Also, with a protracted volatile fnancial blight
especially with the eurozone, savvy investors were
looking at alternative investments to park their money.
This third time around, certainly many more new
players have come into the market with a buy-buy
fxation. There is no doubt that the Henry Butcher
auction has greatly transformed the secondary market
of Malaysian art where some works bought at the
auction were resold for quick profts.
New auction records were set in 20 works of artists in
the 2012 edition, while the 16 newcomers mostly did
reasonably well.
There was a hush when Huang Yao (Wong
Yao), arguably the greatest Malaysian artist
(calligrapher/cartoonist) working in Chinese brush
painting although he is not so recognised by his own
country, made a quantum leap from the laughable
RM3K-RM5K and RM6K-RM8K estimates for two of
his works. The bidding started at RM20K and RM60K
respectively, and ended at RM39,600 and RM79,200.
Already very famous in China, Huang Yao was lured
to Malaysia by former prime minister Tun Abdul Razak,
then education minister, to help lay the foundation of
Chinese language education in the country.
As his foundation is based
in Singapore, interest across
the causeway is high, and his
circle would widen when the
big-time China buyers plumb for
him at the Hong Kong auction in
late May.
Of the newcomers,
watercolourist Shafe Hassans
'Cuti Sekolah' made a
staggering closing price of
RM22,000 from a RM4K-RM6K
estimate.
Its a great debut for
photography when Ismail
Hashims iconic 'Kedai Gunting',
a hand-tinted silver gelatin print,
sold for RM24,200.
Printmaker Juhari Muhammad Saids 'Katak Nak Jadi
Lembu' (17/20) closed well at RM12,100; Eng Tay
scored RM60,500 for a 75cm x 100cm oil on canvas
called 'Day End'; Yau Bee Ling raked in RM6,600
and RM20,900 for her two differently sized works;
Yeoh Kean Thais 'Wrenching' rusty concoction made
RM17,600.
All the works were put up by collectors.
Patrick Ng Kah Onn, revered for his 'Spirit of
Water, Wind and Air' (1958) masterpiece in the
National Visual Art Gallery collection, chalked up
RM33,000 for a rare mixed media 'Collage in Blue'.
Umibaizurah Mahir@Ismail raised RM6,050 for
her quirky ceramic plaything showcase while
her husband, Ahmad Shukri Mohameds 'Insects
Wallpaper' mixed media registered RM18,700.
So, in a way, it was a rewarding day for the various
other media-prints, photography and ceramics.
Of the newcomers, Sarawak maestro Raphael Scott
Ahbeng did reasonably well with RM14,300 for a 1995
abstract on the old Saas landscape in Sarawak, Ivan
Lam only managed RM17,600-just RM400 short of his
high estimate for his 911 work, while the late Neo-Pop
artist Kok Yew Puah mustered only RM17,600 for
his 'Kelantanese Boats'.
Whoever snapped up Dato Tay Hooi Keats
watercolour 'Penang Hill' (1973) at RM11,000 got a
bargain for the artists works are not many in the open
market and it is a well done work exuding a mellowed
apple-green freshness.
In the Chinese art section, Cheng Haw Chien made a
spirited debut with a RM34,100 tag for his scroll, 'Scene
Along Zambezi River', but Chung Chen Sun, who is
known to have commanded higher prices, had the
dubious distinction of being the only artist with a
work not sold in the entire auction. His other entry on
pumpkin braked at RM7,700 after a RM6K opening bid.
While the price trend may appear a bit erratic
in the larger pool of auctioned works, it is not so with
those of the 'Big Five'-all dead except poet-artist-
www. hbar t . com. my
4 .
3 .
2 .
1 .
| OOI KOK CHUEN
pg/15
sculptor Abdul Latiff Mohidin. The four dead titans
are Datuk Ibrahim Hussein, Dato Hoessein Enas, Dato
Chuah Thean Teng and Datuk Syed Ahmad Jamal.
Ib, as Ibrahim is better known, set a new auction
record of RM797,500 for his shaped canvas, 'Red,
Orange And Core' (1984), a large 198.3cm x 271.4cm
acrylic on canvas with his signature ribbed lines and
copulating forms. It eclipsed the RM572,000 paid for
Latiffs Pago-Pago, the top-selling item last year.
While a few may have valued their paintings at
RM1million each, only Ib had breached
that mark, although another artist had done so for his
monumental bronzed sculpture.
Latiffs highest fetched price this time around was
RM231,000, for an unusual psychedelic 'Mindscape'
(1983) well above its high RM180K estimate, and he set
a stunning record for a print when his 'Mindscape'
(1976 )etching (artist-proof) knocked down for a
premium RM50,600.
Ib was certainly back with a vengeance, after one of
his works failed to sell at the auction proper last year.
His other work in the 2012 auction, 'Monorobos I',
chased up to RM396,000.
Portrait pioneer Hoesseins oil of his then pubescent
granddaughters sold for an impressive RM104,500
although expectedly below his personal record of
RM198,000 for Morning Mist last year.
Teng, as Chuah the batik art pioneer is better known, is
still a darling with bidders with three works including an
ink and colour on paper sold above the high
estimates. His 'Durian Sellers' rallied from a RM90K start
to notch RM137,500, which is however short of his
RM170.500 for 'Feeding Durian' last year.
Syed Ahmads nocturnal fugue, 'Malam Marang',
garnered RM170,500 but still below his record
RM187,000 for the 'Cherryvale Gunung
Ledang' last year.
1 . UMIBAIZURAH MAHIR@ISMAIL Untouchable VII, 2009,
Handpainted tin sculpture mounted on woodblock
36 x 44.5 x 14 cm | 2 . ISMAIL HASHIM Kedai Gunting, 1986
Hand-tinted gelatin silver print, 49 x 47cm | 3 . CHONG SIEW
YING Isle of Gold, 2008, Oil on linen, 65.4 x 200.3 cm |4 . ABDUL
LATIFF MOHIDIN Mindscape, 1983, Oil on canvas 92 x 92 cm | 5 .
HUANG YAO Bridesmaid , 1980, Ink and colour on rice paper
mounted on scroll, 73.2 x 47.6 cm | 6 . IBRAHIM HUSSEIN, DATUK
Red, Orange and Core, 1984, Acrylic on canvas, 198.3 x 271.4 cm
| 7 . DZULKIFLI BUYONG Tidurlah Anakku, 1967, Pastel on paper,
74.5 x 53.5 cm | 8 . MOHD HOESSEIN ENAS, DATO' Two Sisters,
1986, Oil on canvas, 76 x 60 cm | 9 . SYED AHMAD JAMAL,
DATUK Malam Marang, 2001, Oil on canvas, 91 x 122 cm
In contrasting fortunes of the pioneers, Abdullah Ariff
fetched RM23,100 and RM31,900 for two small works
(28cm x 20.7cm) while Yong Mun Sen raised only
RM18,700 for his 'Batu Ferringhi' watercolour which is
more than double the size of Abdullahs works.
Khaw Sia set a new personal record of RM22,000 for
his 'Red Cattleya' (1975) though my favourite Khaw Sia
was 'Still Life With Lobster', which is a good-buy
at only RM9,350.
Kuo Ju-ping, who did not sell in the frst auction and
skipped the second, fnally got among the scoresheet
with RM9,900 for his 'City Life' (1962) oil.
US-based Khoo Sui Hoe, a veteran professional artist,
notched a new record of RM30,800 for his work,
'Two Flying'. Yusof Ghani fnally set the record prize
deserving of his stature when RM93,500 was plonked
on his large 'Siri Tari VII' (1984), measuring
162.8cm x 236.5cm.
Matahati-an Hamir Soib@Mohamed also saw a new
record with RM24,200 paid for his mixed media, 'The
Burning Bush', as did Jalaini Abu Hassan, with RM28,600
for his 'Stretched Form' (1993) and Ahmad Zakii Anwar
with RM99,000 for his 'Blue Kebyar'.
Khalil Ibrahim set a new record for his 'Fishermen'
acrylic on canvas topping RM71,500, breaking the
RM57,800 record set last year for his circa 1960-65
abstract acrylic on canvas, 'Destruction'. Ahmad
Khalid Yusof also set a new record of RM44,000
for his 'Hikayat Seribu Satu Malam' acrylic.
Nanyang School standard-bearer Tew Nai Tong and
Jolly Koh also set new records of RM16,500 and
RM38,500 for their works, 'Drying Fish' and 'Untitled',
respectively. The huge popularity of the eccentric
mock-Nave artist Dzulkifi Buyong saw his 'Tidurlah
Anakku' go for RM93,500 for a new record for the artist.
Apple King Lim Kim Hai did not fare too
well with his 'No War' going for only RM14,300, while
Peter Liew and Tan Choon Ghee had a surprising so-so
outing, with their works either rangebound in prices or
sold below expectations.
The younger set also made great headway in
terms of prices for their works. Chong Siew Yings
'Isle of Gold' (2008) of a classic reclining nude in a
mock Chinese-painting landscape hit RM44,000 from
its RM22,000 starting gong, while Lui Cheng Thaks
'Dances of the Phoenix' wrapped up at a
creditable RM28,600.
Both Singaporean artists, Cheong Soo Pieng and Chen
Wen Hsi, registered new records of RM52,800 and
RM48,400 for their respective works.
Events such as the Henry Butcher Art Auction and the
Art Expo Malaysia have greatly helped enhance the
software infrastructure and exposures for Malaysian
art and artists and raised their international profle.
5 . 6 .
8 .
7 . 9 .
hormat serta bertimbang rasa dalam menghadapi
masyarakat seni. Disinilah kita dapat melihat
bagaimana kajian dalam memahami masa
dan ruang amat penting. Tanggungjawab oleh
pembuat karya dalam jangkaan tindakbalas dari
penonton haruslah di ambil berat dan sejauh
mana karya itu akan memberi impak dalam masa
terdekat ataupun jangkamasa yang panjang.
Persoalan yang selalu diajukan adalah bagaimana
medium dalam seni pertunjukkan( performance
art) ini ingin di ambil sebagai sebahagian nilai
(value) karya seni ? Contohnya penonton boleh
mengingati warnawarna ekspresi pada kanvas
tetapi untuk karya seni apakah idea dan isu itu
datang dahulu ataupun aksi yang terjadi
pada ketika itu?
Disini ingin saya berkongsi serba sedikit tentang
Aida Redza. Salah seorang pengkarya seni yang
dilihat dalam medium yang berbeza dalam
konteks seni visual yang luas. Walaupun latar
belakang disiplin tarinya adalah formal, dari tarian
moden dan tradisional, melihat gerak tubuhnya
di setiap persembahan ada reaksi dan sentuhan
tersendiri dan kadangkala berlaku secara spontan,
menggunakan bahan dan prop yang memberi
tanda (sign) tertentu, mimik muka dan suara yang
bertindakbalas pada ruang itu sendiri.
Dan ianya penuh dengan emosi dan suara tubuh
itu sendiri!
Penglibatan hampir 15 tahun ini digunakan oleh
Aida sebaik mungkin untuk berkarya secara solo,
berkumpulan mahupun menjalankan aktiviti
bengkel dengan komuniti dan masyarakat.
Kelebihan memahami gerak tubuh melalui tarian
mungkin menjadi satu kelebihan buat beliau
dan menurut Aida juga beliau percaya struktur
biologikal seseorang memainkan peranan
dan mempengaruhi setiap ekspresi yang cuba
disampaikan. Serta menjadi seorang ibu kepada
2 orang anak, dan refeksi kehidupan sebenar
banyak menjadi inspirasi kepada Aida Redza.
Selain daripada itu juga Aida Redza meletakkan
medium seni pertunjukan yang mana tubuh
adalah suara yang selalu dilontarkan dalam
bertindakbalas memberi pendapat dan harapan.
Antara karya solo seni pertunjukkan beliau yang
bertindak balas kepada situasi dan kritikan sosial
adalah Jadi-an Solo In Vision 2020 pada 2007 di
Copenhagen, Denmark, Sculpturer pada 2005
di Rotterdam Dance Art Academy, 'Feast Of Fool'
pada 2004 di Denmark, Stirrings pada 2002 di
Performing Studio, Pulau Pinang.
Seni
dan masyarakat berpunca dari
kaitan manusia dan alam sekitarnya.
Manusia dapat mengenali diri melalui karya-karya
seni dengan menghidupkan getaran dalam
sanubarinya.'
Petikan dari katalog Pameran Balai Seni Lukis Negara
Datuk Syed Ahmad Jamal
Ketua Pengarah, 1988.
Dari petikan di atas, kepelbagaian medium
untuk menyuarakan pendapat dan ekspresi seni
memperlihatkan perbezaan rasa percaya dalam
cara penyampaian masing-masing. Walaupun
ianya adalah kepada satu tujuan yang sama,
iaitu memberi dan menyampaikan sesuatu yang
ingin dikongsi, bertindak balas kepada ruang
sekeliling ataupun ianya adalah bertujuan dengan
agenda-agenda tertentu.
Cara berekspresi dalam seni dengan
menggunakan medium atau bahan yang
diperlihatkan secara langsung (live) contohnya
sebahagian tubuh, suara dan ekspresi telah
banyak digunakan pakai di kalangan pengkarya
seni sejak dari dahulu lagi.
Penyaluran idea secara terus dari pengkarya
kepada penonton kadang-kadang memberi
cabaran, bantahan dan perbezaan pendapat
melalui dialog yang sebegini. Ini adalah mungkin
kerana komunikasi secara terus ini adalah
perkara yang paling hampir dan mempunyai
kefahaman juga intepertasi dari pelbagai
sudut yang berbeza dalam kehidupan.
Contohnya pendapat pengkaryaan yang
disalah takfrkan dan dimanipulasi dari sudut
kepercayaan dan agama, ataupun sensitiviti
kaum, politik dan juga sudut psikologi itu sendiri.
Malah dari perkara-perkara sebegini, ianya
tidak boleh dijadikan alasan untuk pengkarya
seni pertunjukan untuk taboo dan menolak rasa
Aida Redza percaya seni itu harus berhubung dan
bagaimana medium seni pertunjukkan ini dapat
berfungsi dalam memberi dan menerima informasi.
Antara projek bersifat kemasyarakatan yang
beliau telah hasilkan adalah 'River Art Project'
(2011). Untuk seni pertunjukkan ini, Aida
Redza telah bekerjasama dengan
beberapa pengkarya visual yang lain
seperti Lisa Foo dan Hilyati Ramli
dalam menjayakannya. Karya-karya
Lisa Foo yang menggunakan bahan
buangan plastik dalam susunan
seni instalasi di sekitar sungai
Melaka bertindak balas dengan
seni pertunjukkan Aida Redza
dan Hilyati Ramli dalam persepsi
hubungan manusia
dengan alam.

Selain daripada itu juga,
kolaborasi seni pertunjukkan
bersama pengkarya yang lain
dalam seni pertunjukkan Stamp
over bersama Amir Zanorin
memperlihatkan bagaimana
dua perkarya membawa satu
mesej yang sama iaitu tentang
isu dan cabaran kumpulan migrasi
dalam menyesuaikan diri melalui
budaya baru, struktur sosial dan nilai-
nilai kehidupan. Seni pertunjukkan yang
memakan masa berdurasi panjang ini
melibatkan orang sekeliling dan ruang yang
di pilih adalah di hadapan pejabat Imegresen di
Copenhagen, Denmark. Melalui seni pertunjukan
ini pengkarya jelas membawa isu dan memilih
ruang yang mana informasi dan mesej tepat
disampaikan dalam berhubungan dengan
penonton yang tepat dalam memahami dan
bertindak balas idea dari pengkarya.
Dalam persoalan keupayaan seniman yang
menggunakan medium seni pertunjukan, ini
adalah antara cabaran yang perlu di tangani
dalam menghasilkan karya. Hubungan karya ,
pengkarya dan sekitarnya adalah memainkan
peranan karya yang disampaikan. Jangkaan
tindakbalas sebelum,sewaktu dan selepas aksi seni
pertunjukan juga perlu diambil kira dalam melihat
sejauh mana pemikiran kritis dapat di kongsi
dengan penonton dan masyarakat.
Saya melihat kepelbagaian dan menyokong
kebebasan melontarkan pandangan yang
bersifat positif ini sebagai satu inisiatif sistem
demokrasi yang kita cuba dipraktikkan dalam
membentuk sebuah negara yang menuju kearah
pertumbuhan kebudayaan dan
tamadun manusia.

Antara kita sedar ataupun tidak, pemikiran
manusia dan praktiknya yang bersifat organik dan
sentiasa tumbuh dalam pembaharuan dan ianya
memerlukan ruang dan sekeliling yang dapat
menyokong pertumbuhan pemikiran dan daya
praktik ini supaya ianya dapat memberi kesan
yang sempurna pada masa yang akan datang.
Tabik kepada rakan-rakan seni pertunjukan yang
lain juga, ekspresi tubuh kalian tanpa ada nilai
yang boleh dipegang tapi akan diingat di kepala
sampai mati!
| INTAN RAFIZA
pg/16
Another highlight for the visual arts, ResCube is a rites
de passage statement by six young artists marking
the arrival of a new generation into the art scene of
Malaysia. Five artists are Malaysian nationals and one
is Lithuanian. The experience of working and living
in Penang brought them close together in creating
a special network of friendship, allowing all six artists
to share their experiences and enrich each others
artworks. ResCube is an outcome of this special
relationship between the artists and George Town,
the city that inspires.
ResCube is a site-specifc exhibition by young and
up-coming artists staged in a breath-taking and
mysterious historic warehouse in Beach Street, George
Town. ResCube concept is based on the structure of a
cube.
One entity-six sides. One cube-six different walls.
ResCube will showcase different takes on George
Town produced by 6 artists. Visitors will enjoy an
exclusive experience created by artists especially for
this occasion constructing their visions, interpretations
and thoughts in a heritage warehouse.
Exhibition Mapping an Identity by David Cheah
(Sydney) will launch a unique Penang and George
Town foral motifs, which are batik and map inspired.
Artworks will be painted on natural hand-woven
fbers like banana and pineapple as well as using
some natural dyes and batik. The Head of Batik
Dept., Universitas Pekalongan and former director
of Pekalongan Batik Museum, Zahir Widadi, will give
a talk (and brief workshop) about the uniqueness
of Pekalongan batik and his efforts in putting the
proposal for Indonesias Batik listing as a UNESCO
Intangible Cultural Heritage.
The
George Town Festival (GTF)
is a month long celebration
of art, music, theatre, dance, opera
and flm that transforms George Town
into a unique platform for arts, heritage
and culture. GTF 2012 runs for the third
consecutive year and is organized to
commemorate the inscription of George
Town on the UNESCO World Heritage
Listing in July 2008.
The festival will showcase a well-
balanced blend of local culture and
international acts, which is aimed
at rejuvenating Penang as an
international boutique destination of
arts and culture.
The festival proudly presents the
highlights for visual arts. 2012 art
program is focused on refreshing
Penang art scene and bringing
fresh and cutting-edge art projects
in order to attract public interest and
encourage local artists to expand
their horizons.
George Town Festival strives to place
George Town back on the international map
as an arts and culture destination. Mirrors
George Town by international artist Ernest
Zacharevic is a pioneering art project. It
will become a valuable asset for the whole
community promoting Penang on the
international circuit. The project is a series
of large scale wall paintings placed within
the heritage zone of George Town, Penang.
The paintings depict fgure drawings and portraits
of various inhabitants of the city celebrating the
multiculturalism and diversity of George Town.
The idea is to use George Town as a canvas and
turn its streets into an open air, free gallery where the
best way to experience art would be to take a walk
and enjoy the heritage landscape together with the
site-specifc paintings. Mirrors George Town seeks to
draw attention that it is not only the unique buildings
that make George Town a UNESCO heritage site,
but also the people who live in here, who work,
who eat their daily bowl of Laksa, who celebrate
weddings and bear their children, these inhabitants
of the city makes it truly a Living City of Heritage. In
order to highlight this unique relationship between
the people and the city-portraits will be painted
onto the walls of George Town to be seen and
enjoyed by everyone.
pg/17
INTRODUCTION

Amron Omar is an artist who has been immersing
himself in the world of Malaysian art for more than
30 years. He has created many visually outstanding
paintings, drawings and sketches. The presentation
of visual elements in his works is exceptionally
developed and masterly/masterful. As to technical
side, his works have achieved an advanced
level of art-making. This in brief is attributable to
his having remarkably acute and well-disciplined
sensibility, observation and insight in composing his
works. Additionally, he controls the medium and the
technique he uses with consummate skill,
maturity and sensitivity.

Amron Omars works, largely inspired by ideas rooted in Malay
cultures and traditions, particularly the art of self-defence, triggered
a situation and sensation that can elevate the sense of identity
among their Malay-Muslim observers. Moreover, they intrinsically
represent the cultural traits deeply ingrained in the life of the Malays.
Despite still carrying the characteristics of Western art form (Though
the forms are created within a western framework/structure), his
works also generally include subtle local (Eastern) dimensions
and features. He expertly and amazingly/wonderfully creates a
harmonious fusion between Eastern and Western values.
Here, I would like to briefy touch on aspects of
composition, structure, form, space, tone and
colour applied by Amron that I fnd very alluring and
so amazing. In general, Amron uses a 45- degree
viewpoint from above that enables him to form a
shallow space without a horizon. This creates a sense
of intimacy between the audience and the work.
Upon looking at the work, the audience immediately
confront the two silat fghters. Since the perspective
space is so narrow, during the course of their viewing
the audience have to make a 360-degree rotation
around the two fgures fghting within a tight and
constricted area. Moreover due to its narrowness, the
space renders dynamism to the fgures movements,
leading the audience to concentrate fully on the work
-our eyes and visions are prevented from wandering
away from the two fgures. Such a compositional
strategy, which involves the placement of both
fghting fgures in a narrow and shallow space, raises
among the audience an overwhelming sensation of
aesthetical amazement
Pakhruddin Sulaiman
Amrons tonal expression and grit of determination in
search for a path of totality in self is very highly visible from
his Pertarungan (Dueling) series. This is an exhibition
that is a refection of Amrons self. It is a self-duelling that
poses and seeks questions and answers through a lengthy
process. Sometimes the answers are translated into the
artwork while others are conceived from Amrons
journey of the self.
Alizam Hassan
Curator of Pertarungan : Amron Omar
Pertarungan, (1980)
oil on canvas,
182 x 164 cm,
Collection of the
National Art Gallery
Pertarungan, (2002)
Charcoal on paper,
54 x 37 cm,
Collection of Pakhruddin &
Fatimah Sulaiman
Pertarungan, (1983)
Oil on canvas,
214 cm x 168 cm,
Collection of The Raintree
Club of Kuala Lumpur
'Pertarungan', (1989)
Oil on canvas,
152 x 137 cm,
Collection of
Razak Abdullah
pg/18
Art-making is a battle. Its principal enemies
are the mind and the thought we normally
defne as I. It is this illusion of I-ness that
separates human beings, specially those who
like to proclaim themselves as artists(like the
author of this essay). It serves as a dwelling for
the ego. Within the ego resides dark energy.
All types of mental illness or toxics resulting
from arrogance, pride, conceit, envy, hate,
anger and lust supply food for the ego. Dark
energy veils spiritual light, making the body
earthbound. If these food are reduced by
embracing honesty, the ego will become
slimmer. A slimmer ego (I) is covered by a
thin veil, its body becomes lighter, and its
spirit is no longer trapped. If one managed
to tear the veil, a path would perhaps be
opened for him to unveil deeper secrets or
to climb higher plateaus. God willing, we will
be guided to know ourselves and be reunited
with our true essence.
I pray that whoever will be and has been
affected by Amron Omars battle shall be
eventually guided to enter into the arena of
a much more challenging and fercer inner
battle within himself. This battle must be won
with sincere and unconditional Love.' When
the battle of discourse is over, and I am left
alone with Amron Omars works, I can hear
a soft whisper,Have you really adequately
known the greatest enemy?
Hasnul J Saidon
Indeed, Amron is deeply misunderstood.
Like the oil paints he uses, the fgure is just his
chosen medium and his true subject is
abstract-the containment and release of
energy and spirit. Indeed, the physical subject
is only a point of departure. The true subject,
addressed via representations of light and
shade, of mass and weight and of tension
and release is not the physical body but
something of a much more spiritual or
metaphysical orientation.
Niranjan Rajah
Curator of Bara Hati, Bahang Jiwa
Amrons tonal expression and grit of determination in
search for a path of totality in self is very highly visible from
his Pertarungan (Dueling) series. This is an exhibition
that is a refection of Amrons self. It is a self-duelling that
poses and seeks questions and answers through a lengthy
process. Sometimes the answers are translated into the
artwork while others are conceived from Amrons
journey of the self.
Alizam Hassan
Curator of Pertarungan : Amron Omar
'Pertarungan', (2007)
Oil Pastel on paper,
74 x 54 cm,
Collection of Bingley Iskandar &
Ima Norbinsha
Pertarungan, (1989)
Acrylic on paper,
27 x 27 cm,
Collection of Dato' Sri Haji
Mohd Kamil Jamil
MELIHAT
Galian dan penyelidikan terhadap objek seni adalah
aspek penting yang boleh kita amalkan. Penyiasatan
dan pengkajian ke atas koleksi objek seni adalah
aspek menarik dan penting dalam amalan institusi
seni. Pemikiran dalam kajian budaya kebendaan
dapat dimanfaatkan oleh koleksi penyelidikan dan
pengkuratoran. Ini juga, sebaiknya, menimbulkan
wacana ilmiah yang dapat membuka satu jambatan
untuk perkongsian umum. Objek di sini tidak
membawa maksud kebendaan semata, bahkan
ianya meliputi kepelbagaian visual epistemologi dari
teori politik, semiotik, sosiologi, antropologi dan kajian
budaya semestinya. Membaca objek seni bukan satu
perkara yang mudah dilakukan. Bahkan, terdapat
pelbagai perbincangan mengenainya dilakukan
oleh para pemikir. Berger (2008) menyatakan
bahawa melihat adalah tindakan pertama sebelum
datangnya perkataan. Ianya seperti kanak-kanak
melihat dan mengenalpasti sesuatu sebelum ianya
bercakap. Namun, perhubungan antara apa
yang kita lihat dan kita tahu tidak pernah selesai.
Bagaimana apa yang kita lihat menurut Berger
selalu bergantung pada keseluruhan andaian yang
berkenaan dengan sifat kecantikan, kebenaran,
ketamadunan, bentuk, rasa, kelas dan jantina. Beliau
juga menafkan bahawa apabila kita melihat, kita
bukan hanya melihat tetapi kita membaca
bahasa imej.
MODEL TAFSIRAN
Selain itu, terdapat satu model yang dibina oleh
Lachapelle, Murray & Neim (2003) yang dikenali
sebagai Model Pemahaman Estetik sebagai
Pengalaman Bermaklumat untuk memberi penjelasan
proses pemahaman dan penghayatan dalam karya
seni dari perspektif pendidikan. Ia mengenal pasti jenis
pengetahuan yang terlibat dan ia juga menentukan
jenis pembelajaran di setiap peringkat dalam proses
yang membawa kepada memahami objek yang
estetik. Terdapat dua fasa dalam proses melihat dan
memahami karya-karya seni dalam model ini. Fasa
pertama ialah pengalaman pembelajaran, penonton
menerokai kesenian yang lepas dan merangka
formula untuk merumuskan tafsiran asal.. Kemudian
melalui proses yang melibatkan teori pembelajaran,
tafsiran pertama atau penonton membandingkan
kepada badan-badan maklumat luaran ataupun
maklumat saintifk. Fasa kedua adalah pembinaan
semula pengetahuan mengenai karya-karya seni.
Kedua-dua proses ini boleh membantu penonton
dalam melanjutkan atau memahami objek seni dan
merangsang pertumbuhan dalam kemahiran melihat
objek seni. Akhirnya, tafsiran akan membawa kepada
komunikasi yang berkesan antara objek seni dan
penonton. Seperti yang dijelaskan oleh Youngentob
(2009) bahawa tafsiran yang baik perlu mewujudkan
hubungan antara penonton dan objek tafsiran.
Untuk membina sebuah perhubungan yang baik
dan berkesan, sidang diskusi setiap pameran perlu
diadakan untuk komunikasi pengetahuan. Sekiranya
kita percaya bahawa artifak atau amalan sahaja
tidak mencukupi untuk memajukan pengetahuan dan
ia bergantung pada konteks tafsiran. Di mana kita
juga harus menerima hakikat bahawa objek seni perlu
menjadi tesis yang bertulis dalam pada menyediakan
artikulasi dan kesahihan. Namun, ianya bukan
sesuatu yang semua inginkan bahkan ianya mungkin
tidak menarik minat bagi sesetengah pihak. Akan
tetapi, setiap yang bernamakan institusi seni perlu
memikirkannya setidak-tidaknya satu gagasan untuk
ilmu pengetahuan berpaksi.
TAFSIRAN
"Tafsiran adalah satu proses komunikasi, yang direka
untuk mendedahkan makna dan hubungan warisan
budaya dan alam semula jadi melalui penglibatan
dengan objek, artifak, landskap dan tapak". -
Tafsiran Kanada (1976). Menurut Veverka (2007)
bahawa untuk komunikasi menjadi sebuah tafsiran
ia seharusnya mencetuskan provokasi, berkaitan,
mendedahkan, mempunyai mesej perpaduan
dan menangani keseluruhannya. Tujuan tafsiran
adalah untuk provokasi, bukannya arahan. Beliau
menambah bahawa tafsiran komunikasi bukan
sekadar menyampaikan maklumat, tetapi strategi
komunikasi tertentu untuk menterjemahkan sesuatu
kepada penonton. Sementara itu, Youngentob (2009)
menyatakan bahawa tafsiran adalah satu proses
untuk memudahkan ide yang rumit dan berkongsi
dengan penonton yang lebih umum. Apabila
digunakan dengan berkesan, tafsiran juga boleh
meyakinkan dan memberi motivasi kepada orang
ramai untuk membuat perubahan dalam pemikiran
atau tingkah laku mereka. Dalam beberapa cara,
tafsiran boleh bertukar seperti konsep pemasaran.
Anda perlu memahami audien atau pengguna anda
untuk menjadinya lebih berkesan. Dalam dunia seni,
tafsiran adalah aspek yang sangat penting.
Tafsiran adalah satu mekanisma yang boleh
membuat komuniti seni menjadi matang
dan mengukuhkan aspek pemikiran.
Mentafsir objek seni memerlukan
analisis yang serius sekiranya belum
mampu menjadi kritikal dan tidak
sekadar komen deskriptif. Mathis
(2004) menegaskan bahawa
menganalisis karya seni telah
menjadi satu perniagaan besar.
Malah, ia adalah jauh lebih
besar daripada perniagaan
seni itu sendiri.
PERSEPSI
Melihat, membaca bahasa imej adalah persepsi
ke atas objek. Melihat ada hubung kaitnya dengan
persepsi dan cetusan tafsiran. Persepsi adalah
penerimaan deria kita terhadap ransangan
persekitaran ataupun permasalahan yang
dihadapi. Persepsi boleh dicapai menerusi
pancaindera penglihatan, sentuhan, bau dan
rasa. Melalui proses persepsi, kita mendapatkan
maklumat mengenai sesuatu dan menjadikan ianya
sebagai pengalaman persepsi. Persepsi melibatkan
proses kognitif untuk memproses maklumat dan
menganalisa untuk membuahkan sebuah tafsiran.
Di samping itu, persepsi adalah
mekanisma yang pertama
berlaku sebelum kehadiran
tafsiran. Ia adalah di
mana kita mempunyai
keupayaan untuk
membangunkan apa yang kita tanggapi. Menurut
Ramanov (2011) persepsi adalah perasaan, idea,
pemikiran, teori dan termasuk pancaindera. Konsep
ini adalah 'titik akhir' dan membolehkan kita untuk
melihat perbezaannya. Persepsi adalah keupayaan
untuk memahami perbezaan. Beliau menambah
bahawa persepsi itu tidak seperti keupayaan fzikal,
persepsi kita adalah tanpa had dan ia adalah sesuatu
yang boleh berubah dan dibangunkan. Walau
bagaimanapun, persepsi berbeza dari seorang ke
seorang. Ketidaksamaan ini datang dari pemahaman,
pengalaman dan pengetahuan yang berbeza. Situasi
yang sama, namun persepsi mahupun tanggapan
mereka berbeza. Malah, ia boleh mewujudkan
makna yang berbeza dalam kerja mereka.
Lee Kian Seng
'Of Image, Object, ilusion,
Off Series Mechanism ', 1977,
174 x 174 cm
Redza Piyadasa
'Models', 1978,
Frame glass, charcoal, paper,
acrylic on plywood,
152 x 125 cm Redza Piyadasa
'A Matter of Time', 1977,
Found Object, Arcylic on plywood
99 x 148 x 122 cm
| FAIZWAN MAT
pg/20
Apa-apa yang Pop dari Minda mengingati
kembali petikan kata-kata Jeri Azhari (Ahmad
Azhari Mohd Noor) ketika pameran solo seni
instalasi Integriti di BSLN, 2006.
Pemergian beliau telah meninggalkan pahatan
namanya di naungan dunia seni lukis moden
di Malaysia bernuansakan seni
Pop(Pop-Art). Tarikh 19 Julai
2012, genap enam tahun
pemergiannya ke alam
yang abadi.
Apakah orang yang bernama
Ahmad Azhari ini, seorang
seniman tulen?
Pertanyaan diatas adalah
intuisi Jeri Azhari dalam
penulisan beliau untuk
ruangan Titik Bengit, Majalah
Nusantara c1990-1994,
dimana persoalannya
bagaimanakah meletakkan
sesiapa sebagai ikon dalam
eksposisi sesuatu bidang,
adakah mereka layak atau
bagaimana ingin sampai ke
tahap tersebut?

Julai 1987, Jeri Azhari bertemu
dengan Andy Warhol dalam
mimpi seninya? Adakah itu
merupakan sebuah tanda (sign)
dimana Seni Pop datang dari rasukan roh
Andy Warhol terus ke jiwanya?
Sekarang barulah aku mengerti dan faham apa
yang di maksudkan oleh Andy Warhol. Biarlah aku
simpan sendiri dan akan ku beritahu kepada sesiapa
yang ingin tahu. Kerana walaupun senang dan
mudah diceritakan, untuk memahaminya begitu
sukar kecuali seseorang yang berada di dalam
keadaan ini.
Jeri Azhari
Pengorbanan sebagai seorang pelukis sepenuh
masa berdepan dengan kejayaan mahupun
kegagalan. Keyakinan dan kepercayaan terhadap
diri sendiri memikul pengertian hidup tidak lagi
satu perkara yang ideal, terlalu banyak perit peri
di tempuhi sebagai seniman. Namun, semangat
Seni Pop beliau bukan sekadar mencatan
dengan warna terang, meriah, dan mewah
malah keseluruhan hidupnya di gaul dengan
ke-glamour-an, fesyen dan gaya hidup
seperti nahu Seni Pop itu sendiri.
Mampukah saya mempertahankan idiom
Pop-Art yang aneh ini di Malaysia atau
saya perlu berhijrah ke United States atau ke
tempat lain untuk meneruskan urusan ini...

Jeri Azhari
Nyata, bergelumang dengan Seni Pop, bukan
satu keghairahan meraikan kehidupan. Ianya
bebanan berat kerana membawa nadi seni-nya
kepada masyarakat. Sepanjang hayatnya, Jeri
Azhari tenang menghadapi pikulan emosi sebagai
seorang seniman Seni Pop.
Tapi saya berazam walau apa
jadi sekalipun. Saya tidak akan
memotong telinga untuk
membuktikan ketulenan
hidup saya.
Jeri Azhari
Dalam catatan arkival
Jeri Azhari, beliau sangat
mengagumi pelukis Vincent
Van Gogh dan sudah seperti
seorang guru baginya, prinsip
hidup, catatan Van Gogh
kepada abangnya Theo-
memberikan inspirasi kepada
Jeri Azhari mengerti interaksi-
emosi antara corak hidupnya
dengan pelukis great master
-tersebut. Ketidak fahaman
masyarakat terhadap dirinya
umpama satu persamaan
antara Jeri dengan hidup
Van Gogh.
if you choose to become
a true artist, you might face
problems to hanging there and
suffer for being ahead of time.

JeriAzhari
(6 Nov 2000)
Pilihan sebagai seorang seniman adalah
jalan sukar yang berdepan dengan
kepelbagaian tekanan dalam kehidupan
material yang memerlukan kuasa nyawa
tambahan (wang-perihal ekonomi) untuk
mengekalkan kehidupan yang normal.
Perspektif masyarakat, sahabat
dan keluarga.
A person without relationship is
not a person at all.
Jeri Azhari
(Nov 2000)
19 Julai 2006-19 Julai 2012
Merupakan catatan ringkas
mengenang seorang seniman Seni
Pop di Malaysia. Segala usaha dan
kehidupannya di abadikan dalam
budaya popular, pemergiannya seperti
hilang sebutir bintang.
Al-Fatihah
| BAKTIAR NAIM
Ahmad Azhari Mohd Noor
'Robot'
1992
Besi, komponen enjin
dan cat polychrome
230 x 97 x 83 cm
Koleksi Balai Seni Visual Negara
Rujukan :
Semua sumber penulisan dan gambar mendapat
keizinan daripada pemilik-Noor Sita (Balu Jeri Azhari)
untuk disiarkan dalam Senikini ini.
pg/21
If
with the development of a computer, this
originally algorithmic and processing machine,
intermedia art has gained an equal position in the
feld of contemporary arts, the expansion of various
user interfaces has caused it to become, and
establish itself as, noteworthy in more traditional
art institutions, as well. Today, at a point when
it is increasingly appearing as interdisciplinary
expressiveness, intermedia art is linked with other
felds of art and embedded in an art work as a
whole as its equal and credible part. Technology is
now merely a means, no longer a goal; only one in
a series of tools in a creation process, which can be
used, as well as questioned and ignored. Open-
source modes encourage new refections about,
and new approaches to, contemporary intermedia
art. Just as the making of an art work is usually a
creative process from beginning to end, open-
source art advocates the creation of an art work as
a whole from the source code to the fnal launch
in the planned form and media. Although open
source is an increasingly present notion in today's
software, few people are aware that it is also largely
used in the development of art products. On the
one hand this is because when experiencing art
we are only interested in the result and rarely think
about the drive behind it, while on the other hand
we take its technological foundation for granted,
something within the domain of experts and
connoisseurs. However, the technical aspect of a
media work should be treated just as it is in other
products and forms.
ART AS A PROCESS \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\
With the development of technology and the range
of interfaces, and with new artistic approaches
to, and comprehension and realisation of, an art
work, the former rather rough computer-generated
image, which attracted attention with, if nothing
else, its unusual presentation, digital aesthetics
and the possibilities of affecting it, is transforming
into integral worlds illustrated by syntagmas such
as mixed or hybrid reality. This can help us imagine
a broader creative process in which we are not
only faced with a digital image and/or sound
usually the key factors, which we can affect back,
converting a state into a dynamic process under
previously defned attributes but in which a digital
art work becomes part of a broader, more integral
environment moving from the virtual into the real
and back.
COMPREHENSIvE ART WORK \\\\\\\\\\
Thus, the emergence of new art works is increasingly
coming closer to a distinct comprehensive art
work (Gesamtkunstwerk), but not in the historic,
Wagnerian sense, which distinguishes the on-
stage happening as active and creative from the
audience as a passive entourage in a nondescript
crowd when it comes to comprehension of an art
work; but in a more modern defnition of the space
and the individual, which interprets each spectator
and/or listener as an active participant of the
artistically generated reality and places them in an
environment based on their actions and reactions.
Some kind of an information body, a composite
of external infuences and stimuli, and internal
receptions and processes, is formed in a relation
to the given advantages of work and based on
preferences and education of an individual; a
new individual emerges, who divides his or her time
between a digitalised world and an analogue one.
THE ANALOGUE, THE DIGITAL...\\\\\\\\\
The digital is becoming more and more real, and the
analogue is transforming into the digital. It seems there
are no artists or art that are not also present in the
cyber world. Signals have been there forever, but in
the contemporary world we are increasingly learning
to capture frequencies and use them as information
transmitters and a means of communication.
Fascination with the technological, which was present
in the past, was replaced by fascination with a user
value, with usefulness becoming the focus. In such a
constellation, art feels trapped and looks for ways to
go beyond an immediate purpose. This is why it forges
links with other felds, especially science, often seeking
refuge in pseudo-science and ironising processes,
or sometimes going for extreme conditions and
expecting affrmation in view of attention that such an
approach produces.
ART AS A PRODUCT \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\
Each art generates products. Art works are created
even in a dematerialised environment of virtual
reality. The material and the non-material establish a
synthesized world of mixed or hybrid realities, which
enhance the media reality with the all-embracing.
Characteristic of it is a fow from one production
centre into countless distribution channels, whereas
the internet as a generator of mixed realities
typically has countless production centres and
distribution channels. This means that art is created
and distributed in the same way, which brings about
an immense creative platform of user-generated
content. In an environment of these proportions,
art has got another opportunity to depart from the
old everyone-can-be-an-artist and DIY concepts
through quality, creative superlatives and creative
coding.
THE REAL AND THE vIRTUAL \\\\\\\\\\\
Therefore, in addition to its own emancipation,
intermedia art has brought about a new revival
of artistic creation that separated it from user
experience. With intermedia, users have learned
how to comprehend the real in a new way, and
changed their take on environment though a
virtual experience. The analogue, enhanced with
principles and the aesthetics of the digital, has
been given a new affrmation and has acquired
a new meaning. It has returned to its source code
and brought classical art forms face to face with
creative principles of cybernetics and computer
processes. Art has structured yet another new
medium and defned it as creative in the domains
of intermedia art. Thus, it could be maintained that
intermedia art is the most avant-garde art present,
because by merging media it initiates a dialogue
between them, as well as dictates their equal
relationship and, though a search for new means
of expression in the analogue and the digital, their
autonomous appearance.
THE OPEN-SOURCE \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\
As it seems, open-source solutions are central to
the European (new)media art, partly because
Europe has no software giant of its own and has
always been interested in fnding its own inspiration
in computer engineering, but also as a result of
its tradition of enlightenment, which fostered
multiculturalism and multilingualism. It is certainly
no coincidence that the Linux operating system
was developed by a Finn, Linus Torvalds a.k.a. Linus
Thorwald, who began creating his open-source
system in 1991. Since its launch, Linux has grown into
one of the strongest agents in world's software and
a noteworthy competitor, which also operates most
of world's servers.
ART AS A CODE: OPEN-SOURCE ART \\\\
Open-source art is considered the only true
computer-generated art, bearing in mind both
technological and user aspects, as well as creative
and artistic angles. In Slovenia, new-media art has
been based on an open source code, used by
everyone in their products, with their solutions freely
available on the internet (one of the best praxis
the festival 'Kiblix Open code for artistic purposes'
presented since 2001 in the Multimedia Centre
KIBLA, Maribor).
| PETER TOMA DOBRILA
INTERMEDIA ART \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\
Intermedia art also comprises classical visual and
music processes. It has upgraded onomatopoeia
into own aesthetics of the nature; imitation was
substituted by realisation, the generation of one's
own living space, which is created amid wires
and processors and is expanded by means of
frequencies. The reach of frequencies defnes the
limits of the digital world and the space in which
foundations for intermedia art-making are possible.
But it has to be emphasized the digital is merely a
simulacrum of a simulacrum. The digital only exists
as a composite of the analogue with two features:
density and speed. The digital is merely a human
defnition of what our minds and senses cannot
perceive as continuous, analogue. Due to high
density of certain elements on a reducing surface
and an unimaginable speed of processing large
amounts of information, this appears to us as if
states are skipping, as if processes are arriving in
portions.
...THE qUANTUM \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\
But even more complex and speedy processes take
place in our brains, this entirely analogue organ
with all its receptive capacities and constraints.
The fact is that nature is analogue, while the
digital is a composite of analogue processes in a
small space in an extremely short time. Nature is
quantum, as well, but we will not go into quantum
physics and mechanics. In this wired information
or digital society, a human is one of the knots
in a net through which certain information is
distributed; and is a creature on the intersection of
communication connections and streams, one of
which is intermedia art. Interwoven into it are pure
classical art forms painting, statue, architecture
and more modern media, which it uses to construct
photography, flm, video. It has also become
environmentally aware and motivated, as less
and less art works deal with an upgrade, a move
forward; instead they firt with dated equipment,
unused software, they turn to the decomposition of
structures, or even attack and destroy computers
in a Luddite-like manner to emphasize their
questionable environmental role.
pg/22
| Peter toma dobrila is an electronic i.T engineer
and a musician who focuses on the creative use
of new technologies. He is currently working at
maribor 2012- eurpean capital of culture as adviser
to the programme director. www.maribor2012.eu
Let my thoughts come to
you, when I am gone, like
the afterglow of sunset at the
margin of starry silence.
In Chitralipi (1930) Tagore wrote that the ultimate purpose
of his works is not to illustrate or to copy some outer fact or
inner vision, but to evolve a harmonious wholeness which
fnds its passage through our eyesight into imagination. It
neither questions our mind for meaning not burdens it with
unmeaningness, for it is, above all meaning.
Painting had a special place in this opening to
cultures through which Rabindranath shaped the
modern Indian cultural scene. Painting was the last
art form to enter his oeuvre. Although he played the
role of a catalyst in shaping the modern Indian art
scene since the beginning of the 20th century, he
began to paint only in his mid-sixties. This meant that
while his creative work in other mediums, along with
his engagement with the world, moved through a
nationalist, pan-Asian and universalistic phase, his
work as a painter belonged exclusively to the phase
of universal humanism. His painting, more than his
work in any other medium, was also moulded by his
interactions with world art. Untrained in art, he found
himself as a painter by connecting the sense of
graphic rhythm he acquired through the cultivation of
the art of writing with the rhythmic articulation of forms
he encountered in certain strands of oriental, primitive
and modern art.
R. SIVA KUMAR
The National Visual Arts Gallery (NVAG) Malaysia is
proud to hosts the exhibition entitled The Last Harvest,
an international exhibition of artworks by Indias
distinguished poet, philosopher and the frst Asian
Nobel Prize winner (1913) Rabindranath Tagore (1861-
1941). This prestigious travelling exhibition, curated by
Professor R.Siva Kumar, is co-organized by the Ministry
of Culture of India with the National Gallery of Modern
Art New Delhi in conjunction with the Nobel Laureates
150th anniversary and showcases 50 drawings,
paintings and other works that offers art lovers a
wonderful visual glimpse into the mind and emotions
of one of Asias most celebrated literary giants of the
20th century.
Tagore, who did not receive formal training in the visual arts, brought
to his paintings a view and feel that is both modern in approach but
traditional in its themes. His subjects whether in quiet contemplation,
at work or play are the everyday peoples and everyday realities.
The faces, fgures in groups or alone, the landscapes and animals
are portrayed in a style that can be classifed as naf. However, it
possesses visual potency in its simplicity, frugal use of colors and
in nominal brush lines. The lone fgures, portraits, landscapes and
animals of his paintings and drawings, all rendered in the semi
abstract visual idiom, are made more pronounced by the sparse
background and economy of colors, tones in dramatic effects of
light as well as shadow, perceptively reveals the subjects character
and conditions in its most unembellished and stark reality.
I slept and dreamt that life was joy.
I awoke and saw that life was service.
I acted and behold,
Service was joy.
pg/23
There is ample information available about the
multidisciplinary visual artist Chang Yoong Chia
accessible to all at www. changyoongchia.net.
Though the website-modest and unpretentious-much
like the introverted artist himself, includes articles,
reviews, interviews, his CV and a decent selection of
photos plus recent works, as well as performances
culled from his more than a decade
career as a practicing visual artist, it
is admittedly still, a diffcult task to
categorize accurately or to confne
Yoong Chia comfortably within a
specifc context when analyzing
or discussing his artistic output
without being confounded
or contradicted by his next
creative oeuvre. Although his
works, from paintings, drawings,
prints to 3D forms of various
scales and dimension, uses
traditional art materials as well as
common everyday objects such as
wood, bones, eggshells etc, it is his
unconventional approach to realizing
his unique artistic vision that sets him apart
from the generations of practicing artists in the
country.
Without resorting to painting those silly vainglorious
self aggrandizing portraits or striking heroic poses
complete with traditional garments and what not in
dramatic lighting, his works especially his paintings
makes subtle references to the self sans the insecure
need to allude to ethnocentrism or religious identity
(which as practiced here, comes with a hefty
price tag!).
In Yoong Chias drawings and paintings, there is
usually a wide-eye, male fgure with his hair parted,
sometimes attired in his salary man mode, other
times sky-clad, and of late, frolicking with his female
counterpart, whom both, without feeling being
intruded upon, allows the viewers a glimpse of their
tryst in their secret garden. What would express and
complete ones self so utterly if not ones own
other half? Adam and his Eve, Shiva and his
Shakti, Yin and its Yang..
Among Yoong Chias varied outputs
are paintings on found, everyday
objects. Discarded and perishable,
some were collected from his daily
strolls or from travels abroad. The
themes of the minutely executed
paintings and drawings on
eggshells, animal skulls and bones,
rocks, leaves, wood and other fragile
materials are usually symbolically
about birth, life and all the excitement
and follies that we encounter along the
way to the inevitable-death, which are all
aptly enhanced by the materials used and
ingeniously mounted or framed. There is always
an element of irony and a dark sense of humor
underlying these works which offers much amusement
and food for thought.
Some aspects of Symbolism, Surrealism and Magic
Realism are discernable or can be attributed
to Yoong Chias works. He had in the past cited
the visual artworks of Hans Christian Andersen as
important infuences too though the motivation that
primarily fuels his imagination has always been the
recollections selected from his childhood years as well
as impressions and observations from daily life.
| TAN SEIHON
A pickup at the train station
2006
Oil on Canvas
170 x 64 cm
Private Collection
Portrait of hrh Chang Yoong Chia
commissioned by his minions
2006
Ant Wings on Glass
56 x 71cm
Private Collection
Untitled
2001
Papercut mounted on Board
38 x 25.5 cm
Private Collection
The Giant
2008
Oil on Seashells
17 x 23 x 7cm
pg/24
However, far from conveniently feeding
off nostalgic longings and exploiting fond
sentimentalities, his primary interests and themes
have consistently shifted between or rather
embodied both the existential, which he couches
in the absurd, ironic or out-of-the-ordinary and
the primordial (without being Primitivist), in the
fantastical.
Recently, certain issues and sentiments that
are keenly felt by the artist living and working in
todays perplexing political and cultural climate
of uncertainty has slowly made its presence
more visible in his works especially his collages,
though it is done so without the pseudo political
posturing or simpleminded strategies of appealing
to nationalism, ethnic chauvinism or historicism as
retort. Instead, all that is registered by the artists
sense and sensibilities are presented in various
lush, imaginary settings or mundane situations
populated by men, fora and fauna in a symbiotic
relationship where each with their own peculiar
roles and functions, live in disquiet equilibrium.
That he has been able to comment on the situation
of his surroundings without being pedantic or
caustic, attest to an awareness of the role of
the artist, a creative individual (especially those
endowed with a sense of humor) armed with
only a handful of tools for expression but a sharp,
boundless intellect for thinking in subtleties and
metaphors who as observers of the self, others
and the signs of the times they live in, acts as
documenter, commenter and celebrator.
Yoong Chias ability to synthesize all of this grave
preoccupations and presents it in an inventive
and playful manner in painstaking details through
his works in ways that make easy categorization
diffcult is much attributed to his patience and
trust in the creative impulse; his inner guide to
lead, uncover and extract from the impressions
registered in his subconscious to arrive at that most
appropriate to his temperament, refective of his
personality and agreeable to his principals.
His preoccupations may not be as ambitious or
lofty like others but it resonates well with many of his
admirers whom he continues to attract quietly each
time and wherever he exhibits his latest works.
Eschewing the superfcial and stereotypical, Yoong
Chia meanders on the only way he knows, by
following the creative impulses, impressions registered
from daily life and his surroundings as well as from
lived experiences while maintaining his artistic
integrity.
A short review posted on the now defunct
Kakiseni.com by an admirer of the artist ended
with the question, Where will Yoong Chias fertile
imagination takes us next?
Where indeed!
Since I grew tired of the chase
And search, I learned to fnd;
And since the wind blows in my face,
I sail with every wind
Friedrich Nietzsche
The darwin-wallace theory of evolution, 2010, postage stamps and adhesive (collage), 33 x 57 cm
Shadow of fora & fauna
2009
Plastic toys, adhesive,
wooden stool and light
97 x 32 x 32 cm
Collection of Mr. Reuel Amstrong
Sunlight and animals of the night
2008
Oil on Seashells
19cm x 9cm x 2cm
Prior to Indonesia, the wax relief technique
used to produce batik has existed around the
world in places like India, China and Europe.
Thus the origins of batik are diffcult to trace.
However, batik from Indonesia soon fourished
and developed into a truly unique art form that
penetrated throughout the Indonesian culture.
Initially produced for personal use, by the
second half of the 19th century batik had
become increasingly commercialised to
cater to a wide range of tastes. Numerous
batik workshops opened, breaking free from
courtly restrictions. Their fame reached Europe
as European textile producers tried to make
imitation batik, which only served to increase
the popularity of Indonesian batik.
Batik fourishing in Indonesia was placed on
an abrupt halt with the arrival of the Second
World War. It led to a decline in aristocracy,
the closure of many batik workshops, and
social instability. Nevertheless, the Japanese
occupation in Indonesia led to the introduction
of new motifs and designs. With Indonesia
declaring independence in 1945, the local
people felt the need to reclaim batik again,
cementing the countrys position as lead
batik producers.
Batik soon permeated through to the common
people from the Javanese court, as it was an art
form that knew no social boundaries. Its diversity
and beauty meant batik was widely collected,
a move that is integral to keeping batik alive till
today. Most notably were the Dutch who had
previously colonised Indonesia. They garnered
a considerable collection that found its place in
museums. Thus, Indonesian batiks took to the world
stage in the 19th century to gain its rightful place
as a form of cultural heritage both locally and
internationally.
What element makes batik so widely renowned?
One might argue that its the surface decoration
that plays host to an array of motifs and designs. It
follows Indonesian life closely, as different motifs are
used for various ceremonies and also for everyday
life. They hold intricate meaning and also refect
status, and can symbolize the wearers occupation.
For instance, fsh motifs can indicate a fshermans
hard work and dedication. Batik motifs are also
viewed as a source of protection. Indeed, the
tambal motif is thought to be able to protect and
heal sick people. Thus, batik patterns were not purely
decorative; they served for a further purpose that
extended beyond aesthetic appreciation. However,
the forbidden motifs are the most treasured and
revered, as they were exclusive to the kraton, or
royal courts. These restrictions had a considerable
impact on the creativity and progress of the batik
pattern. Forbidden motifs like the parang rusak,
or broken sword, originally stood as a symbol of
power. These meanings tended to fade over time,
or became distorted. Nevertheless, this shows the
adaptability of batik, and how it fts into its
historical context.
How does all this relate to Ann Dunham? One
might argue that she not only could identify with
the motifs themselves, but was also heavily involved
with their creation. The exhibition at IAMM thus
showcases her love for this traditional art form and
way of life, and how deeply embedded they were
in each other.
Ann Dunhams Legacy: A Collection of Indonesian
Batiks will be on display from 9th June to 20th July
2012 at IAMM. For more information, please see
www.iamm.org.my
| SHING YI TAN
Images courtesy of the
Islamic Arts Museum
Malaysia
'Ann Dunhams Legacy: A Collection of
Indonesian Batik' is an exhibition at the Islamic
Arts Museum Malaysia (IAMM) that showcases
the personal batik collection of Ann Dunham,
President Obamas mother. Her diverse and
unique collection refects her understanding of
the batik tradition, and her drive and ambition
in furthering Indonesias prospects. To fully
comprehend Dunhams passion for this tradition,
one must examine the origins of batik and how
it has adapted and evolved over time.
Batik-making is a laborious and complex process,
making it a rooted tradition amongst the batik-
making families. Batik tulis, or hand-drawn batik,
and batik cap, or block-printed batik, are the two
main methods of making Indonesia batik.
In terms of fabric, silk and cotton are both used,
although cotton is preferred. Wax is applied to
resist dyes, henceforth creating patterns. The
dyeing process is the crucial stage, with blue,
brown and deep red used as traditional Javanese
colours. The Javanese also perfected the dyeing
technique, so that the colours dont fade easily.
The batik maker draws the freehand pattern in
pencil on the cloth prior to the wax application,
with the wax removed with hot water. This process
is repeated until the desired effect is achieved.
Indeed, the most exquisite patterns take up to a
year to complete.
pg/26
Sam Karuna is acknowledged as among
the handful of modern batik masters
still painting in this tedious but vibrant
medium today. Sam, who began his
career as a fulltime artist in the 1960s
found batik painting to be his medium of
choice. Since then, he has had numerous
successful exhibitions locally and abroad.
He uses the batik medium to capture
and present spirit of the peoples of
Malaysia that makes this country unique.
Sam is also the creator of the technique
which he named Dyetik that helps him
to achieve more realistic details hitherto
never before seen in this medium. SENIKINI
caught up with the ever affable painter
at his home studio in Bangsar to fnd out
more about his life and what inspires him.
When did your
interest in the
visual arts
started?
Since my
childhood years,
I have always
had great love
for expressing
myself artistically.
I guess I'm
blessed with this
innate ability and
it's in my soul.
Perhaps it is my
destiny to pursue
a career in the
visual arts.

Who were your early infuences?
In the late 1960's when I was in high
school, I had to pass by the late Datuk
Chuah Thean Teng's small art studio in
Leith Street off Chulia Street in Penang
to school. Never a day would I pass
his studio without having a glimpse at
his batik paintings. As we are aware,
most modern batik art Masters come
from Penang and the numerous batik
art exhibitions held there infuenced
and reinforced me to take up batik as
fne art, and later to take it to a greater
heights to worldwide recognition.

When did you decided to become
painter/artist? What were the challenges
you faced when you began your
art career?
In the early 60's when I was still in
secondary school, I was already
artistically inclined and had this
insatiable interest for drawing and
painting. But since I came from an
average working class family with
limited means, my involvement and
interest in art was not welcomed by my
parents. They would prefer that I take
up a profession that provided a steady
income rather than to be an artist.
To be able to afford the art materials
and to pursue my dream, I took
part -time jobs, taught art with a regular
student base and sold my works at
whatever price that was offered. It
was an uphill battle but my persistence
and determination was strong. It kept
me going to where I am today, a
successful artist.

When did you start using batik as your
medium of expression and why
did you choose it?
The late Datuk Chuah had raised the
status of batik craftwork to fne art at
the exhibition in London and many
artists were emulating him in the 1960s.
I was infuenced
and convinced to
become a batik
fne art artist.

Are there any other
artists who have
infuenced you in
your work besides
Datuk Chuah Thean
Teng?
Dato Tay Mo Leong
and Toya Lim
Khoon Hock.

What messages do
you wish to convey through the batik
medium?
The Batik medium is a national heritage
and deserves a place in the world art
stage. It is a very lively and generates
keen interests in various parts of the
world.

Why was there a need to experiment
with batik technique? What impact were
you trying to achieve?
Originally, batik was considered a craft
due to commercial exploitation. Datuk
Chuah raised its status to modern fne
art. Batik fne art techniques before and
now are basically the same.
Since I believe in the idea of being
original and to be different from other
fne art batik artist, I experimented on the
techniques of Batik 'ism' for several years
and fnally made a breakthrough.
The name of the technique which I have
created is 'Dyetik', which is similar to the
pointillist effects of Georges P. Seurat.
However, my technique is more refned
as I use very fne dots, an approach I
call Micro-pointillism. The results are
speckled effects with varying shades
that invokes a multitude of moods to
presents a mystical feel to the paintings.
My predecessors took Malaysian art to
where it is today. Their contributions have
inspired and energized me. Like runners
from the same team, I feel like I have
received the baton that was passed
to me and it is now my responsibility
to run the extra mile in perfecting this
medium of art which we are proud to
claim as our own. One must take pride in
whatever one does and to continue to
improve whatever one is doing.
The only time you become an immortal
is when your work immortalizes you.
Sam is one of only two artists invited to India this year by ICCR - ASEAN
Painters' camp In Darjeeling, India which starts on the 9th to 19th June 2012.
He is proud to be selected and hopes to promote the good name of country
and her peoples through his art.
'Tropical Fruit' 76 cm x 61 cm, Dyetik
'Spirited Child', 87 cm x 66 cm, Dyetik
'Unity', 100 cm x 80 cm, Dyetik
pg/27
On
May 24, 2012, Rahmat Haron stood with his
back to the palace wall in Mandalay. In his
left hand, he held a kerosene lantern; in his right, an
open umbrella. Someone placed a chair under the
umbrella. A few minutes later, Ma Ei, a Burmese artist
from Rangoon, her shoulders draped with a white scarf,
sat down on the chair. The two gazed without emotion.
A crowd slowly began to gather in the street. Motorbikes
stopped. Cars slowed down. The four lane road was at a
near standstill.
Maung Lwin distributed cut straws a small whistle
used by Burmese children. Myint Thein Suu, principal of
Dreamland Art and Music School, carrying a fashlight,
began sweeping the sidewalk. Htay Aung Myat passed
around paper-framed glasses with colour plastic lenses
for people to wear.

Then, Ni Maung
Oo, the senior
artist of the
group, placed
a wooden
chair to the
left of Rahmat
Haron and
began binding
his leg to it with
a rope. From
the rope, little
tinkling bells
swung. He
recited a short
poem and
then promptly
plugged his
mouth with a light bulb, covering it with red duct tape.
His body jerked, causing the chair to move about 7
meters.
Moe Satt enters the arena and writes MYANMAR on the
sidewalk with chalk and elicits words from the audience
to describe their country. Rayza Mukmin appears with a
sarong cloth tied over his head; he writhes around, trying
to take it off.
A few yards away, I open the plastic woven foor mat
borrowed from Dreamland, sat down, and fold it around
my body. Once fully enveloped, I begin to slowly roll
towards Rahmat. I am not totally sure what will transpire
when I get there and it does not matter just 30 seconds
or so into it, I hear Moe Satts voice near my head, The
police are here. They say you must stop the
performance now.
I slowly parted the fold and poke my head out still in
performance mode. I unfold myself from the mat and
drag it behind me as I went to fetch my shoes and bag.
I then wrap the mat around me and trudge across the
four lanes of traffc to where Khalilah, my two-year-old
daughter, is sitting with Ma Ei and Nge Lay.
Eventually, the others made their way over. We all
sat under the trees and enjoyed mango drinks from
a nearby stand. Except for Moe Satt, Ni Maung Oo
and Myint Thein Suu they have been driven to the
police station for questioning. Everyone seems to be
taking it quite lightly so I naively assume this is just a
short procedure and they will get a fne for some silly
infraction.
Three cops zip into the side street and talked to our
driver. We were rounded up and told to go to the station
for further questioning.
The room is small and dark and crammed full of
uniformed police and plain-clothed informants. I
recognize several faces from the crowd on the street.
Cameras clicked away. Wong Eng Leong, one of my
Malaysian counterparts, whips out his video camera.
No one stops him or takes it away. Khalilah, who is
hungry, helps herself to the offcers potato chips sitting
on his desk. They ask us about our performance. It is all
relatively cordial.
What was your performance about?
Being in foreign land, I answer, semi-truthfully.
What about the mat?
Oh, it was my vehicle like a time
machine, I reply.
Everyone is questioned. I cannot report
much: I do not understand Burmese
and was too busy dealing
with the chip thief
to pay attention to
translations. About
45 minutes later, I
follow the others
out of the room and
back to our truck. We
are escorted by several police vehicles to
another station.
There is no electricity, no fan, and it is mid-
afternoon. We are there for what seems like
a few hours. Khalilah develops prickly heat,
is sweating profusely, and is understandably
cranky. We are all bored, tired, hungry, and
hot. One by one, we are sent into a room to fll
out a form that we cannot read (in Burmese).
Eventually, boredom and frustration took over
and some cheeky performative gestures are
made in the conference room. Some rice and
omelette is delivered after complaints about
the baby being hungry.
We are dismissed. No explanations from
anyone other than Moe Satt, who has
signed a contract agreeing to not make
public performances without proper
permits.
Sounds reasonable.
The next morning,
we pack up,
check out of the
hotel and left our
bags in the lobby
while we went
sightseeing in
the countryside.
We
have
a bus
booked
back to Yangoon
that evening and our fight home is the next morning.
Around 2 oclock, Moe gets a call-Immigration Police
are coming. They follow us back to the guesthouse. The
small lobby is packed full of cops. Moe tells us we must
board a van and that they will take us back to Yangoon
he is allowed to come, to interpret. So, at 4:30, the fve
Malaysian artists plus Khalilah, Moe Satt, four offcers, and
a driver left for Yangoon.
We arrive at 4:45 am. We are told we can check in to
the hotel across the street from the airport but that we
must pay for it. We are then told that we must go to the
Immigration Offce at 5:30.
Whats the point? I snap.
| CHELSEA HIKES
We were herded back into the van, stopped at a tea
shop, and then driven to some random house-like
structure. There was no electricity, no running water, no
soap. The main room had a bunch of dusty desks and
chairs. We are allowed to go across the street to the
caf. They left us there with a driver/informant.
Four gruelling hours later, another car pulls up. We are
driven to the airport. The Burmese artists are all there
waiting for us except Muang Lwin. Our passports are
confscated and we are left in front of security for some
time. More performative gestures are made between us
and the Burmese artists as we gaze down through the
glass wall dividing us from our friends.
We are taken past security and escorted to the boarding
area. We are left there til boarding time. Then an offcer
comes, hands our passports over to a fight crew
member, and we are frst to board the
plane.
When the plane lands,
Rahmat asks for our
passports. Some crew
member had us follow
her and then we
are told to wait
again. We waited
about an hour
before receiving
our passports
stamped
DEPORTEE.
Now, the seven
Myanmar artists
are waiting for
the courts ruling
2000 Kyat
($2 USD) fne
or up to three
years in prison.
They are being
charged with
an obscure law
that the charging
offcer spent all
night researching
to fnd something to
charge you with.
Upon refection, this
goes along with
the entire process
we went through.
No one explained
to us why we were
being detained or
what we were being
charged with, we
were held in extremely
uncomfortable confnements without any
orders on what was expected of us, and we were
deported on our own airline tickets. It seems to me that
our performance unnerved some offcials who didnt
know what to make of it and decided to keep us away
from the public so to not arouse populace interest.
This is not a sign of the democratic Myanmar that is being
touted to the international media. Our experience and
the on-going investigation needs to be covered as
much as possible so that people understand that Burmese
offcials are not
actually prepared
to allow freedom
of speech and
expression within
their country there
is still so much work
to do there.
pg/28
About the Artists :
Muhamad Noor Bin Md Yussoff
aka Tony Mdy
Full Bio please logon
to http://www.
tonymdy.com/p/
proflebio.html
Safrah Binti Rashid
Full Bio, please logon to http://arts.lensa.
asia/p/my-proflebio.html
All of these artists had participated in 'World
Bodypainting Festival' in Austria in 2010 and
2011 representing Team Malaysia in the
category of 'World Award' AIRBRUSH and
FineArt led by Tony Mdy.
Camoufage/Invisible Art - object remains
unnoticed by blending with its environment..
Think FAR (Fake Art Realistic)
For more please logon
www.tonymdy.com
This Isnt a Painting!!

"See if you can fnd the people
in these photographs"
Note : THESE ARE REAL PHOTOGRAPHS
WITH REAL PEOPLE,
NOT DIGITAL MANIPULATION!

The Experimental...Human as a canvas-live
Sculpture, pop-out' painting, which are
like a four-in-one' as it combines painting,
installation, performance
and photography.

This type of painting is made up of an
under and top layer of colours. The top
layer will have to blend into the picture and
appear three-dimensional. And as long
as the models remain still, or if viewing via
photograph, the models will look like part of
the picture. Ini Bukan Lukisan dan Ia adalah
orang Sebenar!!
----------------------------------------------------------------
Ini ialah Fotograf...Tiada unsur foto digital
manipulasi. Experimentasi Konsep FAR
Pop-Out Fake realistic painting merangkumi
4 dlm 1 iaitu ; Painting, Installation,
Performance & Photography
Idea sebenar seni ini adalah
menampakkan seolah olah
ia sebuah Lukisan dalam still
photography tetapi hakikatnya
ia bukan sebuah lukisan. saya
gunakan orang sebenar sebagai
kanvas dan menjadikan ia
sebagai arca hidup dalam
mempersembahkan karya
tersebut.
pg/29
Shafee Ramli, 'Rest in Peace. Rebus. (A tribute: Robert Rauschenberg)'
Khairul Arshad, 'Mission Impossible'
Azrin Mohd, 'Just a Dream'
For those not in the know (and I was one of them)
House of Matahati (HOM) is an art and culture gallery
cum center in the middle of Kuala Lumpur linked
to a spectrum of diverse and exciting creative arts
practitioners. I would say no more about the center but
I strongly recommend that you go and visit the center
and be astonished.
I was invited by a friend to see an exhibition at the
gallery entitled PopUp by email. My frst impression
as someone coming from the Mat Salleh world was
Oooooo Wonderful! . but Ive seen all these before.
So I asked myself,Do I really need to see it again? But I
promised myself not to have any preconceptions based
on my pass experiences.
And so, I went to the exhibition and came away
pleasantly surprised. I have not seen these kinds of works
before; these are something different. True, some of
these works refects those produced in West, mostly in
the 70s but was made dissimilar by the touches of these
young bona fde Malaysian artists. These works still have
signifcant bearings whether made by Mat Sallehs or not
Mat Sallehs.

These works, in all their diversity clearly communicates
their critical refections towards something that is not only
felt by the Malaysian artists but also by other artists in the
art world. From the point of formal visual language, the
artists works does refect western notions, however on
the point of substance, the works are typical Malaysian.
Lets look at Azrin Mohds work, the title alluding to Andy
Warhols famous statement about 15 minutes. To Azrin
Mohd, life is like a dream, if we were not in a postmodern
era it would be pure Surrealism. His painting depicts the
world of dreams in a post modern era, which presents
very intriguing situations.
Anisa Abdullah, 'Take Me Home'
Both Najib Ahmad
Bamadhaj and Anisa
Abdullahs works are
about homecoming
and nostalgic
sentiments, but not
the saccharine kind of
feeling caused from
living in an urbanized
habitat.
Both approaches
employ critical
statements of reality
as experienced by
the artists, and as
themes explored in
their work. The use
of language in an artwork is
a post modern approach and
at the same time refecting a very
formal visual language.
Shafee Ramli touches on socio cultural sentiments
with political connotations by paying tribute to Robert
Rauschenberg, that socio-cultural and political rebel
of the 70s from America when America was America.
However, today America has become AmeriKKKa. The
world needs more Rauschenberg(s).
On the other hand, another artist, Akhmal looks at the
identity or characteristics of a wooden found object
and explores a mix media application
on the wooden surface while Alicecia
explores the personalization of the
relationship between technology and
her own Identity in it.
Defnitely these works are
multilayered in their conception
and interpretation, they are
not to be seen in one go,
these works needs to be
revisited, because they are
not Mat Salleh" art. They
are Southeast Asian in origin
and Malaysian in substance,
contemporary at the given
moment and the art of the
moment with a distinctive
past in it.
pg/30
Miodrag (pronounced Mishko) Desovski is a
contemporary visual artist from Macedonia
currently residing in Malaysia. He is one
of the founder-member of Collective Zero
which was invited to participate in the 54th
International Biennale in Venice, 2011.
Setiap individu mempunyai watak yang
tersendiri. Bagaimanakah kita dapat
mengenali diri dan membawa diri kita
kepada orang sekeliling?
Sempena pameran 'Japan: Kingdom of
Character' yang mempamerkan Super Hero
seperti Ultraman, Pokemon, Hello Kitty dan
banyak lagi watak idaman di BSVN, Bengkel Seni
Cuti Sekolah yang bertajuk 'Ayuh Mengayuh!'
telah dilangsungkan pada 10 hingga 12 Mac
2012. Bengkel ini adalah bertujuan untuk
menggalakkan proses mengenal, mereka bentuk
dan mempersembahkan watak demi dapat
meningkatkan keyakinan diri melalui proses
lukisan, seni rekabentuk 2D dan 3D, berserta
dengan aktiviti-aktiviti social seperti rebana dan
mengayuh basikal.
Pelbagai bengkel telah dilaksanakan secara
serentak pada ketiga-tiga hari tersebut dan
seramai 80 orang peserta yang terdiri daripada
golongan guru, ibubapa dan pelajar telah
bersama-sama mengalami pengalaman ekplorasi
seni yang tidak dapat dilupakan dengan pelukis
tanah air yang berbakat.
Antara pelukis yang menjadi tenaga pengajar
ialah Muhamad Faizal Bin Abdul Jalil, Shieko Reto,
Paul Lau, Nuriman Amri Bin Abdul Manap dan
Jasmine Kok.
Demi permintaan dan sambutan hangat
daripada para peminat seni, pasukan cawangan
pendidikan BSVN berjanji akan mengulang
program 'Ayuh Mengayuh!' dengan fasa baru
pada cuti penggal akhir tahun yang akan datang
nanti. Maklumat yang terkini akan dipaparkan di
laman web BSVN: www.artgallery.gov.my atau
fb BSVN : Balai Seni Visual Negara dan Balai Seni
Visual Negara II.
En. Muhamad Faizal Bin Abdul Jalil, Bengkel
mereka bentuk watak
Jasmine Kok, Bengkel Creative Recycle
Nuriman Amri Bin Abdul Manap,
Bengkel Creative Recycle
Pasukan Cawangan Pendidikan BSvN, Mencetak T-Shirt
Tugu Drum Circle, Bengkel Rebana
Shieko Reto, Melukis Mural
Shieko Reto, Bengkel mereka bentuk watak
P
e
r
b
a
ris
a
n
: A
yuh Mengayuh!
pg/31
Hueman Studio
(artworks and crafts)
Add: No. 9, Jalan Tokong, 75200
Melaka,Malaysia.
Tel: 06-288 1795
Email: huemanstudio@yahoo.com
Url: www.huemanstudio.com
Relaxsee Gallery
lot 125, lrg Kempas 1,
Kampung Melayu 68000
Ampang, Slangor D.E
Ismail Hj. Baba
Naive Artist
017 883 0303
03-42533984
NEO POP ART (JERIS STUDIO 55)
Sitajeriazhari (Art Dealer)
220 Lorong Maarof
Bangsar 59000 Kuala Lumpur Malaysia
Studio : 03-2094 1537
Mobile : 013-3253 045
Natyavaruval Arts Workshop
And Gallery
Umi Natasya Pie
016-3766 181
25-2, Taman Setapak Indah Jaya
Jalan Puah Jaya,
Of Jalan Pahang,
53000 Kuala Lumpur.
Email: natyavaruval @yahoo.com
Chekri Mansor
(Free lance caricaturist, cartoonist, painter and
musician)
chekrimansor@gmail.com
http://chekrimansor.webs.com/
ART GENERATION STUDIO
21-1, Jalan Damai Perdana 1/8D,
Bandar Damai Perdana,
56000 Cheras Kuala Lumpur.
Tel/Fax: 03-9100 1597
Blog: baiduren-space.blogspot.com
Email: art.baiduren@gmail.com
CULTURE STREET ARTS & GALLERY
(Gallery, Chinese Paintings Mounting, Mounting
Material,Art Materials)
10C, 3rd Floor, Jalan Panggong, 50000 Kuala
Lumpur.
Tel/Fax:03-2026 0292
Email: cs_arts@tm.net.my
Oriental Art & Cultural Center
Kuala Lumpur
(under the auspices of Elken Foundation)
Tel: 03-7785 6363
Fax: 03-7785 9393
No 10 & 12, 2nd & 3rd, Pusat Elken,
Jalan 1/137C, Batu 5,
Jalan Kelang Lama, 58000 Kuala Lumpur.
Duncan Tang
Assistant Curator
012-297 3618
www.efoacc.org
SOCIETY OF INTERPRETERS
FOR THE DEAF (SiD)
The Community Service Centre for the Deaf
No. 41A, Lorong Ampang,
540450 Kuala Lumpur.
Tel:03-2031 4599 Fax: 03-2078 6630
EDEN ART STUDIO
ART CENTRE, TEA HOUSE,
COMMUNICATION CENTRE,
ARTGALLERY
edenartstudio@gmail.com
Block L6-3-9C, Pelangi Promenade,
Jalan Pekan Baru 34, 41050 Klang,
Selangor.
Abdul Hadi Haji Ahmad
Lot 01.08A, Groud Floor,
Central Market Annexe,
Jalan Hang Kasturi,
50050 Kuala Lumpur.
Email : hadi365@gmail.com
www.hadiportrait.blogspot.com
SCULPTUREATWORK
(M) SDN.BHD.
www.sculpcureatwork.com
Studio: 108 Lorong Maarof, Bangsar Park,
59000 Kuala Lumpur.
Tel: 03-22836936
Fax: 03-22835936
NURIDAUS ENTERPRISE
(SPECIALIST IN COPPER TOOLINGS)
Blok L22-505, Persiaran Pandan,
Pandan Jaya, Cheras, Kuala Lumpur.
-FULLY HANDCRAFTED-
019-334 7877
018-268 1880
018-287 7883
CHEAP SENG POTTERY SDN.BHD.
(Ceramic Design, Glazes Mixing,
Plaster Mold Design, Sculpture)
Factory & Seramic Studio:
Lot 2269 Jalan Bercham,
31400 Ipoh, Perak.
Tel: 05-547 8936
Fax: 05-547 5040
Email : artstudio39@yahoo.com
Mouth & Foot Painting
Artists Sdn. Bhd.
Lot 327, 2nd Ampang Park Shopping
Centre, Jalan Ampang,
50450 Kuala Lumpur,
P.O.Box 12431,
50778 Kuala Lumpur.
Tel: 03-2161 8860,2161 8502
Fax: 03-2162 1504
Gerai OA
-Indigenous Peoples Stall-
Contact us:
Reita Faida Rahim (coordinator)
Email: geraios@gmail.com
buy online: www.elevyn.com/shop/geraioa
GLOBP Stoodio
Animation/motiongraphics/editorial+concept
illustration/charaterdesign
globp@yahoo.com
www.ickr.com/photos/myglobp
www.urban-cr3atures.com
Motiongraphics/printgraphics+interactive/
clothing/toys/web+characterdesign/illustration/
typography/animation/event/C.G efects/music/
sound/publication.
www.projectboxie.com
urbancr3atures.blogspot.com
MALAYSIAN ASSOCIATION OF
CREATIVITY & INNOVATION
macri
empowering simple ideas
Tel:03-2282 7028
Fax: 03-2282 7028
Email : www.macri.com.my
Lot A-28-10, Menara UOA Bangsar,
No 5 Jalan Bangsar 1, 59000 Kuala Lumpur.
Please email to sharzeela@artgallery.gov.my / tanseihon@gmail.com
Suchen SK
(Freelance Photographer)
www.suchens.com
Lets Handmade
a.hippies@gmail.com
Miss Ireen Handmade
www.missireen.blogspot.com
www.missireen.110mb.com
AChiBuu Handmade
Blog: http://achibuu.blogspot.com
Website: www.achibuu.com
Contact: huichyet@yahoo.com
Panda Eyes Handmade
Wen Yi (Graphic Designer)
hata-knight@hotmail.com
http://www.pandaeyesdiy.blogspot.com
HAVEN (something for everyone)
Lot S211 (2nd oor) Promenade,
1 Utama Shopping Centre,
1 Lebuh Bandar Utama, 47800
Petaling Jaya, Selangor.
tel: 03-7727 3541
email: getcrafty@craft-haven.com
www.crafty-haven.com
Ambriel Craft -handmade from the heart-
(Handmade Cards, Custom Made To Order,
Home baked, Custom Bake to Order,
Wedding Invitations, Thematic Party Cards,
Thank You Cards, Corporate Gifts.)
43, Jalan Bp2,
Bandar Bukit Puchong,
41720 Puchong
Selangor.
Tel/Fax: 03-8060 3795
Blog: http://ambrielcraft.wordpress.com
Email: audrey@ambriel.com.my
VALERIE YAN CREATIONS
Valerie Yan
( Illustrator)
Rainie_yan@hotmail.com
http://valeriecreations.blogspot.com
Play & Expressive Arts
Andrew Ng (Play & Art Therapist)
Tel : 012-361 8596
-Founder & Director of Play & Expressive Arts
-Conducts Parenting Seminars, Play Therapy
Workshops & Training in Malaysia, Singapore,
Hong Kong & China.
Pyanz Henna Arts & Crafts
Pyan Sharif
(Henna Artist)
012-297 9588
Email:pyanzhennaart@yahoo.com
Website: http://pyanzsharif.webs.com
www.pyanzhennaart.com
Studio: Blok A8-G-25, Jalan Mewah 4,
Pandan Mewah, 68000 Ampang, Selangor.
Fax: 03-4291 1588
Elements Creations- hand crafted
ceramics
48 Lorong Nikmat 2, Taman Gembira
Jalan Kuchai Lama
58200 Kuala Lumpur.
nikicheong33@yahoo.com
Shahril Nizam Ahmad
(Freelance Illustrator)
Email: shahrila@yahoo.com
Webpage:
http://www.geocities.com/shahrila/shahril_
nizam.html
Ku On Kanvas
Yushazal Yunos
kuonkanvas@gmail.com
012-252 5644
Nurgajir@Gajir
(Tempahan Nama Dalam Tulisan Jawi
Lukisan Atas Kanvas)
017-366 9290
http://gajirkaligra.blogspot.com
-Oil Painting
-Abstrak
-Seni Khat
I LOVE UNIQUE GIFTS
http://iloveunique.blogspot.com
email: aimeili55@yahoo.com (Emily Ng)
bibichun
(freelance designer, illustrator +grafti artist)
bibichun@gmail.com
www.bibichun.com
Khor Hui Min
(Writer)
khor.hm@gmail.com
khorhmin@yahoo.co.uk
(Writing, Editing, Proofreading, Project
Coordination, Brochures Articles, Corporate
Proles, General/Technical
Reports, Websites/Interactive, Lyrics
Translation, Childrens
Books etc.)
Michael Chuah Design
(character designer/comic book artist)
chuahshihchung@yahoo.com
www.michaeldesign.com
'Everyone is Awesome'
Ummi
Creative Designer
Phone: 03-6038 6377
Email: everyoneisawesome@gmail.com
Yus Usratika@Luqman Husaini
(Writer/composer)
yusratika@yahoo.com
yusnistone@yahoo.com
www.usratika.blogspot.com
Heroes Sticker + Heroes Apparel
heroesticker@gmail.com
heroesapparel@gmail.com
heroesapparel.webs.com
mudah.my/herosticker
facebook.com/heroesapparel
Nazmi
(Professional Photographer)
nazmi_photo@yahoo.com
The Seamstress
http://seamstresses.blogspot.com
Syahirah Suhaimi: 013-6282 2417
Sumarni Suhaimi: 013-3730 602
KLOBOT
www.comeandharmeme.vox.com
myspace.com/klobot
comeandharmme@gmail.com
Thangarajoo @ Mr. Raj
(Artist-Children's book illustrator-Art Tutor)
Conducts art classes at stucent's home.
Call- 012 3467872
Email: jootha@gmail.com/ jootha57@yahoo.com.
Please visit:www.ickr.com/pjotos/thanga4
Selvan Holdings (M) Sdn Bhd
Specialised in convenience/newstand concept
stores. Exclusive distributors of foreign
magazines and books.
tel: 603 4042 2339
email: selvan39@streamyx.com
On Target Training Sdn Bhd
-books, posters, manuals, simulation software,
E-book,E-learning, educational dvds, Interactive
Cd-Roms, customized content development.
Ofce-03-77859716
Fax-03-77859718
email: arull@ottlearning.com.my
Colorss Clay Accessories
www.colorss88.blogspot.com
chia_li_huei@hotmail.com
Mohd Jalaludin bin Ahmad Ramli,
(Mural Artist / Painter / Cartoonist)
My Blog : http://lalmuralartist.blogspot.com/
My FB : http://www.facebook.com/lalmural
Design Art Books
Lot FF-07,
The Waterfront @Park City 5,
Persiaran Resident,
Desa Park City,
52200 Kuala Lumpur.
Email: deendab@gmail.com
Tel: 03-6280 7876
Fax: 03-6280 7875
Internasional Art Services(M)Sdn Bhd
-mover and transportation of artworks-
Jerry (Supervisor)
Tel: 03-7846 5821
Fax: 03-7846 1944
Email: internationalartservices@jim.com.my
Leong Brothers
-Artistic, Frame Specialists and Designer,
Glass Dealer-
331 Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman,
50100 Kuala Lumpur.
Tel/Fax: 03-2691 3941
Tel: 03-2692 2116
Perniagaan Hai Kuang Sdn. Bhd.
-Supplies all kinds of screen printing, pad
printing,materials, equipment machinery and
stencil making service.
Head Ofce : No. 51, Jalan Dato Haji Eusof,
Damai Komplek,
50400 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Tel: 03-4042 9569, 4042 0071, 4041 9493,
4041 9479
Fax: 03-4042 2467(ADMIN) , 4042
3425(SALES)
Email: haikuang@tm.net.my
SOLE DISTRIBUTOR IN MALAYSIA
(The Most Famous in Silkscreen Printing
Industry)
WS ART & FRAMES
CENTRE SDN. BHD.
(Art Gallery, Conservation & Custom Framing,
delivery & Installation of Artwork.)
No 34, Jalan Dang Wangi,
50100 Kuala Lumpur.
Tel: 03-2698 0132
Fax: 03-2692 7520
Email: wsartctr@msn.com
A member of:
PROFESSIONAL PICTURE FRAMERS
ASSOCIATION(USA)
BASHEER GRAPHIC BOOKS
AT BORDERS
Lot 216-B, Third Floor, The Gardens Mid
VALLEY
Lingkaran Syed Putra 59200 Kuala Lumpur.
www.basheergraphic.com
www.basheercityroom.com
THE ART SHOP
(Art Material, Technical Drawing
Instruments, Stationary)
No 65, Jalan Negara,
Taman Melawati,
53100 Kuala Lumpur.
Tel: 03-4108 8322 Fax: 03-4107 8036
Wholly Owned By Hi-Scan
Wholesale Sdn.Bhd.
KHAI LIEN SILK SCREEN
SUPPLIERS (M) SDN.BHD.
132, Jalan Selar, Taman Bukit Riau, Batu 3 ,
Jalan Cheras, 56100 Kuala Lumpur.
Tel: 03-9283 7032
Fax: 03-9285 1035
Email : kailien@po.jaring.my
www.khailien.com.my
We supply:
Inks, Machineries & Equipment, Other
Silkscreen Materials, Advertising.
Clarity Enterprise
(wholesale & retail keychains, accessories &
art pieces)
No. 21 Lorong 9/115C, Taman Jaya,
Of Jalan Kuchai Lama, 58200 Kuala Lumpur.
Tel/Fax: 03-7875 9195
Email: clarityenterprise@gmail.com
D.I.Y / FREELANCE /
SERVICES
SUPPLIERS / SERVICES /
BOOKS /
CENTRES / GALLERIES /
STUDIOS / OTHERS
New Black Cofee Lab
Plaza Crystaline @ Setapak
B-2A-1, Jln Danau Niaga 1
Taman Danau Kota
53300 Kuala Lumpur Malaysia
Tel: (60) 3-6272-2818
FINDARS

Art gallery + performance space for rent!
No. 25-2, Jln Metro Wangsa, Seksyen 2,
Wangsa Maju, 53300
For more info, please visit
http://ndars.blogspot.com
Ali Mabuha Rahamad: Kembara di
Sarang Seni (Journey Into
the World of Art)
Essays by Nur Hanim
Khairuddin & Ooi Kok
Chuen
Selected works from the
1970's to 2011
Complete Bio & references
Malay & English
RM 140
Pertarungan: Amron Omar
Essays by Alizam Hassan, Safrizal Shahir, Pakhruddin
Sulaiman, Hasnul J.Saidon and many more.
Selected works from the
1980's to 2011
Complete Bio & list of works
Malay & English
RM 150
Raja ah: The Art, Ideas and
Creativity of Sulaiman Esa
(1950's -2011)
Essays by Nur Hanim
Khairuddin, Associate
Professor Dr. Abu Talib
Putih, Simon Soon & Zabas
Selected articles by Laura
Fan, Ooi Kok Chuen &
Veronica Shanmugam
Selected works from
1950s to 2011
Selected essays, bio of Dr
Sulaiman Esa and
many more
Malay & English
RM 140
JAGA: Pameran Arca
Essays by Rosli Zakaria,
Syed Alwi Syed Abu Bakar
& Dr. Sabzali Musa Kahn
Complete lists of works
Malay
RM 70
Saksi dan Bukti:
Anassuwandi dan Faizulyusri
Esei-esei oleh Baktiar Naim dan
Syahrul Niza Zaini
Biodata dan gambar karya-karya pelukis
Bahasa Malaysia
RM 40
All publications can be purchased at the Gallery Shop located at National Visual Arts Gallery. For enquiries please email to osmi@artgallery.gov.my / http://publicationbsvn.blogspot.com
LATEST PUBLICATIONS
Keahlianpelukisakanmenikmati
faedahmenariksepertiberikut:
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menyertaiprogramkhas,bengkel,
ceramahdansebarangacaraanjuran
BalaiSeniVisualNegara.
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JOM
Jadilahahli
Wan Faizun Zafan : faizun@artgallery.gov.my
2012
ABDUL LATIFF MOHIDIN
(A BIOGRAFICAL EXHIBITION)
26 Dec 2012-13 June 2013
2A & 2B, 3A & 3B
Guest Curator : Tengku Sabri Ibrahim
IKONIK
(NATIONAL COLLECTION)
20 Dec 2012-12 June 2013
1A Gallery
Curator : Bakhtiar Naim
EXHIBITIONS
MEMBERS ONLY
11 Sept-11 Dis 2012
2A Gallery
Curators : Lim Ai Woei,
Mohd Anuar Abd Aziz &
Adnan Miswan Awang
SULALATUS SALATIN
ISMAIL EMBONG
10 Mei-16 Jul 2012
1A
KUASA, HARAPAN
DAN TANAH
7 Aug-19 Nov 2012
2B
Curator : Intan Rafiza
WAKTU DAN KETIKA
PHOTO EXHIBITION
12 Jun-2 Sept 2012
2A Gallery
Curator : Mohd Khazrul
Sharuddin
PERTARUNGAN : AMRON OMAR
15 Feb-27 Aug 2012
3A & 3B Gallery
Curator : Alizam Hassan
THE LAST HARVEST :
RABINDRANATH TAGORE
28 Mac-15 Jul 2012
2B Gallery
Presented by the
National Gallery of
Modern Art India
RECENT ACQUISITIONS
(NATIONAL COLLECTION)
31 Jul-31 Jan 2012
1A Gallery
Curators :
Mohd Fairus Ismail
& Ismail Yacub
KARTUN TULEN MALAYSIA
26 May-23 Sept 2012
Reka Gallery
Curators : Syahrizal Zaihadi
& Jazmi Mohamed Sharif
2 Jalan Temerloh
Off Jalan Tun Razak
53200 Kuala Lumpur
T603 4024 4998
F603 4025 4987
Taman Tasik
Titiwangsa
PETRONAS
TWIN TOWER
HOSPITAL
KUALA LUMPUR
INSTITUT JANTUNG
NEGARA
ISTANA BUDAYA
EMPIRE TOWER
CITY SQUARE
MENARA
MARINARA
PERPUSTAKAAN
NEGARA
PUSAT DARAH
NEGARA
PWTC
TABUNG
HAJI
Jln Ampang
www.artgallery.gov.my
Kini anda boleh melayari Portal
Balai Seni Visual Negara versi
mudahalih menerusi telefon
pintar anda dengan hanya melalui
Kod QR Balai Seni Visual Negara.
Berikut disediakan cara
penggunaan Kod QR.