BUANASENI

Wayang Kulit, the Malay puppet show, is unmistakenbly "Nusantara" representing the regional cultural cluster in which reside the countries in the formation of Malaysia, namely Sabah, Sarawak, Singapore and Federated States of the Malay in 1963. The crimson heart and the blood on the Malay dagger, Keris, signify loyalty and sacrifices needed for the formation of a new country. The Jawi text is an extract and summary of part of the declaration document "Pemahsyuran Malaysia", from which, the art work name has been derived from. The Jawi text read as follows:

 

 

Muslims often admire the art work surrounding the 99 names of Allah. Little do they know that thre are also 99 names of their prophet, Muhammad (pbuh). I so happened to come across this on internet. If not, I would have been ignorant as well. It is refreshing to know that you can use 99 names of Muhammad (pbuh) as an alternative to the usual Asma'ul Husna the 99 names of Allah. This work here uses Morning Glory as its creative aspect of showing the 99 names of Muhammad (pbuh).

I noticed that I have never tried to paint a naked body before. All artists, at some point, does nude. I figured, I have to do this. Hence this piece. The size is a typical live size of what an Asian women would be but I guess, I inflated the breast a bit too much. Take it as Pan-Asian, a Eurasian, if you really want to debate about it.

KELAHIRAN is about the birth of a nation, Malaysia. It is actually my own expression of the Malaysian flag. Notice the red and white stripes and the blue plain. The flag has a 14 spoke star in front of the moon. That does not make sense geographically. The stars, as we know, has always been far, far farther from the moon. Hence I decided to pain the moon in front with the star shining from far in the galaxy. The moon is also my way of giving tribute to my favourite Modernist painter, Ismail Latiff, who never fail to paint a moon in each and every art work that he produces. This piece is however not a Modernist style. I take it as Contemporary because there is an element of realism (The moon as well as the standing figure of the 1st Prime Minister of Malaysia, Tunku Abdul Rahman) combined with the random splash of energetic feel in the red lines like that of Husin Hourmain's work (a Islamic Contemporary artist). But, I leave it to the viewers to decide. It's art anyway. It is open for interpretation.