INTRODUCTION
“Literature is a beautiful way of
keeping the imagination alive of visiting worlds you would never have time to
in your day-to-day life. It keeps you abreast of a wider spectrum of human
activities”. It is a statement by Abraham Varghese about literature affecting
us as a human being. Literature in a way is closely related to art. As what
Vonnegut had said about art, “… arts are not a way to make a living. They are a
very human way of making life more bearable…” Art is something that is
important to us as a human being. Art is like a good story, appeals to us as it
takes us to wander in wonder. It gives us the chance to explore, feel and see
all the experience that the artist experienced in the journey of making an
artwork. Through the journey of experiences, audiences will be able to see the
spectrum of idea and content of an artwork.
I remembered a
quote by Oscar Wilde on the uniqueness of individuality is shown on an artwork.
“A work of art is the unique result of a unique temperament.” Each work of art
is unique. If they were to be collective, it wills result into a spectrum of
ideas that varies from each other yet has one distinctive unity to it. The
unity of this uniqueness is known as the “Spectrum”.
What is so
unique about this exhibition? What is so special about “Spectrum”?
Well it is something that intriguing to be talk about yet with an open mind; I
jot down a few notes about it. First of all, what is the meaning of “Spectrum”?
Why is it the title of this exhibition? A run through of any dictionary will
give us the meaning of it. The term spectrum usually associated with optics but
has since been applied by analogy outside the topic of optics. “Spectrum
“is usually been used to define a broad range of conditions or
behaviors that grouped together in order to ease the discussion. The term “Spectrum” also
uses to unify a group of unique idea under one theme. Basically the title of
this exhibition, “Spectrum” is an idea of unifying the
entire artworks exhibit under one theme. It is in accordance to one of the
Islamic art philosophy which is “Unity in Diversity”.
In “Spectrum” the
audiences can see the diversity of artworks that is united under one theme. The
theme as I have been told was, "East meet West". The idea
first coined at Malacca. It is about how an artist utilizes the western
approaches, medium, techniques and merges them with eastern philosophies,
ideas, and moralities. In "Spectrum”, the audiences can
see the merging of both east and west in an artwork.
In "Spectrum" one
can see the correlation of ideas emerged into one unifying theme and the
audiences will also be presented with the idea of, "See One, See
All." (Amir, 2014).
*****
Each
of the artists produce different type of artworks. Some may used different
media while some chose different method. So does in this exhibition, “Spectrum”. Every artwork
is different than the others. Some of the artists tend to use conventional
methods, medium and approaches while some may not. This can be seen in the
variety of artworks ranging from the conventional medium; acrylic, canvas, oil
paint et cetera. Some opt to use unconventional method; exploring the new media
such as paper, video installation and et cetera.
Each of the
artists comes equipped with personal experiences, and their idea or perspective
views are often embedded into their artworks. Basyariah Bt Muhd Bukhari or
commonly known among friends as Basya is no exception. For this exhibition,
Basya revisits her childhood fairytale; Alice in the Wonderland. Her choice of
medium to be used is quite extraordinary as well. She used books as her medium
to represent her artworks unlike other artists that used canvas to portraying
messages for the audiences. Her style differentiates Basya from other artists
in this show. She opts to use altered book; a technique that changes a book
from its original form into different form; altering its appearance and/or
meaning. Other artist that use altered book as his/her technique is Haslin
Ismail.
Aishah in the Dreamland. – Basyariah Bt Muhd Bukhari, 50 cm x 80
cm, Mixed Media, 2014
Alice in
Wonderland is a western fairytale that Basya favored for as long as time. First
of all, let’s dig deeper into the story of Alice in Wonderland. Why is Alice in
Wonderland as the referral subject for the artist? Alice in Wonderland or the
originated name was Alice’s Adventure in Wonderland, was a fantasy novel
written by Lewis Caroll. The novel is a tale that plays with logic, peculiar
anthropomorphic creatures; The White Rabbit, The Dodo and such. The story gives
the audiences lots of morale value such as be specific, develop your own
identity and et cetera. This later proven in Basya’s artworks that she used the
morale value in the process of making the artworks.
The main character for Alice
in Wonderland is Alice but Basya did convert the character Alice into Aishah in
accordance with the idea of eastern philosophy. The plot started as Aishah who
is a curious girl that founded a rabbit thus following it down into a big hole.
The character, Aishah is a lot like Basya herself in term of her attitude which
is curiosity. In one of her artwork, Aishah in the Dreamlands, Basya
recreated a tree, a few characters from the fairytale out of the books. This
artwork represents the dreamland that has been searched or imagined by Aishah.
The idea of storytelling in the dreamland setting is highlighted in
this artwork with the involvement of certain fantasy character of Alice in the
Wonderland such as The White Rabbit, Alice (Aishah), The Dodo and many more.
The process of making this piece required the artist to be very keen and
sensitive as well as thorough as this piece requires a lot of them. With a
closer inspection, the audiences can see that there are few words that were
highlighted; responsible, curiosity, brave, and clumsy just to name a few. Each
of these words was glued to the characters that represent the attitude. For
example, in one of the character that being carved, there is some collage of
different adjective such as clumsy, curious and et cetera.
Into the Rabbit Hole! – Basyariah Bt Muhd Bukhari, 90 cm x 105 cm,
Mixed Media, 2014
*****
Jawi Dalam Diri Siri
IX – Muhammad Amir Amin Bin Mohd Idris, Variable Dimensions, Video Installation,
2014
The usage of new media is not a foreign thing in the Malaysian art
scene because the usage of new media such as video installation has been in
Malaysia since the late 80’s and early 90’s. According to Hasnol Jamal Saidon
(1989) on the interaction between artists with his/her audiences can be
achieved through the use of this new media; video art technique.
Painting or
other creative means of expression must be able to communicate, it demands
serious commitment from the artist involved, and especially matters concerning
the idea, we adapt an open approach to deal with our means of expression. As a
result, our idea will not exist in a form of painting but could also be developed
and expanded through other forms of art.
According to Julin and Irrje (2003),
Video art
nowadays is not necessarily directed specifically to people who are only
interested in the arts; instead it is shown to mass audience who are not
trained to interpret a specific code to understand contemporary art.
In “Jawi Dalam Diri” a series of artworks inspired by Prof
Kang Kyoung Seok; a Korean who is fluently able to speak and write using both Jawi
alphabets and Bahasa Melayu. Prof Kang Kyoung Seok inspired the artist to
translate the statement of, “Jawi di ambang kepupusan” into a series of
artworks (Amir, 2014). For Muhammad Amir Amin Bin Mohd Idris or commonly known
as Amir among his colleagues and friends, the usage of new media such as video
projection is a part of learning process where as the usage of conventional
medium is still relevant as the artist himself painted six other paintings on
canvases.
In the works of Amir, the Jawi is the message projected as
for the theme with the usage of both conventional and unconventional method.
The use of human figure become the primary object as well to emphasize the
subject of this artwork which are the symbol of individuality, personality and
to bring forth the importance and significance for Malaysia and Melayu.
The use of new media in the production of an artwork is sometimes
necessary in accordance with the shape of the piece. In the production process
of Jawi in Yourself IX, the artist uses some software as a replacement
to materials like acrylic paint, brushes and so on. Amir has been using some
software such as Adobe Photoshop, Adobe After Effect and Adobe
Flash.
Regarding the usege of the image or subject, the artist has used
the figure of himself as a subject in which they are then arranged in
overlapping and arbitrarily using the Jawi script. Why the artist did
uses figure in his painting? The figures themselves refer to the idea and
content of the paper reflects the cultural identity of the nation in which the
Jawi is part of our identity.
Jawi Dalam Diri Siri V – Muhammad Amir Amin Bin Mohd Idris, 121 cm
x 76 cm, 2014
*****
Diversity
– Ahmad Saiful Nizam B Mohd Sah, 150 cm x 99 cm, Paper Cut Layering with Wooden
Box, 2014
Here is an artist that used conventional material and developed it
into an unconventional approach. He is Ahmad Saiful Nizam. He used paper art as
the approach to represent his idea and theme in which deforestation is the
theme which presented in the “Spectrum”. The image of forest,
twigs, branches and roots as the subject, Saiful unintentionally brings the
irony of his artworks that paper comes from the trees, yet in his artworks, the
usage of papers as the main media.
Paper art is a form of art which uses a collection of paper or card
as the primary artistic medium to produce three-dimensional works. According to
the artist, paper is a material that is often used in art and craft activities.
The use of paper as the material allows the artist to explore it in various
forms such as folding, cutting, glued, sewing and layered. Paper art deserves a
better place in the perspective of the audiences, especially for the ones that
knows and appreciate art.
The Sculpted –
Ahmad Saiful Nizam B Mohd Sah, 154 cm x 91 cm, Model Card Layering with Wooden
Frame, 2014
Saiful intended to introduce and
highlight the usage of paper art so that the audience somewhere in the matrix
of local art scene can enjoy the beauty and intriguing of paper art. Paper cut
works also deserve attention because of the long-hauled years of practice
around the world, as well as the beauty it is full of.
Paper art always been looked at as
lightly as the audience tend to perceive as it is an easy and invaluable art.
The artist tries to educate the audience about the intriguing and intricate
process of making this art piece as well as telling the audience that paper art
also deserve a much better place in the art scene.
The composition that the artist used
for his artworks deliver a message that such work is intricate and
manipulative. There are different layering in each artwork represented itself
(the layering) as foreground, mid-ground and background. Each of the pieces
needed to be looked at from a far as the audiences will see the image or
picture plane the artist tries to show.
*****
Disordered
Mind – Muhammad Shazzil Bin Abd Thoher, 152 cm x 182 cm, Ink on Canvas, 2014
I feel the day
that technology will surpass our human interaction. The world will have a
generation of idiot.
The statement
above by Albert Einstein criticizing the youth nowadays regarding the usage of
technologies in daily life that will surpass the human interaction with each
other. In reality that is what been happening nowadays. The youth are spending
time with their friends yet their eyes seem to be locked to their phone’s
screen. It is this very concept that has been exploited by Muhammad Shazzil
through his artworks. The artworks produced unintentionally criticizing the
audiences regarding the situation nowadays.
Based upon the
artist point of view, his artworks mainly are about the observation towards the
social media culture and how it is becoming a mass culture. The act of
uploading their pictures to their respective account can be seen as a way to
read or know someone’s characteristic.
The artist used
his own figure as the subject for the artworks. The usage of his self is
intended to remind the artist as well as the audience about the theme and idea
that he want to convey through his artwork.
Clear Vision – Muhammad Shazzil Bin Abd Thoher, 152 cm x 182 cm,
Ink on Canvas, 2014
Regarding
the media used by the artist, the writer can assume that the artist is well
taught and familiar with the media and the technique. The media used is ink on
canvas while the technique that been applied was stippling. What is stippling?
Stippling is a monochromatic technique produces similarly yet distinct from
pointillism though the artist used stamp as the tool to produce this technique.
The technique was discovered by Giulio Campagnola in about 1510.
*****
The Light from Underwater series – Salimah Bt Maznan, 30 cm x 30 cm
(3 pieces), Felt, Threads on Wooden Frame, 2014
The first time I step into this exhibition, I was amaze and awe
when I looked at these set of artworks. The technique used was intriguing and
intricate to the eyes. Salimah Maznan quite famous among her friends as a girl
who is shy yet very diligent in the process of art making.
Each of the artists comes equipped with personal experiences, and
their idea or perspective views are often embedded into their artworks. As I
mentioned earlier in the writing, each of the artists exhibit in this show; “Spectrum”
come equipped with personal experiences, and their idea or perspective
views are often can be seen in their artworks. So does Salimah Maznan. Her main
image is fish that was stylized. The image of fish was inspired by her earlier
experience as the daughter of a fish trader in Kelantan.
She is known for making use felt; a fiber fabric material, into a
stunning piece of artwork. By using felt, her artworks can be seen as soft
sculpture in term of form yet in term of content; it is still a painting where
her idea is about colors as painting. The artist explore the geometry where it
is divided into two; 1) geometric plane and 2) solid geometry.
Color
and Geometric 1 – Salimah Bt Maznan, 122 cm x 100 cm, Felt and Threads on
Wooden Frame, 2014
In Color and Geometric 1, Salimah uses the element and
principle of art such as color and repetition in her artworks. The usage of
warm and cool colors as well as primary and secondary colors such as red,
orange, yellow, green, blue and purple. Most of her artworks use warm and cool
colors. By using warm and cool colors, it relates to the color psychology as
each of the color has its strong value. For example red color usually associate
with bravery, green color usually associate with coolness and calmness. The element of repetition is seen in her
artworks as the fabric she used was to cut into pieces of similar design.
CONCLUSION
In general, it appears that all the artists involved have different
ideas, theme and point of perspective; philosophy, social culture, visual
perspective, method and approaches but were united under one big theme; “Spectrum”.
The artworks exhibited are all beautiful evocative that consists of different
approaches ranging from video installation, painting, paper art and many more
that appeal to our senses. There is however, one similarity, and that is each
of the artists put up a strong visual commentary based on personal point of
perspectives, ideas, themes and their journey that embark on a new level as an
undergraduate and also an emerging artist.
REFERENCES
