Malay and Islam-Centric national narratives: modern art in Malaysia during the 1980s

THE 1971 NATIONAL CULTURE CONGRESS could be seen as the first official attempt to shape arts and culture in Malaysia. Inspired by increasingly pro-Malay government policies, Malay intellectuals convened at the University of Malaya in August that year to formulate the country’s policy on national culture. Three principles were established, namely, ‘Malaysian National Culture must be based on the indigenous culture of the people from the region’; ‘Elements from other cultures that are deemed proper and appropriate can be integrated as parts of the National Culture’; and ‘Islam as an important element in forming the national culture’. Perhaps more influential than the National Culture Congress in arts and culture was a rise in Islamic consciousness and policies from the mid-1970s onwards in Malaysia

Art criticism versus art writing: the Malaysian situation

This paper discusses the state of art criticism and art writing in Malaysia. Although Malaysian artists have moved into contemporary art practices, the exhibition strategies adopted by private galleries, including the national gallery have not changed significantly for the last fifty years. Curatorial practices have been regarded as unimportant, resulting in repetitive and limited ways of presenting art works. Consequently, art exhibitions tend to be a cluster of work assembled in gallery premises, and usually connected by very loose themes. Often art essays are published in conjunction with the exhibitions. Since research papers on contemporary art are limited, the essays or writings published in the exhibition catalogues become an important source of reference on Malaysian art, and they have been referred to as "art writings". Besides the lack of proper "art writing", there is also a problem with "art criticism" in the country. The lack of professional art critics and the multiple roles played by writers, artists, art historians and arts manager are among the main reasons for the present art criticism and art writing scenario in the country

Reading Painting as Visual Autobiography: Peranakan Paintings by Sylvia Lee Goh

Sylvia Lee Goh had her first solo show in May 1998 at the Creative Center of the National Art Gallery, Kuala Lumpur in an exhibition entitled “Two Decades of Art from the Heart”. Having partaken in more than 50 exhibitions locally and abroad, Sylvia's works exemplify a captured and frozen moment in time of the Peranakan life and social legacy. The Peranakans, otherwise known as the Babas and Nyonyas, is a conspicuous group of acculturated Chinese in Malaya, particularly in the Straits Settlements (Penang, Malacca and Singapore) hence its other name, the Straits Chinese. For the last 30 years, Sylvia Lee Goh's paintings, as I deliberate in this paper capture and encapsulate her own memories and personal narratives in the form of her own visual autobiographical paintings

The environment as a theme in Malaysian art

In recent decades in Malaysia, the subject of environment consciousness has become one of the main issues that has been raised by many people in Malaysia, from Non-Governmental Organisations (NGO) to various government bodies. In various ways, Malaysian artists have been affected by their realisation of the degradation of environmental qualities since the last thirty years. As such, this paper will focus and discuss more on the younger generation of artists such as Ahmad Shukri Mohamed, Nirmala Shanmughalingam, Redza Piyadasa, Bayu Utomo Radjikin, Ilham Fadhly Mohd Shaimy, Hamir Soib, Kok Yew Puah, Wong Hoy Cheong, etc. They are among the few artists that have been producing works that are either directly or indirectly addressing this significant issue in their artworks. This paper will discuss their works especially those that are visual documents of the thoughts and feelings of the Malaysian artists on urbanization process and environmental changes in relation to the increasing awareness and interests on environmental concerns following rapid urbanization in Malaysia. Apart from this, this paper will also discuss, the awareness of the issue itself as the main theme and subject selected by the artists; and secondly, the materials of the artworks themselves as tools or examples of how art work should lead by example, namely by using recycled materials, etc

Ismail Zain: Pendekatan Ambivalen Dan Peralihan Ke Arah Seni Pascamoden / Ismail Zain: The Ambivalence Approach and His Shift Towards The Postmodern

Kertas ini akan membincangkan beberapa hasil kerja Ismail Zain dalam dalam konteks pendekatan seni dan estetika ambrvalen yang lebih luas yang boleh disarankan untuk pembacaan karya-karya awal beliau sebelum "Digital Collage" (1988) / This paper will d1scuss a few works of Ismail Zain in the larger context of ambivalent aesthetics and artisttc approach that can be suggested m the readmg of h1s earlier works prior to Dig1tal Collage (1988)

Ismail Zain - the ambivalence approach and his shift towards The postmodern

This paper will discuss a few wori(s of Ismail Zain in the larger context of ambivalent aesthetics and artistic approach that can be suggested in the reading of his earlier wort<s prior to ·Digital Collage" (1988}. Ismail Zain (1930 - 1991}, was born in Alar Setar, Kedah and educated at Ravensbourne College of Art. United Kingdom and Slade School of Art. London Unive~jty. He was the former Director of the Malaysia's National Art Gallery; Director-General of Culture, Ministry of Culture. Youth and Sports; and Director-General of tha National Film Development Corporation (FINAS}. Despite his demanding and hectic career, Ismail zaon was never out of touch from the Malaysian art world and in his life. he has produced a significant number of art wort<s that holds great importance in the Malaysian art history developmenl This first part of thos paper will discu&S Ismail Zain's works that employs the ornate and floral motives and how his works need to be contextualised and understood within the inclinations or Malay/Islamic-centred art inherent during the 1970s and 1980s and also within the incoming of postmodem art tendencies in Malaysia. Hence, I argue here that through these works he negotiated his artistic and aesthetics position within these two proclivities. The second part o f this paper will discuss briefly the artistic strategies of his more renowned work in the context of postmodern art approach

Contextualizing abstraction and abstract expressionist art in Malaysia

Abstract Expressionism has been one of the Western art movements that has influenced Malaysian artists. Since late 1950s and even until today, abstraction and works that falls into the formalistic approach of Abstract Expressionist have been well accepted and produced and this is more so since the promulgation of the National Cultural Policy in 1971 and the Islamization Policy in the late 1970s. This paper discusses abstraction and Abstract Expressionism and their acceptance, adaptation, and transformation under local conditions and situations. This could be observed as abstraction and Abstract Expressionism were used as a stylistic approach or an artistic method to highlight local subject matter and personal experiences by Malaysian artists through works that render local landscapes and nature, themes and religion and/or cultural references such as Jawi script, myths and mythologies and the abstraction of figuration. This paper will also discuss how works that seem to be rooted in formalistic exploration flourished aligned to this condition. Within this framework, this paper will discuss several works that have been recognized and discussed as abstract and Abstract Expressionist works produced by Malaysian artists

Thematic approaches in Malaysian art since the 1990s

This paper discusses on the impact of thematic approaches taken by Malay artists in Malaysia since the 1990’s.Malaysian art has become increasingly diverse in terms of its approach, subject, theme and media. This growing artistic diversity is discussed within a postmodern framework and is representative of a shift in tendencies away from a purely Malay/Islamic-centred artistic tradition to a more postmodern approach that is inclusive of Malaysia’s emerging middle class. Since the 1990’s, works produced by Malay artists have taken a more critical perspective aligned with the postmodern situation or situasi percamoden in accordance with Malaysia’s leapfrog into modernization. Through their works, Malay artists raise concerns and issues pertaining to the consequences of development and modernization, and explore themes ranging from social problems, environment and urbanization, and contemporary issues thereby employing postmodernist approaches in their art