2.2 Absorbing Future Shock
(or ‘Syiok’, as coined by Ooi Kok Chuen) (14)
“Rama In Cyber
World” (RICW)(1996), is another
example of your engagement with the notion of cultural identity, especially in
relation to information revolution or implosion of ICT. As Malaysia braves
the challenges of globalisation and free market liberalism, the fate of her
rich and diverse cultural traditions is uncertain, or perhaps bleak. Will such
traditions be marginalized, sidelined or pushed to the periphery with the
influx of global capitalism?
In this work, your main visual text ‘Rama’, one of the
main characters in the traditional Kelantan shadow puppet or ‘wayang kulit’, is
placed as a dark silhouette in almost the middle of the pictorial plane. He
seems to be at odd with an array of assorted images of modern gadget such as
CPU circuits, a hand phone, a dollar sign and graffiti-like floating writings.
The mood is hectic, active and dynamic, as if intending to negate the presence
and dominance of ‘Rama’.
The painting appears like a collage in a pop
expressionist rendition. The colors are rich, red, cream peach, black, orange
and yellow ochre with subdued white. Rama’s low key silhouette is contrasted
against a white background, flanked by a high intensity red to create a
dramatic contrast. The surface quality still retains your preference for a rough
canvas. The space and composition are flat, shallow, cluttered and confusing.
Interestingly, instead of relying on your typical raw
expressionistic quivering, the work seems to toy with semiotic, perhaps through
the binary pairing of ‘Rama’ and the MSC’s (Malaysia’s and Mahathir’s
Multimedia Super Corridor) logo. Your sentiment borders on parody.
I suspect that you were not too happy with media
imperialism, hegemony and control, and lament the impact of popular culture and
rampant consumerism towards our rich cultural traditions. Knowing that you have
no qualm about using or employing new media technology in producing your video
art, I guess you might have experienced a paradoxical dilemma in engaging with
technology. How do we face the emergence of net or cyber generation? How do we engage with the future consumers of
media technology and the future prosumers of global lifestyles? Your voice
through this work sounds like a patriotic and concerned Malaysian.
Many local artists including me have responded to media
technology and the emergence of cyber world. Ahmad Shukri’s “Insect Diskettes
series II”(1997) and Long Thien Shih “Bar Coded Man” (2001) are two examples that I can recall. In fact,
following Ismail Zain’s “Digital Collage” solo exhibition (1988) and the “1st.
Electronic Art Show” (1997), we have witnessed the emergence of video and
digital art in Malaysia.(15)
Of course, it has to be noted that the Malaysian art
scene in the past 15 years, especially during the late 90’s, has been predominantly
preoccupied by ‘future shock’ - changing realities brought about by
globalization, capitalist free market liberalism, information revolution and
digital technology. I refer to the
future shock as post-modern raves, which include critical exposition of new
media and its influences.(16)
My friend Masnoor,
“Cinta Dewa Dewi” (CDD)(2007), also features two ‘wayang
kulit’ characters, in this case taken from the Jawa and Thailand
traditions. But “CDD” may not be your direct response to the future shock, even
though it may be related to post-modern challenges encountered by us in the
Southeast Asian region as we position ourselves in facing the imperatives of
the 21st. century. I this regard, I recalled Niranjan Rajah’s
proposition for a Southeast Asian paradigm in responding to globalization.(17) “CDD” also relates to what Michelle Antoinette
refers to as “a broader range of socio-cultural issues and problems” as stated
in the previous section.
“CDD” is a textbook example of semiotic and appropriation
at work, in which visual texts taken from diverse sources are placed together
to unveil new readings. Other than the two ‘wayang’ characters, “CDD” also
features two forms of landscapes rendered in Persian miniature and Chinese
scroll painting styles. In appropriating distinctive Oriental styles, you may
intend to remind your audience of our very own Southeast Asian forms of
pictorial recitation and story-telling. Appropriating visual texts from the
‘wayang’ tradition can also be seen in the works of Nik Zainal Abidin and
Khairul Azmir Shoib.
The mood in “CDD” is tranquil, quiet and cool, but not
without a hint of a confrontation lurking beyond the calm ‘oriental’ setting.
It connotes nature, and denotes the notion of nature as rendered or interpreted
by Eastern outlook. The ‘wayang’ characters at both ends of the pictorial plane
can be read as the guardians of the forest. The title suggests an idea of
heavenly love, perhaps towards one’s own land. “CDD” may also imply the lurking
crisis of urbanization that may negate the interest of preserving the rich
cultural traditions and natural environment of Southeast
Asia.
In “CDD”, you still retain your surrealist undertone,
but with a much tighter composition and arrangement of pictorial elements. The
color treatment is more lavish and grandeur. There is a cool range of
monochromatic blue with white in the middle, dark silhouette of trees, yellow
ochre and deep brown with creamy skin tone and green in various value keys.
Most of the colors are secondary mix except for the blue. The texture is more
intricate perhaps due to the rich patterns on the ‘wayang’ attires and the
intricate ornaments created by the rendition of the trees, branches, twigs and
leaves. The spatial treatment is a mixture of atmospheric perspective with
isometric or shallow space treatment commonly found in a Persian miniature
painting. The forest has a Chinese scroll vertical orientation while the
placement of two ‘wayang’ characters at the far ends of the painting creates a
lateral orientation.
Masnoor,
If you would recall, our future shock in the 90’s was
marked by a sudden pressure to change within a short time span. It has lead to
a lost of balance, especially in several delicate issues concerning the
sustainability of our natural environment and diverse cultural traditions. Some
of us were not ready to adapt to the imperatives of change, and risked being
left-out or marginalized.
Other than our natural environment and diverse
cultural traditions, the future shock has also brought changing lifestyles and
unveil critical issues related to ethnicity, religion and gender in this region.
You, like many other artists in the 90s, were very much into responding to
these issues.
In Malaysia,
the term ‘issues based art’(IBA) was coined to explain artworks with more
pronounced political and social concerns.(18) The
concerns may sometimes not be openly debated, but the heat is still lurking
underneath. If you look at contemporary artworks done by several artists from
the Southeast Asian region in recent years, you will probably notice IBA as
well. There are many examples. In fact, you can see IBA in almost any
contemporary exhibition. It seems like you need to have ‘an issue’ to be a
visual artist today. It has become almost a ‘by default’ pre-requisite to enter
into the ‘big scene’ especially in international exhibitions.
But certainly not all engaging art must be a
politically and socially ‘issues based
art’. In fact,
some IBA can be very pretentious and superficial.(19) Furthermore,
we would surely want our contemporary art scene to be more diverse, and
accommodative to works that feature other concerns such as aesthetic, tradition
and spirituality. Even if issues were deemed as important, there are many more
to be put forward, such as sustainability and the convergence of art and
science. Certainly, there many new findings in various disciplines of knowledge
that can inspire our local artists.
Anyway, it is interesting to note that your voice in
“CDD” is not anymore ‘Malay-centered’ or ‘Malaysian-centered’, but embraces a
more regional cultural concern. Perhaps you want to emulate ‘glocalism’.
2.3 Responding to Post-modern
Raves
Masnoor,
Do you agree that we are surrounded by post-modern irony
and paradox? I called it post-modern raves where loudness, irony, parody,
sarcasm, pastiche, indiscriminate appropriation and deconstruction are favored.
I have commented on such raves in my two essays on Malaysian Young
Contemporaries. Other writers have commented on our local version of post-modern
raves as well.(20) Some of them despise the raves while some
others welcome them. Some prefer to stay ‘in between the lines’.
The raves are commonly linked to the so-called
‘independent’ art spaces and groups as well as the so-called ‘alternative’
artists. Inclusive in the raves are the many faces of our local ‘underground’
sub-cultural elements. These art groups such as Rumah Air Panas and SpaceKraft
“have sought to detach themselves from the establishment”.(21)
For some, we are in the age of crisis and
deconstruction of our very own ‘national’ value system. They fear the loss of
‘center’ or something common that can be used as an anchor. Some would call it the
age of ‘anything goes’ in which everything can be turned into a spectacle, superficial
façade, endless play and pastiche. Several local artists are riding on these.
Interestingly
enough, especially in the 90s, you and your Matahati buddies were very much
into the raves. I’m not sure whether you were interested in riding them, or
using and commenting on them. Nevertheless, you response to the riddles of post-modern
raves is no less interesting.
One example is “Documentation”(1997),
a painting that features a silhouette
image of a ‘mat rempit’ (a local version of street dare-devil racer) in his trademark
‘superman’ (flying) riding style, seemingly racing towards his own death (an
image of a corpse wrapped in white cloth). Despite the pronounced reminder of
death, the work ironically has a touch of pop, pastiche, parody and comical
feel to it. It is rough, crude, raw, bold, playful, defiant, direct and
aggressive – characters that one would associate with the ‘rempit’ sub-culture,
or even post-modern itself.
Another example is
“Festival” (1999), in which you used video as a form of political satire.
It also seems to be a parody of the banality in our local political fiasco (and
spectacles). Shahnaz Said explains how your installation of flags and buntings “lead
us to two video projectors facing back to back, each facing a wall. On the
walls are projected montages of close-ups of a mouth ranting. A steady sequence
of close-up images of the faces of two different people as opponents continues.
Clearly the two people are addressing each other. The dialogue increasingly
breaks down and rapidly deteriorates into the ubiquitous punch-up; the only common
ground.”(22) I remember responding to almost similar political fiasco through my
video installation with internet in “kipASAPi”(1999).
“Independence”(2004)
is another video parody in which you deconstructed the celebration of our
Nation’s Independence
to unveil the binary pairing of war and peace (or war within peace). Through
this video, you make a comment on the spectacle of independence (fireworks) that
may ironically diminish or even deconstruct the very idea of independence or
freedom itself. The work is mesmerizing and hypnotic but not without a pinch.
It teases our notion of ‘real time’ and makes a point about how ‘reality’
itself can be highly relative.
Interestingly, both “Festival” and “Independence” were
presented in a form of installation. Installation can be taken as one of many forms
of post-modern raves. In this regard, and in commenting on Matahati’s decision
to use the term ‘zoo art’ to label their installation-based works in Matahati : PL, Shahnaz Said writes :
“Zoo
is in immaculate disparity with art. Through the use of precise images, a
clarity of expression is won. The word zoo is imaginistic and impart a strong
scent that threatens the rarefied world of art”(23) Yap Sau Bin proposes that “zoo could connote a
quality of raw, unrefined and coarse – thus legitimizing the artists effort of
producing work that challenges the audiences’ aesthetic sensibilities and
demand critical exploration and reading of the content instead.”(24) Tengku Sabri poses several questions to
such rave :
“It seems that Matahati does not
really care about the exhibition’s space or place! What’s the significance of
GALERI PETRONAS with PL’s Exhibition? But, should it be like that? Should they
consider the ‘place’, or they just need to fill the ‘place’ with their artworks
like the many previous exhibitions?”(25) Were you just
filling up the space?
Other than
installation, the presentation of both “Festival” and “Independence” also involved the use of video
which could be seen as quite distinctive in comparison to Matahati’s general
preference to painting and installation. In this
context, and in comparison to your other Matahati buddies, you were perhaps
more inventive. Your videos may also be taken as your response to media
implosion in Malaysia.
The implosion is full of ironies and paradoxes – key features of post-modern
condition. One example is the fact that despite such implosion, many would have
no reservation in lamenting on the lack of what they refer to ‘freedom of
speech and expression’ in the local media. But the global media is far from
being free or independent too.
Video
is then an obvious choice, and I suspect that you were then interested in using
it to comment on the state of political affairs in Malaysia.
Not many
write about video art in Malaysia,
even though some may pretend to behave like experts who are not shy in making
dubious comments about it. Other than the National Art Gallery and Universiti
Sains Malaysia,(26) I can’t find any other institution or private collectors who collect
video art. Despite such limitation, video art in Malaysia emerged years before her
neighboring countries, and has been quite a regular feature of many
contemporary exhibitions.
Several
young artists have employed video in expressing their ideas and feelings. I believe that you are a part of a group of artists
who posses a more open-ended attitude towards their visual art practices such
as Faizal Zulkifli, Noor Azizan Paiman, Nur Hanim Khairuddin, Ahmad Fuad Osman,
Lau Mun Leng, Liew Teck Leong, Low Yii Chin, Roslisham Ismail, Kamal Sabran,
Rini Fauzan, Tengku Azhari, Idora AlHabshi, Vincent Leong, Sharon Chin and
Khairul Azmir Shoib. More established
artists such as Wong Hoy Cheong continues to employ video and new media which
include several of his recent international projects.
Recently,
video has also become an instrumental tool for art collectives, cultural
activists and groups, alternative spaces as well as small scale exhibitions,
private screenings and community projects,
with collaborative engagements and networking that often reaching out
beyond the national border (towards regional collaboration).
My
friend Masnoor,
I
think your videos capture the temperament of a Malay artist who belongs to a
screen or TV generation (not a computer generation). Your videos were perhaps
previously obscured by other prevailing forms of visual art expressions in Malaysia.
Historically, since there was no extended model of video art as a viable
practice of fine art in Malaysia,
those who wish to use video to express their voices had no reference to look
for. Therefore, your engagement with video may pose many intriguing questions
in regards to media implosion, both locally and internationally.(27)
2.4 Voyaging Into The
Shrouded Selves
Masnoor,
Other than responding to the notion of culture and
identity, future shock and post-modern raves, I noticed that your artistic
journey also displays another distinctive trajectory. This trajectory seems to
be moving away from the external cultural conundrum to an inner voyage. It
moves deeply inward, suggesting a more personal and idiosyncratic voyage into
the subconscious. It also resonates with a sense of cathartic release. Such
trajectory appears to be the preferred direction of you and your Matahati
buddies during the 90’s.
In relation to cathartic release, I recalled a thesis
on ‘visual amok’ or “Malay angst” by Niranjan Rajah in “Bara Hati Bahang Jiwa”.(28) He refers to the works of several Malay artists with
expressionist undertone such as Bayu Utomo Radjikin and Raja Shahriman. J. Anu
refers to the undertone as a “much more confronting version of a Malay
aesthetic – one that is less concerned with niceties or politeness”. While
acknowledging Matahati as a part of “key influences in the rise of figurative
social commentary that has dominated Malaysian art, particularly Malaysian
painting since 1990s” he proposes that Matahati’s reading of issues “are told
from their very distinct Malay-Muslim and incidentally South East Asian point
of view, symbology and visual vocabulary”.(29)
While still retaining the ubiquitous surrealist and
expressionist undertones, this ‘inner’ trajectory has also lead towards a much
darker rendition. Such rendition emanates a haunting feeling of despair,
hopelessness, anguish, desolation, misery and sadness. Despite both Niranjan’s
and J. Anu’s propositions, this particular trajectory of yours is devoid of
specific cultural and ethnic index, at least visually. The trajectory seems to
be more existential.
“The Truth Within”(TTW)(1995), “Once Upon A Time” (OUAT)(1996) and “Sign of Life Voyager”(SOLV)(1995) represent this trajectory.
These works feature human figures in what I presume to
be in a helpless state of grief and pain. “TTW” features bold strokes in
vertical orientation while “SOLV” retains your clashing brushstrokes with thick
pigment and dry brush effect. The key register in “TTW” and “SOLV” is
predominantly low with mostly monochromatic gray scale, accentuated by the use
of white and creamy flesh color to render the figures and schematic lines.
“OUAT” features a high contrast between blazing hot landscape with a dark and
cool interior. Spatially, “OUAT” can be divided into two parts – a wall with an
arch, and a landscape beyond the arch. The landscape is filled with dead trees
and what appear to be clocks.
Perhaps I can try my luck with an uncertified form of
psycho-analysis here.
I believe that
there is an intrinsic drive in each of us to voyage beyond the trappings of
one’s shell and localized self. When we lost trust to our habitual gravitation
towards physical desires, we usually yearn for a journey into our souls. We
yearn to journey beyond the confines and confusion of our shrouded earthy selves.
We begin to indulge into a ‘quantum state’ in which we become more engaged with
our deeper thoughts and emotions. We may discover that our minds and emotions are
more entangled, intertwined, closer and interconnected with each other than we
thought. Not only that, they are also very noisy.
But we want to
attain unity, perhaps by embracing diversity. We want to dissolve the binary
forces of You and I, Right and Wrong, Positive and Negative, Ying and Yang,
Rama and Sita, Shiva and Shakti, AsSham (Sun) and AlHillal (Moon). So we struggle
to silent them in order to reach a state in which we simply dissolve into infinite
rhythmic pulses, vibrating with different frequencies in the sea of a cosmic
symphony. We dwell in the domain of ‘semangat’, ‘chi’, ‘prana’. We want to
become pure energy reaching for Oneness.(30)
Quite mouthful
isn’t it Masnoor.
But of course the
explication above is easier said than done. In fact, many may just give up such
yearning even before they embark on such voyage. Some of those who had succeeded
in initiating such voyage may even enter into a state of delusional hell,
turning their journey of love into a journey of extreme anger and hate. As we
encounter our own demon, we may discover that all the anger, hate, sorrow,
grief and pain that we normally point ‘outward’ (blaming on ‘others’) are
actually residing deep within ourselves. For those who embark without a proper ‘spiritual
cleansing’ and guidance from a master or guru, the journey may mislead one into
a state of mental and emotional delusion or torment.
“TTW”, “OUAT” and
“SOLV” seem to capture such torment, laden with a mixture of anger, sorrow,
grief and pain. In fact, I have seen many ‘angry’ paintings done by other
Matahati artists (and many other local artists) that feature similar visual
torment. But ‘angry’ art can also be trendy and hip. Being angry and having an
attitude can be a style and make one stands out amongst the subservient crowd. In
art, we call it ‘angst-ridden’, probably to make it sound ‘justified’. So we
ride on it (together with its seemingly unrelenting force). We feel strong and
powerful. More anger, more hate, more sorrow, more pain, more grief, until we
realize (if we were lucky, blessed our souls) that the force will lead us
nowhere. It will even take control of our true ‘Self’. It veils us from knowing
our true Self.
But still, the
heck with it! Anger sells! Just like 9/11. No matter which side you are with
(in response to President George Bush), anger sells.
I believe that everyone
has surely experienced sorrow, anger, hate, grief and pain. But sometimes, we
artists always have the tendency to make a big deal (or big bucks) out of it.
Perhaps I’m wrong. I guess I have to admit, there is always this ‘drama queen’
(DQ) trait lurking within me. What about you? Or perhaps you might have noticed
fragments of such DQ amongst your buddies. I assume that we do need DQs to make
our lives more interesting. Nevertheless, and on the positive side, sincere expression
or cathartic release of torment may allow us to peek into the normally obscured
(or filtered) mental, emotional and spiritual states of us as Malaysians. They
are not pretty all the time.
Masnoor, forgive
my ‘expressionistic’ outburst.
2.5 Encountering Media
Hegemony
Another significant trajectory of your
works is simulation or fabricated reality, which seems to affirm the
post-modernist’s proposition that we live within the sway of mythology conjured
for us by the mass media, movies and advertisements. Not everyone can agree
with this though, especially those firmly rooted in the modernist ethos.
“One Dollar, one dollar” (ODOD)(2007), and “I dream of Rome” (IDOR)(2007), remind me of Liew Kungyu’s recent digital
collages, Ahmad Fuad Osman’s “An Eye For An Eye Will Make The Whole World Go
Blind”(2003), Illi Farhana’s ’s
“Believe It Or Not”(2004), and Safrizal Shahir’s “Imej Sebagai Teks,…”(2004).
It also reminds me of Nadiah Bhamadaj’s recent ‘manipulated’ photographs. These
works seem to suggest that “meaning (about a particular subject or subjects)
can be constructed as a system of thinking to a point that the thought system
be taken as natural or inevitable. They
also imply that media and images have become sites of contestation in which
culture, lifestyle and identity can be artificially constructed and hyped to feed
a targeted mass and market”. A country (like Malaysia) can be the targeted mass
and market. (31)
“ODOD”and “IDOR” may also suggest a poststructuralist
interpretation that we live in a soulless or empty society. They remind me of
an eerie link between media technology with political and economic imperialism,
urbanization, popular mass cultures, advertising and branding with propagation
of alternative metropolitan lifestyle. Such link can be exploited to further
expand consumerist agendas, thus control of political, capital and market flow.(32)
As
Zanita explains :
“We are now experiencing a media-saturated
world powered and diffused by a select group operating within a post cold war
mentality inherited from the West.”(33)
“ODOF” is
direct, bold, frontal and ‘on your face’. The mood and sentiment border on
parody and sarcasm. The work is multi-textual, featuring a combination of
signifiers. The images of two children, a Cambodian girl and boy denote
innocence. They can be read as the subservient receiver (or victim) of global
capitalism. War itself can be a profit making affair meant to further extend hegemony
and power, justified by the interest of ‘bringing democracy’. Harm and wound
that children have to endure can be delegated as “collateral damage”.
The binary pairing of the image of Buddha statue (from Angkor Wat) printed on
the boy’s t.shirt
with the image of U.S dollar unveils new readings, perhaps implying that the
local or indigenous belief can be substituted by ‘capitalism’ under ‘one’ (U.S.A)
nation. The phrase ‘in God we trust’ is further given a new twist when
juxtaposed with the image of Buddha and the action of the children that were
forced to become street-sellers to make a living. The looming presence of U.S
dollar prominently placed as the backdrop can be read as the ominous dominance
of American foreign policies (and interests) in the global affairs. The
juxtaposition also unveils a sinister proposition of railing the world under
one unilateral power (a lopsided effect of the notion of being ‘highly independent’).
“IDOR” reminds me of cultural contestation and media
hegemony. Perhaps emulating certain presumed traits of the global media, the
work features a scene that was digitally simulated, artificially reconstructed
and totally fabricated. The ‘simulacra’ scene itself can be taken as a field
for cultural contestation (or confrontation), in which ‘Wak Dogol’ (a comedic character
from the Kelantan shadow puppet) comes face to face with President Bush in a
stormy desert. I think the choice of using ‘Wak Dogol’ to spar with Persident
Bush was deliberate, as if pairing two ‘comedic’ actors on stage. In between
them stands the Coliseum, perhaps hinting at a possible ‘battle of the
gladiators or perhaps ‘fools’’. The incoming desert storm acts as another
signifier, suggesting an approaching war or another ‘desert storm’. Looking
like a scene taken from a fictional film, the panoramic view further adds drama
to the whole pictorial scheme.
As a visual text, the Coliseum can be read as an epitome
of a mob hungry for the spectacles of violence and death. It connotes the
bloody, violent and barbaric spectacles of the ‘highly cultured’ Roman Empire where actual killings of humans and their
dignity were taken as afternoon entertainment. Perhaps it functions as an index
for the global media and its consumers, always hungry for spectacles. To
compliment the Coliseum, the binary pairing of ‘Wak Dogol’ and ‘President Bush’
may also perhaps suggest a clash between the ‘Apollonian’ and the ‘Dynosian’ idealism.
Beyond the cliché U.S and Bush-bashing, it may imply the splitting paradoxes
and chasm between the sacred and the secular, spirit and body, science and art,
emotion and intellect, rational and sentimental, dialectic and compulsive,
tradition and modernity, local and international.
Similar to Ahmad Fuad’s, Safrizal’s, Illi’s and
Nadhiah’s strategy in the afore-mentioned works, your deconstructivist strategy
reveals how certain meanings can be constructed by the media and repeated to
make them natural. The constructed meanings may mask their opposite agendas. In
some cases, deconstructivist strategy has been employed to reveal that history
can be a myth and ideology can be masqueraded as truth. It can be used to
question the power behind the representation of history, its linearity and the
impact of ideology towards any narrative or style of historical writing. Several artworks by prominent Malaysian
artists such as Wong Hoy Cheong’s “Re-Looking”(2003)
can be read according to this framework.
2.6 Knocking on the
Spiritual Door
Dear Masnoor,
For those who want to skip the highbrow field of
expressionistic modernism and the dissonant raves of post-modernism, spiritual
minimalism may perhaps be one possible avenue. After all, being over-engulfed
by modernism and post-modernism can sometimes be hazardous to one’s health.
For some, the eventual rapture after an intense period
of cathartic outburst may lead one to a state of spiritual yearning. This is
another distinctive trajectory in your artistic repertoire.
Masnoor,
Your work “Faith”(2004),
features such spiritual undertone. It reminds me of Daud Abdul Rahim’s works in
his solo exhibition called “Visual Invocation”. In “Faith”, the repetitive
sound of our heartbeats “invokes a sense of visual chant that lures and invites”
one to contemplate and meditate.(34)
The sound of the
heartbeats functions in “the manner in which repeated verbal mantras help to
silence the mind, body and feeling or desire in order to embark upon a deeper
state of meditation. It provides a form of spatial and rhythmic constant needed
to attain focus, concentration and eventually a total silence.”(35)
“As piously
marked by our heartbeats, life is a virtuous invocation, blessed by the
miracles of existence. Imagine seeing and listening to the repeated invocation
of humans’ heartbeats, amplified without the pretentious differentiations of
the localized body. As one inhales and exhales, one is engaging in the miracle
symphony of the whole. One is the whole, and the whole is one.”(36)
In this video
installation, the sound of the heartbeats is accompanied by an image of a
candle light. The candle light is used to signify the yearning for
enlightenment and Union. The television
monitor itself is a source and form of light.
Light is an
interesting and engaging subject of study. In fact, the nature of light as
explicated by many spiritual traditions and Eastern philosophies may share many
common notions with quantum physics, rather than the classical sciences.
The study of
light can also be linked to bio-energy, aura, chakra, the power of intention,
and many new findings in alternative medicines. The whole spectrum of
‘spiritual sciences’ may indeed be a very transformative area of study and
practice. Sadly, not many artists in the local art scene are into it. I guess
we are still framed and prefer to be conditioned by material sciences. Perhaps
it is much easier to deal with tangible things. Of course, spirituality is best
experienced than explained (it is beyond the confines of language). Plus, this
is not the venue to indulge into the notions of light, be them spiritually or
scientifically.
Masnoor,
I remember seeing several video arts from Japan in 2003
when I was in Fukuoka,
Kyoto and Tokyo for a research on
the use of new media technology in Japan. Some of the videos that I’ve
seen (especially those produced in the 70s) featured similar interest in
spiritual minimalism. “Faith” also reminds me of some of Bill Viola’s videos.
Another work of yours that features similar spiritual
minimalism is “Kantung”(2005), which
according to you is your video interpretation of Rumi’s poem. It is marked by a
circular base with a small pot placed on firewood as if waiting to be boiled.
Water contained by the pot reflects a top view image of a man (from a video
projection), trying to escape from his container. Rumi wrote in his poem :
“Though water be enclosed in a reservoir
Yet air will absorb it, for it is its supporter
It sets it free and bears it to its source
Little by little
So that you see not the process
In like manner, this breath of ours by degrees
Steals away our souls from the prison of earth”(37)
Other than video installations, your
personal version of spiritual minimalism can also be traced in “Alif” (2000) and “99 Names” (2007).
Instead of repetition, “Alif” appears more like a proclamation.
The style is very graphic with intersecting patterns that create gradual tonal
values. The space is purposeful flat and shallow while the surface is
geometrical and mathematical. The composition is centralized to allow us to focus
mainly on the letter ‘alif’. ‘Alif’ as an Arabic letter carries many spiritual
significances in the Malay-Islamic tradition. Perhaps I should leave the
explanation to other experts.
“99 Names” refers to 99 Names of Allah. According to
you, the number is believed to be inscribed as the Arabic number 99 on humans’
palms. Humans’ palms are commonly associated by Muslims with ‘doa’ or prayer.
Despite the spiritual and religious undertone, the
work is presented in a highly graphic, figurative and modern form. Spatially, the
work displays an angle that positions the viewer as the ‘actor’ in the act of
‘doa’ while meditating on the Arabic number 99 inscribed on his or her palms.
Masnor,
I think what makes your trajectory towards
spirituality interesting for me is that you are not confined by the need to
rely on the use of arabesque, commonly featured in what we normally refer to as
‘contemporary Islamic art’. Since you are not an expert in the Islamic art, be
it traditional or contemporary, I think it is more sincere for you to rely on
the medium that you know best and feel comfortable with. I also think that it
is rather inventive to incorporate the use of video and digital technology in
manifesting your spiritual inclination.
But instead of just knocking on a door, you may want
to think about whether you are already ‘inside’ or still ‘outside’, as far as
your spiritual state is concern. Perhaps, there is no such thing as being
inside or outside, as well as being secular or spiritual. In this regards, I
will leave you with another Rumi’s :
“I’ve lived on the lips of reason,
wanting answer, knocking on a door….
I’ve been knocking from inside.”
2.7 Returning to Love and Friendship
My dear friend Masnoor,
As evidently surveyed through this writing, your 19
years ‘career’ has been multifarious and features multiple trajectories. I
don’t know whether this is good or bad, or whether you should think about
focusing on one particular trajectory or continue to flirt with diverse
directions. But regardless of whatever direction that you are heading, there
should be a point of return as much as there should be a point of departure.
The word ‘return’ may indeed suggest a kind of
finality, or an end of a journey. But such reading is based on a highly linear
reading of time. A cyclical and multidimensional reading of time may indeed
provide a different perspective. We may have ‘returned to love and friendship’
many times in our live. On the other hand, theories, writings and notions about
love are not love, but a crude physical explanation and manifestation of love.
Love has to be felt and experienced, as suggested by the opening phrase of this
writing. As a Muslim, we are told to ‘be love’, to embrace and manifest it in
every breath as we utter “Ar Rahman nir Rahim”. Once we attained unconditional
love, we will be a step closer to Oneness and Union.
In this regard,
“Sahabat Karib”, 2007 is a very unassuming
work that embodies the spirit of love and the path towards Oneness.
“Sahabat Karib” is not merely just about ‘friendship’
as implied by the title. I know that the work is based on a Malay proverb “cubit peha kiri, peha kanan terasa” or
“when you pinch your left thigh, the right thigh will also feel the pain”. More
than just a proverb, it captures the spirit of inter-dependency and sustainable
co-existence. It is about acknowledging and submitting to the fact that we are
closer to each other (regardless of our differences) than what we normally
presume; that we are actually inter-connected in a highly symbiotic way; that
we are a small part of the larger whole. To feel connected with each other and
with everything through love (not the primitive assumption of being snobbishly
independent), is to be a step closer to a higher state of unity.
“Sahabat Karib” is the most appropriate work that
summarizes your precious 19 years journey with your Matahati buddies. In
retrospect, how many times have you and your buddies returned to love and
friendship as a point of return and a point of departure during the Group’s
illustrious career?
Dear
Masnoor,
It is ‘Asar’ now, and I can hear the
calling of ‘bilal’ from a distant. In the Quran, there is a phrase that begins
with “in the name of time” to remind us of the deeper significance of ‘time’.
This writing is my way of honoring the significance of the 19 years you have
spent as a visual artist.
Don’t worry about returning me the favor. But if you
insisted, send me a ‘doa’. I need it. After all, I think I will get paid for
writing this. I apologize for any inconvenience that may be caused by this
writing. If you experienced any inconvenience, blame it on me. Don’t be shy to
disagree with me. For the sake of knowledge, or some heavenly ideals that are
bigger than my ego, I think I can tolerate working with people that I may
dislike or disagree with. I’m not perfect and I can be wrong. You are welcomed
to correct me. I can be stubborn, bias or prejudicial at times.
Lastly, I pray that your future endeavor will be propelled
by the spirit of love and friendship that echo beyond the need to ‘sustain a
career’.
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