A FATHER'S ADVISE TO ANAK2 WHO ARE IN THEIR FINAL YEAR FINE ART AT LOCAL UNIVERSITIES.
(NASIHAT BAPAK BUAT ANAK2 YG DALAM TAHUN AKHIR SENI HALUS DI UNIVERSITI2 TEMPATAN)I am so thankful that Allah has given me this path, duty or trust (amanah) as what I like to call 'tukang kebun' (lecturer & visual artist). Despite many deficits, with Allah's Guide, I hope I have been delivering my duty well.
One thing that I learned from my late father is to respect and honor my job, my role, my duty, my 'amanah'. Also to deliver such duty with lots of love and compassion. As a lecturer, I know I have many deficits, lots of 'angin'. One thing I learned after recovering from stagev4 cancer is to fill my life with lots of gratitude. I am so thankful to be a lecturer who loves making art, be involved in creative projects and learning from creative people.
Spending quality time with my students has always been my most treassured experience. Allow me to share my seposen advise here, in 3 parts. Its long, so if you managed to read it till end, I give you 'wa caya la sama lu!'. Here we go.
> PART 1 : DISCOVER YOURSELF.
You are the most valuable hidden treassure to discover. You are the most important subject to study. Focus on beingness, not just havingness or owningness. It means, observing or being aware of how you decide to think and feel. You are a human being, not a human resource. Humans are to be loved, not used. Being and resource are two totally different things. Beingness come from d 'didikan' or nurturing. Its different than 'ajaran' or teaching. Im not sure about the place of 'mendidik' in universities today. Seems like universities are very busy racing, rather than nurturing.
Anyway, beingness will help you nurture the 'budi' aspect of you, not just the 'pandai' aspect. I dont know whats the English word for 'budi' or 'budiman'. 'Pandai' has to be complimented by 'budi'. Having many 'pandai' people in this world without 'budi' will only transform the world into neraka. Many forms of evils around the world are orchestrated by 'pandai without budi' people.
Try your best to develop critical thinking and analytical mind. Balance this by an honest and deep reflection of your own emotional and embodied experiences. The experiences must be related to your chosen subject of study. Be truly passionate about your research & your work.
Actually, no matter what subject or topic you have chosen, you are studying your own self. Your works are means for you to unveil and discover yourself. This includes your vulnerabilities as well as your true potentials. They are means for you to explore and dig deep into your subjective experiences. In short, your inner issues. You are the most important subject and character to be studied in all honesty. You are your primary data. Your thoughts, your feelings, your interpretations, matter. Your intangible values, matter. This is your true heritage. Its your 'warisan'. It runs in your blood, in your DNA. No, not your 'saka', though you may inherit some forms of 'penyakit' that may be a sucker for you. Many students are not aware of this. Most even deny it. Well, even your lecturers may not be aware of it.
How do you experience and relate to these important intangible values that are already embedded in your DNA? All of us carry our own intangible heritage. Dont wait for UNESCO to take care of your intangible heritage way. These inherent values are love, compassion, emphaty, gratitude, honesty, sincerity, kindness, respect, preseverence, patience, calmness, tolerance, peace, joy, happiness and many more. Most are being threatened by an idea of development based only on material values, not to mentioned greed, hate, envy, etc.
These values form the core of 'budi' aspect of being a human, without which we dont have 'adab' and 'peradaban'. These values are fundamental and pillars for the true notion of transformation & development. Explore them. Ya, these values can oftentimes be swept away by over emphasis on the cognitive & psycomotor (skill) domains. The 'budi' can also be sidelined by a more empirical or numbers-oriented evaluation based only on 'benda' or tangible evidents.
Art is an exploration and expression of your embodied subjectivities. It has to do with the intangible 'rasa', that abstract interconnected quantum energy that cant be observed by our naked eyes. Yet, it can be felt, even if you dont have a Phd. Its not science. Yet, it compliments the sciences or the material aspect of knowledge and living. So, be 'berbudi'. You have to be, not just know. Thats the 'budi' side.
Now the 'pandai' or cognitive side. You may refer to certain theory, and search other forms of primary and secondary sources. But at the end, you need to form your own opinion and interpretation. You form you own concept. Secondary sources are meant to support what you experienced and embodied within you. Theories help you to explain and articulate your experiences. Your experiences are your primary sources. Speaking of sources, ya, please dont refer to unreliable and unverified sources out there on the internet, including trending gossips, viral things or 'apa netizens kata'. You will end up echoing noises, not your true self.
Now back to articulation, try to develop soft skills, especially social, communication and language skills. You need them to verbalize and defend your ideas. You need them to make hopefully long-lasting friends, form connections and bondings driven by love & compassion, not greed.
> PART TWO : LEARN FROM PROFESSIONAL EXPERTS
Not all 'experts' have Phds or come with the title professors, especially when it comes to the arts. Yes, your lecturers can be called experts too, perhaps acacemically. They are supposed to be good in theory and in doing research. They are supposed to be good in identifying problems related to their practices, proposing hypothesis, proposing accurate methods to solve the problems, testing theories and hypothesis and come up with a viable thesis or solution. They are also supposed to be good in 'mendidik' and teaching. But Im not so sure anymore about the mendidik part because lecturers now are made to be so busy filling so many baskets - get research grants, do research, publish their research findings in scopus journals, present papers, bring in money or income from consultations or any form of business ventures/monetizing education, get grants (and sometimes, funny enough, scout for a 'community' to do community projects), plus many more administrative duties. Not sure whether they can really be a 'guru' who practice what they preach. Ok, enough about lecturers who's expertise can sometimes be debated.
There are also experts outside the academia. Many of them may not have any degree at all. Most of them are full-time visual artists and creative practitioners who become experts through so many years of doing what they are good at. Get close with then, those who are working in the creative fields or industries related to you. Dont just 'skodeng' them from social media, or 'cilok' their ideas while pretending its yours. Go to their workplaces, studios, project sites. Get to know them & if you can, get involved with their projects. Get excited and inspired. There so many resourceful visual artists and creative practitioners out there. Go to them. Dont just entertain your lecturers, who may be too busy with racing for numbers or their KPIs. Most may not involve you & your creative practices anyway.
> PART THREE : VISUAL ART IN THE CREATIVE ECONOMY
There are many types of visual artists and creative practitioners as well as creative platforms out there, not just contemporary artists and commercial galleries. Visual art can be seen & experienced in so many ways now, not just in a gallery.
Of course it would be awesome if you could practice full time and become a commercially successful contemporary visual artist. But dont be disheatened if you dont become one. From my experience & observation, only a very small proportion of fine art graduates become a full time artist. Of course, you can choose to be a full-time visual artists who work in a commercial gallery ecosystem. Its a very challenging yet exciting ecosystem to work in. But you may use whatever you have learned from doing fine art in other platforms as well.
You can pursue your study and work in the academia as a lecturer. Or work in the education sector, become a good teacher. You can work in arts and cultural sector, become a good cultural officer, curator, designer, photographer, content creator, gallery manager, event organizer. You may want to open up your own service business, or become a design consultant.
Thats not all. Your training can also lead you to work in other platforms - exhibition design for museums, experiential and immersive design for theme park, scenography for stage, art direction, storyboarding, scene and character design for films.
Visual art can be a part of an immersive experience in an indoor or outdoor projection mapping project. It can be also experienced as a large outdoor mural or outdoor sculpture - partly for urban intervention, space hacking & rejuvenation. It can be a part of an immersive and interactive Virtual Reality experience too. Visual art now can be interactively experienced through your handphone by using Augmented Reality. Or through an online walk-thru or immersive metaverse. Visual artists can also explore NFT art or crypto art, though the viability can be debated. With Artificial Intelligence, the possibilities would be endless, again with lots of debate. Within a digital platform, visual art has become a part of 'content creation'. Be informed of how to laverage social media in monetizing & diversifying your creative practice. You may also experience visual art works in pop-up artisan markets, or as an integral part of a multi-disciplinary gig involving art exhibition, art market, concert, performance, workshop, talk etc.
Partly as an experiential product or urban gig economy. In such creative economy, you may experience visual art in a cafe, a restaurant, a boutique, or a shoping mall, a town hall, a wet market, a back alley of a city, virtually any possible space in an urban setting. Visual art now can be a part of co-creation community projects - to voice out & deal with community issues, problems, aspirations. Other than community issues, visual art can be instrumental in creating awareness about the environment through various projects related to sustainability and circular economy. This include the use of recycle materials and bio-waste to create art. Such projects can take place anywhere, both in urban and rural settings. Visual art can also be deployed as a part of art therapy especially in dealing with the increasing mental health issues and aging society. Many research have shown that making art can help in dealing with mental health issues. Art is integral in wellness.
> PARTING NOTE
So you see, there are many platforms to practice visual art today. The choice is yours. Now, go out there and fly high. But dont forget your root, where you came from.
