Clash of the Pigments

8/7/2019 Clash of the Pigments

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19 April - 3 May 2011


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Clash of the PigmentsHasanul Isyraf Idris (b. 1978)

In this series Hasanul Isyraf Idris addresses the pressures and internal struggles of

the arst. These works are an animated version of my personal bale. I developed

characters from art materials and wars from colour palees, and created scenes of my

everyday art making. To me, colours are the perfect symbol of a painter, because they

are physically unique, so and easy to bind. I used these works to illustrate the process

I go through and the trivialies I experience, and I included some metaphors for the art

scene overall.

The exclusive perspective of Idris offers visuals that expose his interests and

upbringing as well as his technical skills, providing insight into the world of a young

male Malay artist.

I watched all the sci- I wanted to when I was a kid. I didnt have any parental advisory;

I lived in a kampung village. There you can watch anything when youre young, you can

watch The Exorcist if you want to. Idris background and naonal identy become

factors for the audience to consider and enjoy, within the theme of the hardship and

horror of making a living in the visual arts.


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The series is a connuaon from earlier recognised eorts, also in large scale and cartoon

colours, which introduced the arsts ability to compose harmonious gurave relaonships

that made sense within out-of-this-world canvases. These works once again show progression

within the framework of his own contemporary outlook on life. Skilled use of aerosol paints,

bold colour choices and ingenious tonal pairings keep the works deliberate and fresh, showing

a deep respect for the inuences of a diverse range of visual sources including Sixes science-

con, underground trends of American sub-cultures, Greek mythology and Modern and

Contemporary ne art. The arsts perspecve this me opens a Pandoras Box of experiences

and ideas that are converted seamlessly to painngs and sculpture, forming illustrave

representaon of an emoonal journey that very few art world audiences would otherwise

get a glimpse at.

Visually, the works are unique to Hasanul, yet they invaluably also emerge from that upcoming

wave of specically Malay arsts whose technical skills are matched to their social and polical

inquisiveness and thirst for the fantascal, and whose upbringings are cause for so much

more of their arsc identy than their schooling could ever provide. Their art is at once

so-hearted and strong willed, and their laid-back independence conicts with a deep need

to please not only others but also themselves. The deep cultural es that hold Malaysians to

their heritage and families seem to make it dicult for local arsts to separate their work,

and others opinions about their work, from their personal responsibilies. Hasanul seems

to want to reconcile his love of home with the drive to connue being an arst, The fragility

of the colours in this series is a metaphor for the art scene overall. If you wash away, are not

sustained, nobody cares about you and nobody talks about you anymore. If you go, you go.

Every year you set your boundaries, you set your level, you know, and when you nish thats

it, youre not going back to that level. I want to move on, move on, move on. I want to try new

materials and to experiment more.

The Metaphor of the Survivor

Right now Im talking about myself, and I think thats more complex than anything else.

Youve got to ask things about yourself.

Hasanul Isyraf Idris, interviewed 25 February 2011

Clash of the Pigments presents the art making process and the plight of struggling arsts, an

underworld of bales, seducons and manipulaons from which there emerge no winners,

only survivors. As Malaysian contemporary art is becoming increasingly recognised locally

and abroad, this series thus provides mely subject maer from the frustrated personalperspecve of under-the-radar, introverted talent Hasanul Isyraf Idris. Through ve large-

scale painngs, smaller scaled sculptures and mixed media works, Hasanul is assessing his

own experiences as an arst from afar, not only in terms of his ten years as a professional

but also in terms of Kuala Lumpur versus London, where he is currently based. Its hard to

be an arst in Malaysia and to make a living, he states, and if you are Malay, art has been

mixed with this and that, and with religion, and it s not healthy. If I had wanted to exhibit this

in another space, one of the other venues in K.L, I do nt think [it would have happened]. Its

not a liberal scene. Arsts start thinking not to put this in, not to do that, and [in the end] the

art is not there. If you are in London you dont have to think about what kind of images you

will use, you have freedom in art. It is total paradise. London is paradise.

A close up on the arsts own act of painng as well as a broad stroke comment, these works

place the Hasanuls acve palee in narrave, with ghostly creatures acng out t he desperate

push and pull of the art world and tubes of pigment alive and ghng for their place amongst

enemies. The situaon and temperature of the local art scene becomes a fascinang point

of focus for the exhibion, to address quesons as to whether Malaysian arsts have the

support required in obtaining freedom to express themselves properly through their work,

or in what ways a Southeast Asian arst would consider the West paradise even today. The

exported arst has thus painted it as he now sees it, and it is a horric but excing scene.

While violence may strike the viewer inially, the series is balanced with the intensity of

desire and passion in works such as Luring Hue (2011) and Colour Intercourse (2010), hinng

at the inspiraons that leave an arst defenseless to creavity and willing to enter a never

ending war that will wreak havoc on their self worth.


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Clash of the pigments2010

Acrylic and aerosol paint on canvas

6 4 x 9 11

The tle work of the series, Clash of the Pigments depicts a violent bale in which arsts are

represented as ghng tubes of paint with so and vulnerable esh. Idris imagined creatures,

part animal and part alien, fearful of fading to mere skeletal ghosts, inhabit a horric scene

where no colour is safe from the desperate need to survive. The arsts choice to animate Clash

of the Pigments dynamically with the inuence of 1960s science con, comic book, and street

art is obvious in his use of single-tone blocks and black scratched shading. This work is seminal in

a series that showcases the arsts perspecve as part of a new generaon of Malay arsts who

have followed internaonal creave underground movements from a young age.


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Colour intercourse2010


7 x 6 4

Two pigments blend together in this work that paints an unpleasant landscape of the hungry

nature of the creave process. Forgoen tubes of paint, already only bones, hover above and

haunt the couple as a reminder and warning of the fragility of their existence. Below, more

creatures of the arsts invented world try not to join those that have already drowned. Idris has

deliberately incorporated the physical painng process into the series, and works such as Colour

intercourse openly express his interest in the love aair with paints and colours that can draw a

struggling arst to connue to work, even in a bleak and harsh environment.


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Luring hue2011


7 x 6 4

The second work in the series tackling the subject of desire, Luring hue is a pseudo duel in

which female gures and probing pigments actually engage in mutual seducon. Here Idris is

commenng on his posion as a young male and as a painter, including a gilded frame and skin

from the strawberry fruit to allude to the sensuality and passion of making art. The design of

the electric blue creatures came from snakes, tradionally a phallic symbol: I had been reading

Greek mythology, I love it, and I found that H.R Geiger was also inuenced by it in the Alien

movies. I took [what he did] and changed it to my own mythology and my own creatures, and

mixed it into this painng.


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Raising the brush2011


7 x 6 4

In Japanese folklore everything has a spirit, even everyday objects, and if a certain object has

not been used for a period of me or has been thrown away, its spirit will wander aimlessly. In

this work I show a painter trying to li the spirit in a long-forgoen brush. The only painng

in the series not to depict a confrontaon, Raising the brush takes the viewer deeper into the

art underworld, where revival from bale injuries requires dark, extreme measures. Through

gurave expression, incredible control of his materials, and the juxtaposioning of three

important colour choices, the arsts skillfully manufactured emoon, depth and lighng within

this painng to create a smoky atmosphere of awe, magic, and lust for power.


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Rise of the pigment knight2010


6 9 x 7 1

The metaphor of the survivor takes centre stage in Rise of the pigment knight, where the

tradional narrave of a knight in bale is applied to the arsts own professional experiences

ten years aer graduang art school. As with others in the series, inuence and opinion combine

in the elements of this work; Idris aerosol strokes, learned as a follower of gra trends and

techniques, become the ying weaponry that place the viewer directly into an ongoing war.

Displaying strength despite the sensive running pigment of his body, the knight may prevail

not as a hero but as one of many humble monsters ghng in erce defense of an art-based

existence.


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Invasion of Vinyl Snatcher 3Acrylic on vinyl cover

30.5 x 30.5 cm

2011


30.5 x 30.5 cm

2011


30.5 x 30.5 cm

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30.5 x 30.5 cm

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30.5 x 30.5 cm

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30.5 x 30.5 cm

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30.5 x 30.5 cm

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30.5 x 30.5 cm

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Sculpture - Gold Hunter

Acrylic painted on oven baked clay

2011


30.5 x 30.5 cm

2011


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HASANUL ISYRAF IDRIS

Bachelor In Fine Art, Mara University Of Technology Uitm, Perak

AWARDS

2007 Young Contemporary Arts Award, National Art Gallery

1999 Insentive Award, Open Show, Shah Alam Gallery

Consolation Prize, Young Talent Art Exhibition, Penang Art Gallery

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS

2011 Clash of the Pigments, Richard Koh Fine Art, Kuala Lumpur

2010 Ringan-ringan, Map White Box, Solaris Dutamas, Kuala Lumpur

2010 January Showcase, Chandan Gallery, Bukit Damansara Kuala Lumpur

2009 International Contemporary Art Show (Imcas) Danga Bay, Johor Bahru, Malaysia

Our Hearts For Yours, Chandan Gallery, Bukit Damansara. Kuala Lumpur

18@8 Weiling Gallery, Bangsar, Kuala Lumpur

2008 Semangat Chandan : Contemporary Artist From The Land Of Grace,

Chandan Gallery Kuala Lumpur.

2007 Young Contemporary Art Exhibition, National Art Gallery

Three New Voices Wei Ling Gallery Kuala Lumpur

2006 Pameran Titian Budaya Malaysia, Brunei Darussalam

Open Show, National Art Gallery, Kuala Lumpur

Tribute To Jeri Azahari, National Art Gallery, Kuala Lumpur

Sculpture - Warrior Number 23

Acrylic painted on oven baked clay

2011


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Lot No. 2F-3 Level 2 Bangsar Village II

Jalan Telawi 1 Bangsar Baru 59100 Kuala LumpurT +603 2283 3677 F +603 2283 4677

[email protected] www.rkfneart.com

Clash of the Pigments

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