By AFK Collection

Ahmad Fuad Osman is recognized as one of the most eminent artists on the Malaysian contemporary art scene, for a portfolio of artworks that traverse diverse mediums including painting, sculpture, video and installation. He graduated from UiTM with a BFA in Fine Arts in 1991, and it was during his time at UiTM he met Bayu Utomo, Ahmad Shukri, Masnor and Hamir Soib, four artists he would go on to found the eminent collective MATAHATI with. Being one of the first Malaysian artists to strongly use a multidisciplinary approach to making art establishes that research and concept are highly regarded and indeed necessary to his artistic process. Fuad himself has stated that the idea is the most important point in his artwork, and the medium he executes it in is simply which he feels will best represent his message.

Fuad has had numerous solo exhibitions and residencies around the world. His work has found worldwide acclaim and been exhibited in institutions and shows including Tacheles Berlin, The Seoul Metropolitan Art Museum, Sharjah Biennale, Singapore Biennale, Singapore Art Museum, Gertrude Art Centre, Melbourne, Australia, Guangdong Museum of Art China, Manes Gallery, Czech Republic and Red Mill Gallery, Vermont USA as well as the National Art Gallery and Petronas Gallery in Malaysia. His awards include the Juror’s Choice at the Philip Morris Art Awards in both 2000 and 2003. Fuad was the artist in residence at the Vermont Studio Centre in America in 2004, at the Goyang National Art Studio in South Korea from 2005-2006 and at the Rimbun Dahan Residency in Malaysia from 2007-2008.

Bima Sakti celebrates the year Fuad turned 40, as well as the 40th anniversary of the first moon landing! He painted the birds and the kampung houses to depict his environment 40 years ago.

The King $, 2011

Mixed Media on Canvas | 244 x 244 CM

Ahmad Shukri came to widespread prominence soon after graduating from UiTM, particularly as a founding member of the MATAHATI art collective, rising through the ranks of to become one of Malaysia’s most celebrated mixed media artists. Shukri has won several important regional art awards, amongst them the Major Award ‘Installation’ at Bakat Muda (1997) and Philip Morris ASEAN Art Awards twice (1997, 1999). Having exhibited internationally, including at the Sharjah Biennale (2003), Malmo Konstmuseum (2003) and Asian Art Biennale Bangladesh (2001), his works can be found in the collections of The World Bank, Washington, Fukoka Art Museum, Japan, Singapore Art Museum, Singapore, Al-Burj, Dubai, Remisen Brande, Denmark, National Art Gallery, Malaysia and Petronas Gallery, Malaysia as well as The AFK Collection. His artworks are also found in the Mandarin Oriental Hotel and RUMA Hotel.

The King $ comes from Shukri’s Text series, which uses alphabets as a narrative tool. Noticing a decrease in the act of reading in modern Malaysian society concurrent to a rise in materialism, he sought to create a series of artworks that captured the essence of books by filling them with stories, content and knowledge in a visually accessible manner. All over the surface of The King $ are the words from the artwork’s title, overlapped and repeated. Shukri creates a density of alphabets by individually cutting each from palm-sized rectangles made from three sheets of canvas glued together. These are subsequently pasted over one another to create a collage of letters that is nine layers deep from the positives and negatives of each alphabet. In the process he is able to delineate volume and abstraction from a form that, in its original iteration, is recognisably two dimensional. In the centre of the canvas extra layers of canvas collage build up the shape of a large dollar sign, linking back to the artwork’s title, and demonstrating the manner in which Shukri imbibes his material (in this instance, canvas) with conceptual depth (in this instance, a discussion on materialism in contemporary Malaysia).

For Ali Nurazmal the figure is an aesthetic vehicle to continually refine his artistic and philosophical capabilities. Today he has cemented his reputation as one of Malaysia’s leading figurative painters through a portfolio of meticulously executed large-scale figurative paintings, and was invited to stage his solo show ‘Project A: Last Man Standing’ at National Visual Art Gallery Kuala Lumpur. He has won several art awards including Grand Prize for the Malaysia and Japan Art Competition(1995), Third Prize at the Kenyir Landscapes competition (199) and placed in the Top Five for Life Drawing -Landscape competition Shah Alam (2004).

‘The Glint’ debuted at GMCA II, an important exhibition curated by Farouk Khan and staged at the well-attended Malaysian art fair Art Expo 2015. GMCA II presented a cross-section of leading Malaysian contemporary artistic practice, making it the perfect showcase for an artwork that Ali described as a comprehensive picture of his career to date at that moment in time. One of Ali’s strongest signatures is an incredibly intense palette. Usually in Ali’s hands colours are vibrantly sharpened, conveying emotion, atmosphere and narrative. ‘The Glint’ is unusually formed from monochrome, as Ali intended to sharpen his formal art skills via the removal of colour. He asked himself if he would still be able to convey the likeness of a figure when it was reduced to only form and tone? As he built a near perfect figure through individual expressionist brushstrokes in ‘The Glint’ it became clear the answer was a resounding ‘Yes’.

The use of Abstract Expressionism as seen in the brushstrokes of this painting was not completely foreign to Ali. Early in his career he frequently turned to the genre as a means to perfect basic formal painting skills that could be applied to the more complex figures he sought to produce. As his confidence in Realism was cemented he once more returned to the freehand strokes of his youth to test the depth of his understanding of the figure. Thus a self-portrait was the perfect symbol, being that the figure he understands best is his own self. The value of ‘The Glint’ as a key transformative piece in his oeuvre is emphasised not only in the self-portrait, but that it is a smoking self-portrait, one of the best known tropes Ali uses to declare a major shift forward in practice. The tricky perspective and three-dimensional figure here in ‘The Glint’ were a milestone from which he pushed forward in his subsequent painting a year later, ‘Face Off’, marking ‘The Glint’ as a foundational work for Ali as well as Figurative Painting in Malaysian contemporary art.

Kumbu Muau, 2014

Mixed Hardwoods | 183CM (Diameter)

Born and raised in Kuching, Sarawak, Anniketyni Madian moved to Peninsula Malaysia to study sculpture at UiTM. After graduating in 2009, she set up a studio to begin work on a sculptural practice that has garnered acclaim both critical and commercial, both locally and around the world. Career highlights are participating in the esteemed Rimbun Dahan Residency, shortlisting in the Top 30 for the Sovereign Asian Art Prize (2016/2017) and being presented with the Young Guns Art Award. Additionally, Anniketyni has been invited to create several commissions and public sculptures; most notably a public sculpture for the Mall of Medini in Johor Bahru, a commission for the United Nations in Rome, a commission for the Corporate Art Award in Rome, a commission for Google Malaysia and her works are found in One and Only Desaru, Four Seasons and Mandarin Oriental.

‘Kumbu Muau’ is a prime example of the wooden wall sculptures with which Anniketyni made her name. The work is filled with subtle nuances of material exploration, commentary on the evolving role of craft traditions and insights into Iban, Sarawakian and Muslim heritage. Right from the start of her career she experimented with a stylisation of the patterns found in Pua Kumbu. A traditional waft textile woven exclusively by the women of the Iban tribe, Pua Kumbu merges motifs and designs drawn from the extensive canon of oral Iban literature with personal insights, to create rich tapestries often reserved for ceremony. Clear parallels exist between the production of pua kumbu and Anniketyni’s practice: the utilisation of historical pattern and narrative combined with personal flair, exemplified by the sharp, graphic lines patterns are pared into, in an artistry that cements their maker’s position within her society- whether that be in an Iban tribe or the Malaysian contemporary art world.

The influence of this style of wooden sculptures inspired by pua kumbu patterns resonates throughout Anniketyni’s practice. In her current practice she no longer produces these fully wooden works, which are highly sought after by collectors of contemporary Malaysian art. Extremely refined in finish and impressive in scale, ‘Kumbu Muau’ is widely regarded as an ‘Anniketyni Classic’.

A love of portrait based, narrative driven work fuels Anurendra Jegadeva. His paintings have found great success in Malaysia and around the world, and in 2019 he was invited to display an installation made up of several portraits titled ‘Yesterday, in a Padded Room...’ at the 58th Venice Biennale. Several important international exhibitions and events have extended invitations to Anurendra over the years, amongst them the Asian Art Biennale 2015, Taiwan, Art Basel Hong Kong 2015 and Art Stage Singapore 2014. Anurendra has held solo exhibitions in Malaysia, London and Australia. For over nine years he contributed to the Star, a leading Malaysian newspaper, as an art critic, and has held important curatorial positions in Australia and Malaysia, at Petronas Gallery. Anurendra’s works are held in the collections of National Visual Art Gallery Kuala Lumpur, Singapore Art Museum and The AFK Collection.

Anurendra’s eighth solo ‘Conditional Love’ was painted upon his return to Kuala Lumpur after a period living in Australia. Re-looking his beloved homeland after this time as a migrant in a foreign country he was struck that despite developments and transformations, KL was plagued by several of the same issues (particularly politically) as ever. His paintings in this series were the boldest political statements he had made until this time, as they examined identity, race, nation-hood and politics through his critical eye. Anurendra’s incorporation of mixed media elements and extremely painterly style emerges in these works, which are all highly revealing about the personal and the communal. This is the style that went on to influence ‘Yesterday, in a padded room’, marking this out as an important creative moment for Anurendra.

Bayu Utomo Radjikin is a founding member of the MATAHATI artist collective who found critical and commercial success early in his career. In both 1994 and 1995 Bayu won Honourable Mention at the Philip Morris ASEAN Art Awards, and has also been awarded the Major Prize at the Young Contemporaries Art Competition at National Arts Gallery Kuala Lumpur. Bayu’s artworks have been exhibited across Malaysia and in Singapore, Pakistan, Indonesia and America. Today he runs HOM Art Trans, an important arts space in the Malaysian art ecology dedicated to the cultivation and promotion of young Malaysian contemporary artists.

Bayu’s most covetable artworks are possibly his figurative paintings, particularly those that involve his self-portraiture. His images of himself are noted as personal considerations on identity and experience- often infused with a wry wit. ‘Monologue at Tate Britain’ and ‘Words at the Parc de Cascada Barcelona’ were part of the London Series which Bayu produced during a stint living with his wife in London while she was studying on a scholarship in the early Noughties. As Bayu immersed himself in the culture of London and Europe, particularly the thriving artistic scene, he began to reflect more deeply on himself as a Malay and Malaysian. By painting himself against architectural landmarks in London and Barcelona Bayu was inserting himself as a contemporary Asian figure into the European cultural landscape. Today we can view this as an early instigation into the transnational discourse that has swept the art world, particularly as Asian art ecologies are on the rise and being presented extensively in museums, exhibitions and publications in international intellectual discourse. Finely detailed, ‘Monologue at Tate Britain’ and ‘Words at the Parc de Cascada Barcelona’ are two impressive examples of the painterly skills and philosophical thinking that define Bayu.

Chin Kong Yee graduated from The Central Academy of Art in 1990, and has gone on to have a career as one of Malaysia’s most exciting landscape artists. His vivid paintings of natural and man-made ‘scapes, which are the result of in-depth personal research and compositing several self-taken photographs into a single composition, have garnered him a strong following in the Malaysian art scene with invitations to exhibit locally as well as internationally in France, Indonesia, Romania, Karachi, Seoul, Beijing, Taiwan and Singapore. Kong Yee’s works can be found in several notable art collections including Cluj-Napoca Art Museum Romania, National Art Gallery Malaysia, Accenture Solutions, Wong & Partners, United Overseas Bank, Anika Insurance Brokers, Shearn Delamore & Co, Gleneagles Intan Medical Centre, HSBC Bank and The AFK Collection.

In 2006 Kong Yee visited the city of Stuttgart in Germany for the first time. As is his habit in any new environment one of his first visits was to the city’s museum, where he sought to learn more about the local culture and society. While there he was struck by the view overlooking the city centre and town hall from inside the museum. The museum was constructed in hyper modern materials, and as he gazed through the glass windows at the old town hall he realised that the architecture he was experiencing was a visual record of Stuttgart’s past, present and desired future. Kong Yee’s strong ability in colour as an atmospheric tool emerges in this work through the vivid contrast of the blue to represent the museum and reds and browns for the view and town hall. Creating the distinctions in tone while overlapping colours is tricky and demonstrates Kong Yee’s deft ability in colour theory and application.

That Kong Yee is depicting his observations on Stuttgart is immediately made clear by the fish-eye composition that is his signature, and makes his landscape paintings immediately recognisable as ‘a Kong Yee painting’. This notion of the personal observation is cemented through a partial self-portrait in this work, reminding viewers that Kong Yee was standing right there to look at and analyse this particular view. In discussing his decision to paint himself into the work Kong Yee commented “When a painting is a viewpoint of the artist? When an artist is included in the painting then who is the viewer really- the artist or the audience?” The inclusion of this self-portrait is incredibly rare and has not been repeated often either before or after ‘Stuttgart Museum’, marking this painting as an extremely covetable piece from one of Malaysia’s most exciting contemporary landscape painters.

Choy Chun Wei graduated with a BA (Hons) from Central Saint Martins London in 1998, before going on to gain his Masters in Fine Art from University Malaya in 2016. An extremely intellectual artist Chun Wei has received several accolades including the Juror’s Choice Award at Bakat Muda Sezaman (2004) and Honourable Mention at Philip Morris Malaysia/ASEAN Art Awards (2003) as well as full scholarships from The London Institute (University of Arts London) and Higher National Diploma (HND) Teo Soo Ching. Chun Wei was invited to be artist in residence at Vermont Studio Centre Asian Artist Fellowship, Vermont Studio Center, United States and at Rimbun Dahan in Malaysia. His artworks can be found in the collections of National Visual Arts Gallery Malaysia, Bank Negara Malaysia, Hijas Kasturi Association, The AFK Collection, Architron Design Consultants, Veritas Design Group, Zain & Co Advocates and Solicitors, Edward Soo & Co Advocates and Solicitors, Seksan Design and CWL Design Malaysia.

‘Players: Celebration’ is a rare piece for Chun Wei in that it is a standalone work rather than being part of a series. It was produced at a point in time when there was an incredibly strong bond between artist, Chun Wei, and collector, Farouk Khan. The pair would regularly meet either in Farouk’s home, Chun Wei’s studio or on outings to see art at museums and exhibitions. During this time they engaged in discussion on Chun Wei’s art practice, which is very much centred on Constructive Abstraction, and what else could his works incorporate? The AFK Collection has always been known for housing seminal artworks which led Farouk and Chun Wei to discuss the concept of ‘being iconic’- whether as an object, event or person.

Chun Wei began to explore this theme through the lens of legendary football players, and viewers will notice photos of famous football stars incorporated into the mix of media across the artwork’s surface. This inclusion of figurative image is highly unusual for Chun Wei, marking this as a distinct moment in his career until present time. It is crucial to note ‘Players: Celebration’ was not a commission but rather Chun Wei’s response to an intellectual discussion he was engaged in. Perhaps the title can further refer to a celebration of the artist and patron relationship, and the way in which intellectual discourse has always driven Malaysian contemporary art forward.

Born in Johor in 1967, Eng Hwee Chu graduated from the Malaysian Institute of Art in 1989. Hwee Chu is the recipient of many major awards including first prize in the Philip Morris Asean Art Awards in 1994 and the Painting Award, Salon Malaysia 3 at the National Art Gallery in 1991. She has also exhibited locally and internationally most notably at the Osaka Triennale in Osaka, Japan in 2001 and the second Asia Pacific Triennale in Brisbane, Australia in 1996, as well as in Singapore, Hong Kong, Thailand and Malaysia. In early 2013 Eng participated in “Women In Betweeen: Asian Women Artists 1984-2012” in Fukoka, Japan with her work “The Role of the Female”. Notable institutional collections that house her work include Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, Fukoka Art Museum, Singapore Art Museum and National Art Gallery Kuala Lumpur.

‘Lost in Mind’ relays Eng Hwee Chu’s deftness and delight in painting as well as her fantastic figurative skill, emphasised by the thick border of detailed portraits of her three children. Presented in joyful, playful poses these first tell us the figure is a subject she has easily mastered then the value of motherhood to her. This duality of meaning embedded in these portraits marks ‘Lost In Mind’ out as an extremely special painting for Hwee Chu. The repeated crowd of children to the canvas’ right is mirrored by a long section on the left, filled with figures in traditional Chinese styling, overlaid with a single long Chinese lady. While refined, the detailing here is focused on the Chinese dress and patterns as opposed to creating individualistic portraits that shine with personality. A story forms as viewers understand the value Hwee Chu places on her own heritage as a Chinese Malaysian while balancing her contemporary existence as a painter and personal investment on the family she has built. A focus on heritage is furthered by the elements of Chinese architecture, hinting that culture influences all aspects of her life and surroundings, raising existential questions on identity and how the past and present are balanced for Hwee Chu, a contemporary woman.

Hwee Chu’s use of compositional overlap in ‘Lost in Mind’ creates perspective and depth. Crowding together several elements we understand those thoughts that dominate her mind, and this emphasised by her centring the painting with portraits of herself. Known to possess a shy personality Hwee Chu has created artistic avatars for herself rather than faithfully depicting her face. The seminal ‘Black Moon’ series that launched her to critical acclaim was when audiences were first introduced to the Red Figure who communicates her True Self, and is often shown to be in anguish or uncertainty. ‘Lost in Mind’ has the Red Figure in a reflective pose alongside a smiling masked White Figure of present day Hwee Chu, hinting that at the point of painting she was coming into her own as artist, mother and contemporary woman.

The Father of Malaysian Contemporary Art, Fauzan Omar made art that did not look like anything that came before him. He elevated what art could be, from representational imagery of idealistic, romanticised scenes of Malaysian life that had a colonial slant to them, to depictions of the fiercely independent mindset that swept Malaysia in the wake of successful policies in the newly post-colonial era, many of which were led by the country’s second prime minister Tun Razak. Fauzan’s eloquent visual statement, as projected here in ‘The Reef Series: Drop Point’, represents the decolonisation of Malaysian mindsets, a process that heralded the beginning of the country’s contemporary era. Viewed through this lens, ‘The Reef Series: Drop Point’ is made clear not only as an art object but as an artefact with strong social, political and economic value.

One of Fauzan’s major contributions to the Malaysian art movement was a rejection of the rigid sacredness bestowed upon flat surfaces in art. He developed a self-led technique of layering swathes of canvas, cut, torn, pressed, stitched and glued, to create different textures, thickness and shape. He was inspired by ideas of materiality, allowing himself to be guided by the material at hand (canvas) and ways in which responding to its character would allow him to build structure. While attacking the canvas is a notion often seen in art history it is typically associated with acts of cutting into the canvas, as seen in Luciano Fontana’s work. Fauzan set himself apart on a global scale by building up the canvas. As he used a deconstructing approach (cutting, slicing, tearing away) to reconstruct his canvas (building up form, shape, colour), his technique led his concept; that is a comment on the physical landscapes as a result of economic, socio-political and industrial development in Malaysia’s post-Independence era.

Interestingly Fauzan turned to a classical art subject matter in developing this contemporary mindset: the landscape. ‘The Reef Series: Drop Point’ draws inspiration from the coastal life and aquatic ecosystems that surround the Malaysian peninsula. Studying the ‘liquid world’ that acts as a home for sea life and benefits humans, he sought to understand its physical construct. With Malaysian geography as his point of instigation ‘The Reef Series: Drop Point’ blurs the lines between realism and abstraction, telling broader stories about Malaysia’s social, physical and art histories, becoming a critical a repository of knowledge and history, that strongly impacted our local intellectual processes from their creation up until present day.

Fauzin Mustafa is a key contributor to the development of the Malaysian mixed media movement, an important genre as the local art world transitioned from a modernist movement into the contemporary. His early artistic career parallels the emergence of a strong contemporary movement locally, one with roots firmly grounded in mixed media, as Malaysian artists drew their distinct local experiences while working on transnational styles of art. Coming to prominence with critical and commercial success in this early period, Fauzin established himself as a pioneering Malaysian mixed media artist through a rigorous practice which involved the regular production of seminal artworks, cementing his position as a central figure in the Malaysian art canon.

Immediately after graduating from UiTM the Perak born Fauzin formed one of Malaysia’s earliest contemporary artist collectives with three contemporaries: Mhd Nor Mahmud, Hasnul Jamal Saidon and Taufik Abdullah. Calling themselves Empat Persepsi (which translates to four perspectives) this collective was important not only as a source of support for the four young artists, but also in the furtherance of a mixed media movement at a time when the local art establishment was still focused on modernist painting. In 1989 Empat Persepsi held their first, and to date only, group exhibition at the National Art Gallery in Kuala Lumpur. Concurrent to his activities with Empat Persepsi, Fauzin regularly participated in several group exhibitions and competitions, often to great success, demonstrating an experimental and diligent commitment to his practice.

Prior to his 1987 graduation Fauzin had artworks on display at the National Art Gallery’s Young Contemporary Exhibition, going to take part in several local and regional art competitions. Fauzin won his first award, the Bakat Muda Minor Award in 1988, going on to receive several prizes since, such as the 1991 Salon Malaysia Minor Award and 1994 Philip Morris Art Award. Most recently his Satu Dan Lima series garnered first place in 2010’s 1 Malaysia Mural Competition. Fauzin has participated in several group exhibitions both in Malaysia and abroad as well as had three highly successful solo exhibitions, Dari Bumi ke Bumi (1994), Fauzin Mustafa (2001) and Life Between the Dots (2016). In 1992 Fauzin was chosen to represent Malaysia at the Container 96 - Art Across Oceans exhibition in Copenhagen, Denmark, with a mixed media installation, Against Nature! Are We?. An international art event, Container 96 showcased the works of over 96 artists from across the globe; this inclusion was a nod to his position as an artist who was receiving both critical and commercial success from an early stage in his career. Artworks by Fauzin have been acquired by several art collections, amongst them the Fukuoka Art Museum, Japan, Tosuko’ Resort Hokkaido, Japan, National Art Gallery, Kuala Lumpur, Bank Negara Malaysia, Malaysia Airlines, Petronas Carigali Berhad, Kuala Lumpur, Mandarin Oriental, Kuala Lumpur and The AFK Collection.

A strong example of the socio-political commentary that is Hamir Soib’s conceptual signature, ‘Auctionland’ debuted at GMCA I, a seminal exhibition curated by Farouk Khan that presented Malaysian contemporary art in a museum-like setting at the local Art Expo art fair in 2013. Given the gravity of the exhibition Hamir spent an extended period of time refining the work he would present, leading ‘Auctionland’ to have an incredibly refined finish and level of detail across its expanse of 16 feet.

‘Auctionland’ marked Hamir’s return to colour after a five year monochromatic period. The canvas is layered and built up in the bitumen medium he perfected during his monochromatic period and overlaid with acrylic, making it ‘glow’. As the pioneer of monumental canvases in the Malaysian contemporary art scene Hamir is skilled in the art of composition across an expanse, which is seen here as the entire area of the canvas is filled with thoughtful details and harmoniously composed to draw viewer’s eyes across the surface.

Layering is crucial to Hamir not only technically but also philosophically, which is reinforced with the concept behind ‘Auctionland’. An expensive commodity, the koi has been used as an icon to represent the ideas of value, buying and selling and the auction market. Within the contemporary Malaysian art scene there was an explosion of auction houses. Hamir questions the significance of these institutions within a booming contemporary art market when they promoted and idealised Nanyang art over contemporary. The lateral position of the koi becomes key in this context, as within Nanyang art there is frequent representation of the koi in a bird’s eye view; by changing the context Hamir asks his audience to look at issues from new perspectives. Impeccable in scale, finish and content, ‘Auctionland’ is a seminal painting from one of the landmark exhibitions in Malaysian contemporary art history, representing a significant moment that underlined why Hamir has his reputation as a true master in the contemporary Malaysian art scene.

Graduating from Maine College of Art in 1998, Ivan Lam has won several art awards. These include Group Exhibit, Sovereign Art Prize (Top 10 Finalists), Hong Kong (2006); Group Exhibit (Grand Prize Winner), Philip Morris 2003, National Art Gallery, Kuala Lumpur (2003);Group Exhibit (Honourable Mention), Phillip Morris 2001, National Art Gallery, Kuala Lumpur (2001); One person Exhibit, Bright Sight Night Lights, Galeriwan, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (1999); Merit Scholarship Exhibit, 1st Place, MECA, Portland, ME, USA (1996). Collections which have acquired his works include Artoll, Germany, Catlin Re Collection, Switzerland, Crank Design Consultant, Maine, Galeri Petronas, Malaysia, HSBC, Malaysia, Louis Vuitton, Merrill Lynch, Maine, National Art Gallery, Malaysia, The Aliya & Farouk Khan Collection. He has been invited to exhibit at the Karachi Biennale, Art Basel and Venice Biennale.

‘EVO 7’ marks an important point in Ivan’s career, as he moved from working in silkscreen printing to a painterly style. In preparing to make this shift in genre, Ivan dove into extensive research on the visually diverse painting techniques of Vincent Van Gogh, Pablo Picasso and Georges Seurat. Recognising himself as an Asian artist in the midst of the emergence of the Asian art ecologies, wondered what his own painting style would look like? He decided to explore this question through producing a personal painting: that of a Japanese supercar he had always admired.

Ivan’s notion of desire extends conceptually past materialism (the acquisition of a car) into conceptualism (becoming a superior painter). He produced the EVO 7 in a perfect technical rendering so as to fully understand the technicality behind painting, at 75% of the scale of the actual car. ‘EVO 7’ could technically be taken to a car manufacturer, scaled up 25%, and then manufactured. In this way Ivan has taken the concept of realism and applied it in a graphic, hyper-contemporary format. Today ‘EVO 7’ is considered a landmark in Ivan’s journey as a painter, which has since informed his entire multidisciplinary oeuvre since, as his practice of painting large canvases became the foundation for the installation works, including ‘One Inch’ which he was invited to debut at the 58th Venice Biennale in 2019.

‘Astro Scout’ was produced by Jai during his beloved son Jabil’s early childhood. At the time Jabil acted as a muse for Jai, who was charmed by his young son and the newness of fatherhood, and fascinated with the differences between Malaysia during Jai’s youth and Jabil’s. We see references to Jai’s early years through the wooden architecture of a kampung house akin to where Jai grew up, that forms a contrast to the modern robot toys Jabil liked to play with. As such ‘Astro Scout’ is a highly personal observation on the rapid developments Malaysia underwent due to political, social, economic and educational progress in the post-colonial period.

Several Jai signatures appear strongly in this work, marking it out as a classic Jai. Across the canvas are excerpts from Malay proverbs and thoughts, written in the artist’s distinct hand. The palette of orange is a shade Jai was mixing himself through his knowledge of colour theory, and this shade in particular grounds ‘Astro Scout’ in that specific period of his career. Finely finished and detailed, filled with an abundance of personal details, ‘Astro Scout’ stands out not only as a strong example of Jai’s practice in the early 2000’s but as an insight into the family life and artistic development of one of Malaysia’s most prominent senior contemporary artists.

Upon graduating from Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM), Masnoor Ramli went on to found the MATAHATI art collective along with Ahmad Fuad Osman, Ahmad Shukri, Bayu Utomo Radjikin and Hamir Soib. Today, he stands out as one of the most influential contemporary figures in Malaysia, as both an artist and an intellectual. Director of the National University of Singapore Museum Ahmad Mashadi views the MATAHATI as representational of the transformations within the Malaysian art ecology which resulted from a changing postcolonial landscape, saying that “as young, ethnic Malays, they represent part of a new generation as well as an urban class that emerged during a period of intense economic and cultural transformation.” Despite this inextricable link to four other artists, Masnoor stood out individually from the start. This was evidenced by his receipt of several art awards, among them the Honourable Mention at the Philip Morris Art Awards (1994 and 1995), and the Petronas Nusantara 4X4 Xpedition (2006), and his inclusion in regional art collections, among them Singapore Art Museum, National Art Gallery Kuala Lumpur, GALERI PETRONAS and Maybank.

‘Dream I can’t Bring It Back’ is emblematic of Masnoor’s style of incorporating global references and Pop symbolism into paintings that are commentaries on global and local issues. Masnoor came to maturity in a time when Malaysia was fast developing from a quieter newly Independent country to a leading Southeast Asian nation. As such he has a deeply embedded interest in those issues of politics, the state and culture that define our understanding of the world around us. ‘Dream I can’t Bring It Back’ features references to several well known Western iconographies. Superman reaches out towards the Roman Collosseum, two symbols of Western power and supremacy. While America is still a global superpower (as represented by Superman), the Collosseum lies in ruins, reminding audiences that all power structures and eras of dominance eventually fall. To the side is Nostradamus, the French astrologer and reported seer, whose presence cements the idea of end of times and sweeping changes. Masnoor is asking what changes can we expect in the sweeping era of decolonisation, and how will these changes impact Malaysia? Given the popularity of paintings by Masnoor that feature these Western Pop and cultural symbols, and that their presence often depicts a work that has conceptual impact on the artist, ‘Dream I can’t Bring It Back’ is a key painting from Masnoor’s oeuvre.

Born in 1964 in Kelantan, Mohd Noor Mahmud, known in Malaysia’s contemporary art scene at Matnor, graduated with a BA in Fine Art from Universiti Teknologi Mara in 1988 before obtaining a Master’s degree from Leicester in 1996. Matnor’s artistic practice is closely linked to the craft conventions and local industry of Kelantan. The influence of the crafts of his home state is evident throughout his career, but can be seen to have begun with his first series, Siri Imajan (1988), continuing through his more recent critically acclaimed contemporary calligraphy exhibition Siri Rasa Bertuhan, which was exhibited at and subsequently acquired by Pahang State Museum in 2014. Matnor is not only seen as a pioneering Mixed Media artist in the contemporary era, but also a leader in establishing the extremely popular and sought after contemporary calligraphy genre in Malaysia.

Matnor has exhibited extensively including at the National Art Gallery in Kuala Lumpur, Pahang State Museum, Sarawak State Museum, Sabah Art Gallery, Maybank Gallery, American Embassy and Australian High Commission in Kuala Lumpur and won the third prize in the “Pemandangan Malaysia” competition, which was held by Kontena Malaysia in 1989.

‘Siri Kala Kota Bahru’ was a love letter from Matnor to his home state of Kelantan, explored through Kelantanese craft aesthetics, in particular batik. In this series, these 2 works have been noted as an exceptional sample firstly for its contemporisation of batik motifs into a more contemporary composition, and then for exemplifying Matnor’s turn from working on canvas to working on wood, bringing him closer to his goal of updating Malaysian heritage traditions for contemporary audiences everywhere.

Tan Chin Kuan is a celebrated senior Malaysian artist who works across all mediums but is particularly noted for his seminal paintings and installations, for which he has won many awards. In both 1989 and 1990 Tan won the Major Award for Young Contemporaries at The National Art Gallery in Kuala Lumpur, going on to be presented with the Minor Award in both the catagories of Painting and Sculpture at the Salon Malaysia 3 at the National Art Gallery Kuala Lumpur in 1991. 2001 saw him win the Bronze Prize at the Osaka Triennale in Japan. Tan has exbihited internationally on numerous occasions including a solo exhibit at the Fukoka Art Museum in Japan, the Osaka Triennale in 1993 and 2001, the Kwang Ju Biennale in Korea in 1995 and in Australia and London, in addition to frequently exhibiting in Malaysia. Tan’s works are found in the collections of the Fukoka Art Museum in Japan, The Osaka Prefectural Government & Osaka Foundation of Culture in Japan, The Singapore Art Museum and the National Art Gallery in Malaysia and The AFK Collection.

Despite the plethora of accolades Tan has received from the beginning of his career his works are extremely rare, and hardly ever come up for sale. ‘American Dream’ was a personal favourite painting of Tan’s, for its depiction of the socio-political state of the world today. That this painting records a deeply personal observation is immediately made clear by the large central horse. As Tan is born in the Chinese Zodiac year of the horse he includes his own self-portrait in several of his most seminal artworks in the guise of a horse. For several years Tan thought ‘American Dream’ was lost or destroyed, and he even recorded it as such. In the early 2000’s he discovered it kept away in a quiet area of his studio and was delighted by the discovery of one of his most important, finely detailed paintings. In a mark of his respect for The AFK Collection he immediately offered this work to the collection, a sign of his own value of ‘American Dream’ as one of the most seminal

Yusof Ghani’s name is synonymous with the advent of an Abstract Expressionist movement in Malaysian contemporary art. Gaining his Masters in Fine Art (1983) at The Catholic University of America, under the tutelage of leading Expressionist artist Walter Kravitz, Yusof returned to Malaysia in the mid-1980’s to begin teaching Fine Art at Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) and has influenced generations of artists after him. Beginning with the seminal Sri Tari series his paintings incorporated both the tenants of Western formalism and Southeast Asian cultural philosophies to create an all new visual which spoke to Malaysia’s post-Independence landscape, gaining him local and international prominence.

Yusof’s first solo exhibition was held at the prestigious Anton Gallery in Washington DC. Since then his works have been extensively presented not only throughout Malaysia, but around the world, including in Washington, Tokyo, Madrid, New Delhi, Abu Dhabi, San Francisco, New York, London Bangkok, Hong Kong and Karachi.

Numerous important collections house Yusof’s paintings. A selection amongst these are Ascott Malaysia, Bank Negara Malaysia, DIGI Telecommunications Malaysia, Equatorial Hotel Malaysia, Galeri Citra Malaysia, Malayan Banking Malaysia, Malaysia Mining Corporation, Malaysian Airlines, National Art Gallery Kuala Lumpur, Oriental Bank Malaysia, PNB Malaysia, Petronas Malaysia, Sapura Malaysia and Southern Bank Malaysia. Globally his works are found in public collections including Changi Airport Singapore, Jenkins Johnson Gallery San Francisco, Singapore Art Museum, Tokyo Gas Japan and Youth Centre Washington DC.

The ‘Segerak’ series continues Yusof’s interest in exploring the human form through Abstraction, an interest he first declared with his seminal ‘Sri Tari’ series that brought him to prominence. The ‘Segerak’ series which ‘Segerak: Searching’ is part of was a small body of works; Yusof had produced only 7. ‘Segerak: Searching’ stood out for its monochromatic palette, which audiences will note is highly unusual amidst Yusof’s typical preference for brighter shades particularly reds, yellows, oranges and greens. As such ‘Segerak: Searching’ is an extremely rare work not only from the tight edit of paintings it emerged from, but in context of Yusof’s practice as a whole. Upon viewing this body of work the senior Malaysian contemporary artist Jailani Abu Hassan remarked to collectors Aliya and Farouk Khan that ‘Segerak: Searching’ stood out as the strongest painting in the series, cementing its reputation amongst the Malaysian cultural elite.

Zulkifli Yusoff’s diverse portfolio traverses painting, mixed media, sculpture and installation to form a cohesive study of Malaysia’s past through the lens of the independent nation. Born in Kedah in 1962 he obtained his Master of Art from Manchester Polytechnic United Kingdom (1991) before returning to Malaysia to work as an artist and academic. Zulkifli is widely acknowledged as Southeast Asia’s leading installation artist, a fact bolstered by the plethora of awards and exhibition invites he has received for his multi-disciplinary tendencies.

In both 1988 and 1989 Zulkifli was presented with both the Major Award and Minor Award at the prestigious Young Contemporaries Competition at National Art Gallery Kuala Lumpur. In 1992 he garnered three prizes at Salon Malaysia- the Grand Minister’s Award, Major Award and Consolation Prize- and had his award winning installation ‘Power I’ featured on the competition catalogue cover. In 1995 Philip Morris Art Competition awarded Zulkifli the Honourable Mention in Painting.

That Zulkifli’s works are emblematic of a Malaysian contemporary art movement is evidenced in his frequent inclusion in international events and shows. He is the only Malaysian artist to exhibit twice at the prestigious Venice Biennale, first with his installation ‘Don’t Play During Maghrib’ at ‘Modernities and Memories: Recent Works from the Islamic World’ (1997) and again at the inaugural Malaysian Pavilion with ‘Kebun Pak Awang’, loaned from The AFK Collection, in 2019. He has shown at 1st Asia-Pacific Triennale of Contemporary Art in Australia, Biennale of Visual Arts Seychelles and the exhibition ‘Writing Power’ at National University Singapore. Tate Britain and National Gallery Singapore included his seminal painting ‘Huajn Lembing di Pasir Salak’ from the ‘Pasir Salak’ series at the ‘Artist and Empire’ exhibition which was held between London and Singapore in 2016.

Selected collections that house Zulkifli’s works include The AFK Collection, Singapore Art Museum, National Art Gallery Kuala Lumpur, Fukoka Asian Art Museum and Hiroshima Prefectural Art Museum.