작품 상세

Datuk Syed Ahmad Jamal’s art career spanned a spectrum of disciplines. Painter, sculptor, graphic artist, designer, administrator, lecturer, art commentator and cartoonist. He dabbled in cartoons when he was just 19, doing both single frame or panel strip. With scant local references or models, he betrayed influences of Western humour and showed a penchant for the slapstick. In this, he poked fun at the Anglicised ways of the Malay people’s pipe-smoking and salam (greetings) shaking hands instead of the usual extension of both hands to grasp the other person’s and often with a respectful bow. The irony of the person garbed in Baju Melayu, sarong et al, is not lost. Or poked fun at the British colonial masters in bouts of merriment during Christmas and New Year. Let’s take a snapshot look at Datuk Syed Ahmad Jamal. Education: Birmingham School of Architecture (did not complete); Chelsea School of Art, the Institute of Education, London University; Malay Teacher’s Training College in Kirkby; the School of the Art Institute Chicago (1963-1964) and University of Hawaii, Honolulu. Major exhibitions: Retrospective at the National Art Gallery (NAG) in 1975; Syed Ahmad Jamal: Artist exhibition in 2009; Historical Overview at the Nanyang Gallery of Art in 1994-1995. Awards: National Art Laureate (1995); Panglima Jasa Negara (which carries the title ‘Datuk’, 1996); Country awards from India (1962), the United States (1963-1964), France (1970), and Australia (1984). Posts: Director – Asian Cultural Centre in Universiti Malaya, KL and the National Art Gallery. Principal – Specialist Teachers Training Institute in Kuala Lumpur. Monumental sculptures: Laman Asean in the Lake Gardens, Kuala Lumpur, and the other, Lunar Peaks (torn down by Kuala Lumpur City Hall). Books: Rupa Dan Jiwa (1992), which was translated into English, and the autobiographical Kunang-Kunang (1999).