작품 상세

The figure silhouette has appeared a few times in Datuk Syed Ahmad Jamal's canvases, but this is a 'fleshy' full-frontal one walking slightly tilted left with two spheres of colours cutting into the body principle and a head with the top half in another colour sphere, a grey one. Above him, or is it a her with an androgynous form, is a half orb in yellow. This is shown on Page 165 in Syed Ahmad Jamal's Saraseni, A Historical Overview (1954-1994) (Nanyang Gallery of Art, 1994). The figure, mostly a blob of black also plops up in Berenang (1965), First Lost, Climbing, Penelope and Longing Miss. This work came after the artist's return from studies at the School of Art Institute in Chicago (1963-1964), and may portend a crossroad faced, either personal or careerwise, which direction to take with so many imponderables. Painter-sculptor, administrator, educator, designer, author (Rupa Dan Jiwa, 1992; and Kunang-Kunang, 1999) - Datuk Syed Ahmad Jamal's manifold duties had seen his conferment of the Datukship in 1996; the National Artist laureate in 1995; a Retrospective by the National Art Gallery (NAG) in 1975 and a Historical Overview by the Nanyang Gallery of Art (1994) and a monster tribute called Syed Ahmad Jamal: Artist exhibition (2009) at NAG. His main tutelage was at the Chelsea School of Art (1951-1955), the Institute of Education at the London University (1955-1956), the Malay Teacher's Training College in Kirkby, Lancashire (1958-1959), the School of the Art Institute Chicago (1963-1964) and the University of Hawaii, Honolulu (1973-1974). He was principal of the Specialist Teachers Training Institute in Kuala Lumpur, director of the Asian Cultural Centre (Universiti Malaya) and the NAG (1981-1991).