작품 상세

On offer is a remarkable gem by internationally acclaimed Malaysian artist Datuk Ibrahim Hussein, or otherwise affectionately known as Ib. One central motif can be seen throughout Ib's impressive opus of work – the human figure. His early training in the British art schools had given him a firm foundation in drawing the human figure. Ib's figures had transformed from simplified and stylised shapes as seen in one of his earliest works Reclining Women (1957); to aerial views of semi-abstract figures entangled and rolling in fluid unending motions, suggesting scenes of struggle and tumult. Ib's pictures were inspired by events of human struggle and conflict: demonstrations at Trafalgar Square, London in 1960, the 1969 racial riot in Malaysia, and the 1982 Sabra massacre. However, he was not concerned with the depiction of specific events directly or literally, but rather to convey universal statements on humanity itself. Ib once said: "My role as an artist is to portray man's basic needs on planet Earth and humanity's universal sharing in God's little acre – the art of our time provides us ways of seeing, understanding, criticising, and appreciating the world which we live in.' But Ib's figures are not what set him apart from the rest; it is the distinctive flowing lines that have earned him such a high level of recognition. It was not until 1975, when his wife, Datin Sim, gave him a set of graphic pens that Ib's canvases were filled with sensuous lines of varying weight, direction and character. The primary element of line has taken a whole different role on the pictorial surface, liberating the preconceived notions and fulfilling the roles of the other elements of form, shape and dimension customarily used in pictorial composition. Dated 1973, this untitled piece contains Ib's hallmark syncopated rhythmic lines and a mass of human figures in movement or interacting, compacted in a placenta-like oblong membrane whose shape is dictated by the movements inside. The mesh of human forms is celebratory of life, the spirit of living and relentless struggles. Here, the lines are dynamic but rendered in broader, staccato strokes seemingly at random, to activate certain areas of the composition. It provides precious glimpses into Ib's distinctive fine line work that is set to become his inimitable trademark. Datuk Ibrahim Hussein is world-class based on three major accolades. 1) He was given the global Crystal Award by the World Economic Forum in 1997; 2) He was the first Malaysian to have taken part in the Venice Biennale under the Smithsonian Institute Workshop programme in 1970; 3) He was chosen together with Andy Warhol and Salvador Dali in a best-of-the-world tripartite exhibition in Kuwait in 1977. Other international awards include the Order of Andres Bello of Venezuela (1993), the Order of Bernardo Higgins (Chile's highest honour to a foreigner, 1996), the Japan Foundation Cultural Award (1988), and the XVIII Prix International D'Art Contemporain de Monte Carlo (1984). On the local front, he was accorded a Retrospective by the National Art Gallery in 1986, awarded the Anugerah Tokoh Melayu Terbilang (2007) and had been conferred the Datuk title three times. He organised the first, and most successful, Langkawi International Festival of Arts in 2000, after setting up his museum and foundation (2000) in Langkawi. With the help of his wife, Sim, he organised the Club Mediterranee Asian Arts Festival in Cherating (Pahang) in 1988 and Bali (Indonesia) in 1987. Ib had his art tutelage at the Byam Shaw School of Drawing and Painting and the Royal Academy in London (1963-1966). He also received a double scholarship of Fulbright and John D. Rockefeller II Fund that saw him in the United States, with two solos in New York to boot.