작품 상세

In the catalogue of Ahmad Shukri Mohamed’s Golden Gate exhibition at Pace Gallery (now Nadine Fine Art), gallerist Yusof Majid, himself an artist of note, wrote: “Shukri is without doubt one of the most interesting and relevant contemporary artists in Malaysia today.” One of the founding members of the cult Matahati artist’s cooperative, Shukri has been consistently creating awareness of the environment and the balance with other living entities like insects and animals through his inimitable works. The Great Wallpaper Series, like a magical fantasy forests of James Cameron’s 2009 movie, Avatar, is part of the Golden Gate works, and it is interesting how Haji Ayman Ahwal (1940-2011) in his article, ‘Pilgrimage to the Garden’ posits Shukri’s ‘landscapist’ works in the nomenclature of the Islamic hierarchy of revelation, how man relates “his own destiny to the cosmos from the beginning of creation…” Ayman mentions that Man’s spiritual salvation lies at the conservation of Nature, and how “continued insouciance of this awareness will result in the destruction not only of man’s environment, but also of man himself.” And he quoted Sayyed Hossain Nasr: “It is nature as Allah’s primordial creation that will have the final say.”Shukri graduated from the Mara Institute of Technology in 1991. He first tasted success when he won the 1st Prize in the one-off Malaysian Art Open at Galeri Petronas in 1994, with his work of chloroformed butterflies. In 1997, he won the Major Award in the Young Contemporary Artists (Bakat Muda Sezaman) competition and the Juror’s Choice Award in the Philip Morris Asean Art Awards finals in the Philippines. He was also in the top 5 Malaysian-level winners in the 1999 Asean Art Awards. He was chosen for the Asean Art Show at the Fukuoka Art Museum in 1994. Shukri took part in the Sharjah Biennale (2003), residencies like Rimbun Dahan (2003), the Echt in Amsterdam, the Netherland (2013), and workshops in Bangladesh and Denmark (2002). His solos include 92939495969798 and Ahmad Shukri (Art Salon, KL, 1998 and 2001), Boy and Girl (Taksu, KL, 2002), Virus (Art Seasons Singapore, 2003), Fitting Room (XOAS, KL, 2005), Golden Gate (Pace Gallery, 2012), Kaki Jual (Nadine Fine Art, 2016), and Made In Malaysia (The EDGE Galerie, Sept 27 to Oct 13, 2017). The exhibition, Warning: Tapir Crossing, marked the opening of the Patisatu gallery and studio in 2009.