Simply smashing

By AMY DE KANTER(The Star Feb 1,2009)

The Smash: Warna exhibition shows that young local artists are on the right track.

ONE of the stimulating things about art is that it is, to a point, subjective. The personality or even the mood of the viewer affects how the piece is interpreted.

In recent months, there has been much news (though not enough) of the smuggling of animal parts. Mohd Faizal Suhif’s art may not be the first thing a visitor sees upon entering the NN Gallery in Ampang, Selangor, but the large white canvas with the image of an elephant has a magnetic pull. Faizul’s beautiful animal is missing its tusks and trunk. Also incomplete is the title of the piece, stencilled in large letters on the canvas itself: G _ _ A H.

Mohd Faizal Suhif’s G_ _ AH shows cement cut on canvas.

Closer inspection reveals something that shows up on all of Faizal’s other works. Be it an elephant, a fish, platypus or crocodile, the creature’s eyes shows depth, gentleness, intelligence... and it is the eyes that make you linger just a little longer.

Faizal is a member of an art collective called Warna, made up of young, up-and-coming artists, and the other collective members are Azli Wahid, Ali Azraie Bebit, Halim Hasan and Razlan Adnan. The exhibit at the NN Gallery, called Smash, showcases their work as well as that of guest artists Azizan Talkis, Adlan Aman and Angela Liu Jing.

Two very familiar characters, Snoopy and Doraemon, make an appearance at the exhibit courtesy of Ali Azraie Bebit, who uses familiar icons made from welded metal to deliver his message. His metal Snoopy is entitled Kapten Yang Masih Tidur (The Captain Who is Still Asleep) and in its stomach is a working alarm clock, set to go off every ten minutes.

Halim Hasan’s Enjet-Enjet

“The Kapten must not sleep, he must struggle and do what is right,” explains Ali, who likes his sculptures to be interactive. He leans over and sets the alarm to go off again. My favourite of Ali’s pieces is that of a little warrior who wears a bicycle chain as a bullet sash. There is an element of the ridiculous about its large froglike head on a body posed for fight, but it looks as if it could just as easily be dancing or throwing a tantrum.

Like an action figure, the warrior’s pose can be changed, Ali says. “I don’t want my work to be boring. With moveable parts, the owner can change it.” (It is with a mixture of pleasure and regret that I notice an orange dot next to the warrior. It the first day of the exhibition and six pieces have already been sold).

Guest artist Azizan’s images seem to reflect current headlines, and this time, its the atrocities in Gaza. Apo-calyptic images include the Mona Lisa wearing a gas mask; a head nodding forward to reveal an expo-sed brain; and the tormented, terrified face of a child looking like he is trying to break out of the canvas, into the safety of the viewer’s world. Yet, all these images, the artist says, are a reflection of himself. The escaping child is Azizan as a boy, confused, angry and “a little bit stupid”, as growing boys tend to be, yet desperate to find his way.

Smash is a collision of contrasts: Angela Liu Jing’s art is elegant; Adlan’s paintings of his cats add an element of warmth; there is no love at first sight for Halim’s giant ants swarming over series of canvases, but there certainly is fascination.

A thought-provoking piece by Azizan Talkis.

“These ants are a metaphor for humans,” explains Halim of his piece that is meant to resemble what we can achieve if we “work hard and work together.” In one of his more direct pieces, ants struggle up a hill under the weight of their cause, but still keep going, strengthened by community and belief.

There is no doubt that the Smash artists are talented: Azizan has a way with perspective so you feel you are either about to “fall’’ into his paintings or be grabbed by one of its subjects; Razlan’s sculptures possess the confidence of a creator who knows exactly what he wants to say and how he wants it said. However, it is Ali’s work I find most exciting, although he says it takes him months to come up with the ideas. He is also the one I think most likely to make it abroad. Before leaving, I make yet another tour of Faizal’s works. I was wrong in my initial interpretation. Faizal does not expose ugliness ... he shares his gift for observation which helps him find and reveal beautiful images in unlikely surfaces – be it a slab of cement or a piece of plywood – and these are coaxed into objects of beauty.