Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-mkpzs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T15:35:32.603Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Islam as the source of inspiration for my art

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 June 2019

Sulaiman Esa
Sulaiman Esa*
Affiliation:
36 Jalan Mendapan 8/21, Section 8, 40000 Shah Alam, Selangor, Malaysia. Email: katysa47@gmail.com
Get access

Abstract

After six years of formal art training in Europe, I returned home in the late 1960s very much influenced by modern western art and its secular utopian worldview. However, when viewed from a religious perspective, modern art evidenced the process of secularization and humanization. Local scholars lamented such art could led to the gradual loss of the nation's tradition which is steeped in spirituality. To them, Western-trained Malaysian artists’ works are a reflection of a captive mentality glorifying art that is spiritually debilitating, sociologically alienating and psychologically corrupting. Concerned with such phenomenon in Malaysia's post-Independence period, the government convened the National Cultural Congress (1971), to harness the cultural power in fostering unity in her multicultural society. Among the three resolutions recommended, one was Islam, as Malaysia's official religion, it would play a vital role in the formulation of a national cultural identity. In view of this historic event, I made a u-turn denouncing modern art, ingrained in me for decades, and made Islam as the raison d‘être of my art by responding to the challenges of NCC. This paper therefore, will extrapolate my five-decade artistic trajectory from Western-centric art period to Malay-Islamic art from 1970s -2018.

Type
Research Article
Information
Art Libraries Journal , Volume 44 , Issue 3 , July 2019 , pp. 108 - 118
Copyright
© ARLIS, 2019 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1. Zain, I. “Toward a Utopian paradigm: Contingencies and displacement.” First ASEAN Symposium in Aesthetics, Kuala Lumpur, 1989, 12-17Google Scholar.

2. Salleh, A.H. “Akar-akar Kesenian Peribumi.” Dewan Budaya, 2 (2). Kuala Lumpur: DBP, 1980, 2-10Google Scholar.

3. See Masahiro, U. Masahiro, U. “The Labyrinthine Search for Self-Identity.” New Art From Southeast Asia (exhib. cat), 21, 1989, 2-6.

4. Nasr, S.H. Islamic art and spirituality. New York: Albany, 1987, 9Google Scholar.

5. Abdullah, M. ‘Islam sebagai teras falsafah keindahan Melayu.’ Seminar paper for Identiti Islam Dalam Senirupa Malaysia. Kuala Lumpur: National Art Gallery, 1992, 7Google Scholar.

6. Deraman, A. Kebudayaan Islam di Malaysia. Kuala Lumpur: DBP Kementerian Kebudayaan Belia dan Sukan, 1986, 15Google Scholar.

7. Esa, S. Islam and the politics of art in post-independence Malaysia. PhD diss., Temple University, Philadelphia, USA. 1996, 61.

8. Esa, S. “Islamic roots of the Malay philosophy of Beauty: The Qur'anic Metaphysics” in Insyirah: Lukisan Sulaiman Esa dari 1980 hingga 2000 The Art of Sulaiman Esa from 1980 to 2000. Kuala Lumpur: Petronas, 2001, 68Google Scholar.

9. Braginsky, V. The Malay concept of beauty and its Islamic roots. Kuala Lumpur: Dewan Bahasa & Pustaka, 1979, 6Google Scholar.

10. Faruqi, I & L.L. The cultural atlas of Islamic world. New York: The Macmillan, 1986, 163Google Scholar.

11. Faruqi, L. L. Islamic Art or Muslim Art? (exhibition) Pameran Seni Lukis & Seni Khat Pameran Tamaddun Islam (Translation: Exhibition of Art and Calligraphy Exhibition of Islamic Civilization). Kuala Lumpur: Balai Seni Lukis Negara (National Gallery of Malaysia), 1984, 45.

12. Faruqi, I & L.L. The cultural atlas of Islamic world. 1986, 163.

13. Ibid, 163.

14. Muzaffar, C. ‘”The challenge of the 21st century and the role of Muslim artists.” Seminar paper on Art and Spirituality. Kuala Lumpur: National Art Gallery, 1995, 9Google Scholar.

15. Gellner, V. “Sulaiman Esa Jo Rango: New works on canvas & paper” (exhibition leaflet), Baltimore: C. Grimaldi's Gallery, 1981.

16. Nasr, 1987, 41.

17. Blair, S. & Bloom, J. Images of paradise in Islamic art. Texas University Press, 1991, 33Google Scholar.

18. Muzaffar, 1995, 13.

19. Rajah, N. in Insyirah: The art of Sulaiman Esa from 1980 to 2000. Exhibition catalog. Kuala Lumpur: Galeri Petronas, 2001, 41Google Scholar.

20. Ibid.

21. Khairuddin, N. Raja'ah: Art, idea and creativity of Sulaiman Esa from 1950s -2011. Exhibition catalogue: Kuala Lumpur: National Art Gallery, 2011, 243Google Scholar.

22. Sanusi, K. “Expressions of Islamic art in Malaysia: Unity in Diversity.” Exhibition catalogue. Kuala Lumpur: ITM & Galeri Petronas, 1996, 4.

23. George, K.M. Picturing Islam: Art and ethics in a Muslim life world. West Sussex, UK: Wiley-Blackwell, 2012, 139Google Scholar.