Extract from "Masterpieces from the National Art Gallery of Malaysia"
《The Greatness of God》 97cm x 81cm Photo montage 1991
Born: 1948
Education: 1967 – School of Art & Design, University Technology MARA(UiTM),
Shah Alam
1970 – Central School of the Art &Design, London
1979 – California Institute of the Arts
Raja Zahabuddin is one of the small number of artistic photographers
who initially helped change attitudes towards the photographic medium in this
country. He was trained at the ITM School
of Art and Design during the Sixties. His more recent photographs, with
brightly coloured pieces of paper glued onto the surface of the photograph,
have a montage like character. In recent years, he has, like so many artists
connected to the ITM art school, displayed Islamic concerns in his artistic
practice.
This work depicts the interior of the new Shah Alam mosque, more
exactly its very centre, denoted by the large circular dome. The view is one
that looks upwards into the large cavity of the dome. The dome has been
decorated with geometric designs and has at its bottom circular edge, Arabic
verses derived from the holy Koran. The structure of the dome has been
buttressed by portruding walls that seem to support it. Between the two central
supporting walls, are small green coloured squares that have been neatly pasted
onto the photograph by the artist. They make up the name Allah. At the bottom,
in the surrounding doorways, he has pasted bright pinkish/red coloured paper
shapes which trace out the shapes of the doors. These pasted paper shapes, so
bright in their intensity, give to the work a jarring quality as well as
reiterates the two dimensional quality of the photograph. The work is clearly a
celebration of the artist’s Islamic
faith.
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