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Extract from "Masterpieces from the National Art Gallery of Malaysia"
《Bujang Berani》 100cmx97cmx55cm Metal and
Plaster of Paris 1991
Born: 1969
Education:
]987 - School of Art & Design, University Technology
MARA(UiTM), Shah Alam
Bayu Utomo Radjikin was born in the East Malaysian state of Sabah and was trained as a painter and sculptor at the
ITM School of Art and Design during the late Eighties. He belongs to a
significant younger generation of Malaysian artists that was responsible for
bringing back serious figurative art pursuits within the local art scene during
the 1990s. Bujang Berani means “Bujang the Brave”. This work belongs to
a series of similar works that were executed in his final year of studies at
ITM, dealing with the theme of the screaming Dayak chieftain. They are all the more remarkable when one
considers that this young ITM Muslim art student had ventured to employ
influences derived from another religious context, namely, the rich Dayak culture of Sarawak.
Bujang
Berani remains a remarkable piece of figurative
sculpture. It portrays the image of an old Dayak
warrior chief and the work resonates with the vibration of the anguished scream
of this old man. It is a work founded on angst. The viewer is forced to wonder
at the cause of the scream. The work has been constructed out of welded pieces
of discarded metal bits and machine parts and the face has been modelled in
plaster of paris. It is indeed a strange combination of materials to construct
the image of a revered elder from the Dayak
warrior tribe. The scrap metal components used to construct the body and
head gear depersonalises the subject. The arms of the figure are missing,
revealing empty sockets at the shoulders. The materials used do serve as a
commentary on the plight of the tribal peoples of this country who must witness
the encroachment of drastic modern changes in their midst. They must also
witness the gradual destruction of the rain forests by the loggers and the
encroachment of the new, mechanistic way of life. They must witness the threats
to the older, traditional way of life. Herein, may be a reason for the
anguished scream of the old warrior named Bujang.
This conscious highlighting of the old warrior chief, as noticed in
Kelvin Chap’s works as well, may be symbolically significant. The old chiefs
were the guardians and protectors of their older, symbolic culture and the
older way of life.
..........to be continued..............
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CategoryLinks: 画家介绍