1) WHAT IS MALAYSIA ARTWORK?
My answer would be the same as Jia Lyn and Gary. Malaysia artwork is any work of art that is created by MALAYSIAN. For example, the artwork created by our Graphic Design students. Each and everyday, they are creating Malaysia artwork. Why do I say so? Because they are Malaysian and they are creating artwork. It's just this simple. But have you thought of that before? I bet what you thought of must be only those traditional artwork that is created by the famous Malaysia artists which you can't even name one. Am I right? :P
2) WHAT EVENT IS SO SIGNIFICANT THAT WE SHOULD FEATURE IN MALAYSIA ARTWORK?
As mentioned, Malaysia artwork is artwork created by Malaysian. It means that it can be anyone of us, the Malaysian to produce the artwork as long as we are interested in doing so. Hence, we have the right to choose what event to feature in our artwork as well as to decide the significance of each event. It is all depends on who to create the artwork and how you measure the significance of the event as people see things differently.
To me, if I'm to create my own Malaysia Artwork (just imagine I can do it), I think I should feature the funeral elements in it. It seems like no one does it before. Or perhaps there is but I did not know about it. I do think that funeral is a very significant event yet people do not really know much about it. And wow... I didn't expect I will have the same answer as Harn Jun. As Harn Jun mentioned in her post, people are always reluctant to know about thing that is related to death as it may create a negative atmosphere which we do not want to engage ourselves in it. It applies to me as well actually, but somehow I'm curious to know about it. FYI, I've attended my grandfather's funeral 2 weeks ago. I felt sad but at the same time, I was confused by the rituals held. I realised that there were many misconceptions about this "funeral". Hence, I hope to feature this in the Malaysia artwork as it will be good that through the art piece, we are able to understand the funeral practices better.
3) IS IT THE RESPONSIBILITY OF A MALAYSIA ARTIST TO CREATE A MALAYSIA ARTWORK?
I don't really get this question honestly. Since Malaysia artwork is defined as the artwork created by Malaysian, the artwork created by the Malaysia artist is undeniably Malaysia artwork. It is not their responsibility but it's the fact and truth. Couldn't Malaysia artist create an England or Korea artwork? Maybe the artist can instill England or Korea elements into his/her artwork, but the fact is that it's still considered as a Malaysia artwork because it is created by Malaysian. Besides, as Ding Dong mentioned in her post, a true artist will definitely enjoy creating pieces of artwork instead of considering it as a responsibility. Thus, the answer for this question is a NO.
Thanks for spending your time reading my post. I will end it here today.
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The funeral idea is a cool one not only because it is very unusual and radical (since Chinese people are very "pantang" to have such funeral rites be used in non-funeral instances) but also because it shows that the way you think about art has also changed a lot since you have been exposed to more unique and unexpected types of art.
ReplyDeleteYou may want to check out the art of this Malaysian artist, Liew Kungyu, who often explores taboo and controversial themes from Chinese culture in his art, including death, prayer, rituals, etc.
More and more artists have begun to explore under-explored themes in art and this is ultimately a good sign for our country's artists I think. In the end, as you say, by being Msian, they automatically create works of art that is considered Msian art, whether or not there are Malaysian themes in there do not matter. After all, many Western artists create art about universal themes but no-one denies that they are American or British artists.