Rhapsodies Of A Different Kind Of Singularity: A Celebration Of Malaysian Outsider, Naive And Self-Taught Art

Rhapsodies Of A Different Kind Of Singularity: A Celebration Of Malaysian Outsider, Naive And Self-Taught Art (2015)

Published by Xin Art Space

“A work of art is only of interest, in my opinion, when it is an immediate and direct projection of what is happening in the depth of a person’s being... It is my belief that only in this Art Brut can we find the natural and normal processes of artistic creation in their pure and elementary state.”

Jean Dubuffet (1901-1985)

(source)

The interests in the works by self-taught, naive and outsider artists are mainly due to their unique and personal approaches which differ markedly from the academically trained and conventionally inclined. Their private visions, fantasies and yearnings materialized in their own visual vernacular offers us a glimpse of the dimensions of the self unbounded by the tyrannies of conformity and standardization. They believed unswervingly in their own artistic ingenuity and stubbornly refuses to sheepishly observe aesthetic formalities still shackled to dated or popular ideas about ‘Art’ taught in art academies, celebrated in the mainstream and sold in the marketplace. Outsider ‘Art’ used to refer to the works created by the insane, deviants, delinquents and eccentric visionaries who operated outside the boundaries of mainstream society and further from the art world. Even children’s drawings and paintings were once part of the early history of outsider art.(1) However ‘....over the years it has been used increasingly loosely and can often now refer to any artist who is untrained or with disabilities or suffering social exclusion, whatever the nature of their work’ (2) The British curator Roger Cardinal coined the term ‘Outsider Art’ in 1972 for his exhibition of Art Brut ‘artists’ which ‘intended to act as an exact English equivalent to Jean Dubuffet's term’(3) Dubuffet’s Art Brut ‘carries with it connotations of both of simplicity and naturalness as well as ill-breeding and clownishness ’(4). However, according to Colin Rhodes, the idea behind the term has to do with Dubuffet’s background running the family wine business where the French word brut may actually signify the purest or unadulterated state of things, like the best champagnes.(5) Wine merchant, modern artist and tireless promoter of what he saw as makers of ‘raw’ art, ‘uncooked’ by culture, Dubuffet however was not the first to have discovered the works that would later constitute and be celebrated as quintessentially ‘Outsider’.(6) This search for ‘pure and unadulterated’ art led not just Dubuffet, but other prominent modern artists to look and celebrate the works done by children, primitive societies, the marginalized as well as the mentally ill as possessing equal if not higher artistic merits when compared to the academically trained or professionals catering to the palates and expectations of mainstream society.(7) Dubuffet, who initially together with other likeminded fellow artists identified, collected and elevated the works of misfits, non-European ‘Others’ which he is fond to called ‘primitives’ and even lunatics because they exemplified aspects of the modernists ideas that informed their own art practices in opposition of the mainstream and cultural arts of their time. (8)

Dubuffet wrote “I think that the culture of the Occident is a coat which does not fit him; which, in any case, doesn’t fit him anymore. I think this culture is very much like a dead language, without anything common with the language spoken in the street. This culture drifts further and further from daily life. It is confined to certain small and dead circles, as a culture of mandarins. It no longer has real and living roots.” (9) (Emphasis added). “For myself, I aim for an art which would be in immediate connection with daily life, an art which would start from this daily life, and which would be a very direct and very sincere expression of our real life and real moods.” (10) (Emphasis added)

In "L’art brut préféré aux arts culturels"(Art Brut preferred to Cultural Arts ) Dubuffet wrote that “By this [Art Brut] we mean pieces of work executed by people untouched by artistic culture, in which therefore mimicry, contrary to what happens in intellectuals, plays little or no part, so that their authors draw everything (subjects, choice of materials employed, means of transposition, rhythms, ways of writing, etc.) from their own depths and not from clichés of classical art or art that is fashionable. Here we are witnessing an artistic operation that is completely pure, raw, reinvented in all its phases by its author, based solely on his own impulses. Art, therefore, in which is manifested the sole function of invention, and not those, constantly seen in cultural art, of the chameleon and the monkey”. (11) (Emphases added)

“We are the two great painters of this era; you in the Egyptian style, I in the Modern style.”

Celebrated Naive Painter Henri Rousseau (1844-1910),

in a conversation with Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) in 1908

The term ‘Naive’ art is also synonymous or used interchangeably in the West with the term ‘Outsider’. According to the 9, though not exhaustive definitions listed at www.Raw Vision.com, which publishes and touts itself as the only journal on art by unknown geniuses who create ‘Outsider’ art, ‘Naive’ art refers to the works produced by “untrained artists who depict largely realistic scenes, often in skilled detail, with people, animals, and other aspects of the observed world, sometimes combined with fantasy images. They often aspire to normal artistic status and may often be seen as quite sophisticated amateurs verging on professionalism.” (12) (Emphases added). The publication ‘Art Speak: A Guide to Contemporary Ideas, Movements, and Buzzwords: 1945 to the Present’ by Robert Adkins, lists ‘Naive art’, which should not be confused with Folk art, as having “a general style". In painting this tends towards bright colors, abundant details, and flat space.” (13) The English art critic and Socialist John Berger in his book ‘Ways of Seeing’ described these “as non-specialist artists who produced works out of pleasure, inner necessity and as part of tradition while the academically trained artists produce works with the market and the patron in mind.” (14) (Emphases added). The senior curators of the exhibition ‘Yugoslav Naive Art’ held at the Malaysia’s National Art Gallery in 1987, Nada Krizic and Vlasta Gracin Cuic from Gallery of Primitive Art (now the Croatian Museum of Naive Art) in Zagreb wrote in the exhibition catalog “Finally, looking at the works of these painters, we must stress that the term ‘naive’ used in respect of them, primarily refers to their spiritual quality derived from their instinctive and spontaneous presentation of the world and to the fact that these painters have not had a formal artistic education”(15) (Emphasis Added). The curators further clarify that “The same term becomes truly absurd if we apply it to their masterful use of color and composition and their high artistic and technical skills. The curators conclude by stating that “however, the term remains useful because it defines the spiritual side of this art, the sincerity and spontaneousness which remain characteristics of this kind of painting in spite of its great technical mastery” (16) (Emphasis added)

Given the above-mentioned, it would seem in a nutshell, naive art is ‘art’ with a distinctive style that can somehow be mastered and skilfully produced by individuals with no formal art training who, like the academically trained artists, aspires for professional recognition but unlike the academically trained, does not observe academic conventions of art nor driven by the profit motive and the demands of the market. Since they produced works for personal satisfaction, inner necessity or following ‘traditions’ (not related to folk art) in a spontaneous and intuitive way, they are hence deemed to be ‘sincere’ as their need to create must stem from purely personal and deeper yearnings, some driven by spiritual compulsions even.

Self-Taught Art is ‘A popular term in the United States which avoids the stigmas that some feels are attached to the Outsider Art definition. Many ....... artists are already pushed to the outer limits of society as a result of prejudice and feel this term offers more dignity.” (17) To its promoters and supporters, the three terms mentioned above embodies positive aspects that distinguishes the precarious and informal outputs of the untrained or artistically undomesticated from the predictable and popular churned out by the schooled or conventionally inclined who are perceived rightly or wrongly, to be skillful (and cynical?) producers of cultural commodities with only the art market and patrons in mind. Undeniably, art is an expression of the human condition, and what is presented represents the utopian ideals or observations of reality in the context or circumstance from which the artist operates. To the promoters of self-taught, naive or outsider art, the works created by these atypical individuals, many initially unaware their works are even ‘artistic’, are powerful and spontaneous expressions of the psyche seeking equilibrium, release or redemption. Their singular visions formed by their peculiar marks, symbols and images, often imbued with the idiosyncratic aspects of its creators’ nature are deeply driven by inner necessities, be it as catharsis, from neurosis or through vertigo, which explains partially, many of these unconventional artists produced prodigious amounts of works which revisits the same themes and reproduces the same images with slight variations. To its detractors however, these tendencies denote a lack of training, refinement and sophistication, often bordering between buffoonery, lunacy and vulgarity.

Decades later however, researchers and writers are debunking the overly romanticized views of these artistic outsiders, misfits and the marginalized that operates on the periphery (18).

Many were not as insulated as previously assumed and not averse to exploiting and profiting from the outputs of their alienation or delirium due to grinding poverty, old age, declining mental and physical health and social marginalization. However, it does not diminish or blunt the power of their works to inspire as it did the many precursors of modern art in the 19th century (19) and its influences on contemporary art practices are today being gradually acknowledged. (20) Today, the terms mentioned above are fast losing its potency. In the words of America’s most famous ‘outsider’ artist Howard Finster (1916-2001), “There is no such thing as an outsider or insider artists, just as there are no such things as an outsider or insider mechanic, an outsider and insider president or an outsider or insider governor” (21).

“At a time when the offerings of the conventional art world meet increasing scorn and disinterest, the discovery that there is something else out there, something that really is art, comes at first as a refreshing revelation. When one delves deeper it is impossible not to be overcome by the force and wonder of the heroic expressions of those who are ever true to themselves.”

From the preface of Raw Creations: Outsider Art and Beyond by John Maizel (1996)

Though the statement above was written almost 20 years ago, the same can’t be said of the local art situation where conventional offerings still proliferates. Furthermore, Malaysia’s art scene has become a scene that is continuously “modern” and “contemporary” without provenance, justifications or destination. Without referring, reflecting or reacting to the present context, local history or to issues related to our artistic practices raised by many of our past artists, the works that flood the local art scene are mostly market and patron driven. They continued to be saddled with ideas based on the popular, banal and parochial behind their clichéd metaphors, orientalist projections or clumsy attempts of exoticization and tired nostalgic longings. Therefore, is it any wonder that the feelings and emotions of being overcome “by the force and wonder” and a genuine sense of excitement at the works of those “who are true to themselves” are rarely experienced these days.

Regardless of the lack of attention or support to many of our local self-taught, naive or outsider artists, promoters and lovers of such unconventional artistry should be pleased that the curator of the 55th Venice Biennale chose the theme ‘The Encyclopaedia Palace’, based on the works of self-taught and visionary folk artist Marino Auriti (1891-1980).This bold step taken by a respected curator affirms the creative power in this highly idiosyncratic outputs by individuals who create without a care for patronage, recognition or approval from self-appointed culture elites or art connoisseurs. Their works possessed a distinctive raw beauty and inspiring in its authenticity and truthfulness which could not be ignored then nor could it be categorically written off today. With the works of outsiders, self-taught and naive artists finally recognized and celebrated by the world’s oldest and possibly the most prestigious international art event, perhaps it is timely for Malaysia to also acknowledge, document and celebrate its own ‘home grown’ outsiders, naive and self-taught artists?

Looking back at our less than a century-old history of western-influenced visual arts (22), we will find that many of our pioneer artists before and after the Second World War did not receive formal instructions in art. They learned informally from those who were trained in art academies abroad through drawing and painting sessions or from schools where these graduates taught (23). Printed materials available on art and artists were especially influential sources of reference and inspiration. Many of our early artist learned by imitating the strokes, forms and styles that caught their fancy to produce works which conforms to their biases of what constitutes as ‘beautiful’, ‘artistic’ or ‘new’. Some became experts at the styles which they’ve adopted while others developed from there to arrive at styles or approaches, they could claim as their own. Many of these individuals were successful in their practices with their paintings acquired by private collectors, corporations and national institutions. Between the 1950s to the 1970s, at least three artists stood out prominently in the opinion of this writer, whose style of painting and choice of subject matter positions them clearly ‘outside’ of the conventional approaches that were prevalent during those times though they were active participants in the then nascent local art scene. The three artists are Patrick Ng Kah Onn (1932-1989), Dzulkifli Buyong (1948-2004) and Zulkifli Mohd Dahlan (1952-1978). It must be added that one of their equally unconventional contemporary Nik Zainal Abidin Nik Salleh (1933-1993) deserves a mention here. Primarily known for his paintings of wayang kulit (Shadow Puppets) characters from different states and traditions which are based on the great epic literatures of ancient India, Nik Zainal Abidin’s focus on these pre-Islamic spiritual forms that was so much part of the Malay civilization in his own personalized way has done much to keep the history and tradition visible through the visual arts.

In the 1980s there was Ali Rahamad @ Ali Mabuha and Thangarajoo Kanniah, who together with the late Zulkifli Mohd Dahlan were members of the famous Anak Alam collective who’ve presented a highly personal take on the human condition and universal visions, especially Thangarajoo who became conscious of the interconnectivity of the universe to all of life after his near-death experience at Templar’s Park. The 1990s saw many important artists (24) celebrating the works with Peranakan themes by self-taught painter Sylvia Lee Goh, whose chief intention in pursuing painting seriously was to ‘reclaim a sense of self-worth and purpose in life’. During this period, there was a steady growth of naive style paintings by those without formal art training. This is partly due to the efforts of Yusof Gajah, whose encouragement and guidance of many must be acknowledged. Though he received his art training in Indonesia, he saw the potential of naive style painting and set about inculcating it within a small coterie of students. Many from his group have moved away from a purely formulaic naive style of painting to something more distinctive, among them are Ismail Baba and Sabah based naive painter Jainal Amambing, who represented Malaysia in the 2013 Singapore Biennale due to the efforts of contemporary Sabah artist and curator Yee I-Lann. Fathullah Luqman or Fathul as he is popularly known is another self-taught painter who had benefited from the tutelage of Yusof Gajah. However, Fathul’s approach is spontaneous and expressionistic which he sometimes mixes with stencilled images to present an inner cacophonous world of delirium and dystopia. This tightrope between order and chaos is very much the reflection of Fathul’s states of mind and emotion. Fathul and outsider poet, performance artist and painter Rahmat Haron@Mat who counts the National Laureate A Samad Said among his collectors and supporters, have at different times, been promoted by contemporary artist and curator Nur Hanim Khairuddin, who appreciates their eccentric outlook and unconventional way of life (25). Another important self-taught painter who was among the earliest to champion self-taught, naive and outsider art is Adeputra Masri, whose unique mixed media approaches to commenting on the foibles of society deserves wider recognition in the local contemporary art scene. Born in Limbong and based in Malacca, Gaelle Chong Van Nah is one of a few artists without formal art training to explore private esoteric beliefs. Using mostly graphite and pastels, the symbols and imageries related to the personal, occult and mythological are refreshing given the local art scene’s obsession with the popular, decorative and accessible.

‘Pure’ naive-outsider artists are extremely rare, and in the local context, three individuals stood out prominently due to their distinctive works informed by the unconventional views of themselves and their place in society. Security guard Liew Kin Chon, started drawing animals with ballpoint pen on the back of postcards to past the time while on duty. Building up a sizeable number of works which he proudly displayed inside his security post at a private property located next to the KLCC Twin Towers, he was approached by this writer together with contemporary artist Chang Yoong Chia to have an exhibition at the now defunct Reka Art Space founded by Chee Sek Thim in Kelana Jaya in 2003 (26). Sadly, Kin Chon could not be located since after his makeshift house located next to the Ampang LRT station was demolished to make way for a new building. One of the most truly authentic naive-outsider artists this writer is privileged to befriend was the late Wan Jaafar Wan Derahman @ Waja (1955-2014). Waja, who was introduced to this writer by Adeputra in early 2000, had worked as a supervisor in a halal meat exporting company in New Zealand, later a technician at a local telco, a direct sales person and his last occupation before his untimely demise was a street masseur operating next to Wisma Yakin (27). Waja is, in this writer’s humble opinion, Malaysia’s greatest uncelebrated naive-outsider artist whose voluminous outputs of acrylic paintings of abstract figures on unstretched canvases and drawings on notepads are some of the most unusual ever seen in this country. It is believed that this large collection of works is now in the possession of his family in Perlis whose location is not known. The last of the three identified authentic naive-outsider artists is Mohd Nasir bin Daud@Avroco (1974-2011). A ‘professional’ drifter who was loved by many of his friends and acquaintances, Avroco lived a difficult life though rich in artistic pursuits. He was an outsider poet, singer songwriter, a self-taught artist who also printed and sold t shirts, Avroco died of liver failure while preparing for his solo exhibition at Lost Gen Space in 2011. His mixed media works, mostly autobiographical, explores issues of freedom, loneliness and existence. On his death bed, he was visited by some of the pivotal figures from the local underground music scene as well as seasoned activists, musicians, writers, artists, anarchists and those from other ‘respectable’ professions who knew him or his works. (28)

There are those who found themselves pursuing an artistically unconventional path that was driven out of inner necessity as means to ameliorate physical illness or for therapeutic purposes. Two interesting self-taught artists in this circumstance are Shanthamathe and Vong Nyam Chee @ Cheev. After surviving a life-threatening neural disease, Shanthamathe suddenly developed an intense need to draw and had spontaneously produced organic looking forms with minute details using ink on wood and paper. The forms resembled images of brain scans and other organic matter which boggles due their abstract compositions and attention to detail. Similarly, Cheev was forced to stop working in the creative commercial industry when he suffered a mild stroke more than 10 years ago. After being informed that he would suffer multiple, severe attacks if he did not change his hectic lifestyle, Cheev took a break and drifted through life until he became acquainted with another self-taught painter Dennis Chan. Dennis who runs a successful framing business, had many pieces of left over wood around the shop which Cheev decided to one day picked up and carve into whatever shape and form he fancies. It was not long before he saw the potential and raw beauty of those unvarnished pieces and stuck them with glue, piece by piece into dynamic and contorted female forms which Cheev states best exemplify his concept of intensity. The highly innovative self-taught sculptor, who was introduced to this writer by National Visual Arts Gallery curator Ameruddin Ahmed, had also began to explore variations of his sculptures on digital platform which he then prints on canvas and touches up with paint. A regular participator in local group exhibitions, Melissa Lin’s work explores the world of sacred plant medicine as a way of healing and to re-connect in spiritual ways to the metaphysical world which was part of our universal human heritage. The landscapes and strange figures are primordial spirits encountered by the artist in her continuous journey towards individuation and wholeness.

There are also self-taught artists who create out of a pleasure of making something different. Mohd Fadzil Othman (1943-2013) and Sofian Sharifudin @Pyanz are two individuals who does not fit into the conventional category of the local art scene. A former technician at RTM, the late Mohd Fadzil, who was initially influenced by the Op Art works of Victor Vasarely (1906-1997) had produced complex drawings and 3-dimensional works using various combination of winding threads, nylons and screws to produce geometrical shapes on wood and perspex supposedly reflecting the aura of the human body. The uniqueness of his approach was acknowledged by contemporary new media artist, academician and curator Hasnul J Saidon who on occasions, highlights those works in his former capacity as the director of the Muzium & Galeri Tuanku Fauziah at the Universiti Sains Malaysia in Penang. Pyanz on the other hand, came to the ingenious idea of producing images on canvas using henna, through his interest in tattoos. Pyanz, who was a financial planner, worked as a tattoo artist before switching to henna to observe the interdiction set in the Quran. The henna used in his paintings on canvas is specially mixed with other ingredients to ensure it remains sturdy and long lasting. His paintings, usually flora and fauna and organic forms in nature have a certain naive quality but also unique in the effects produced due to his unconventional approach to an age-old traditional practice of decorating the hands and feet in Asian cultures.

Speaking of landscapes, flora and fauna, three self-taught artists with interesting approaches and forms come to mind. They are George Daniel@Dany, Hasni Dan and Dennis Chan. Dany, who was diagnosed (together with a few other individuals from the whole population in the 1970s) with a rare form of degenerative eye disease, was told by doctors that he would gradually go blind before the end of his teenage years. But with devotion to his Christian faith, not only has his sight remained with him, he has also devoted much of his life to healing others through counselling, music and art. As a self-taught painter, Dany has been painting quietly for a few decades now. His many outputs, whether in the form of abstraction, landscapes, murals and paintings on stones and bottles reflects his personal appreciation for all the good that life has bestowed upon him. The landscape genre is more than merely a document of sceneries or the picturesque as to serve as decorations for the interior of homes. Landscape paintings are expressions of the states of mind and emotions of the painters as is reflected in the compositions, strokes and colours. Former cartoonist and writer Hasni Dan is a self-taught painter who today is known for his detailed black and white ink drawings of landscapes from the imagination which upon reflection, produces a sense of longing and nostalgia for a special time in that special place that never did exist but is somehow felt to be real, like memories. And accidental landscapes seem to be the speciality of Dennis Chan, whose abstract looking works were produced by pouring paint on canvas which he would move about allowing the still wet paint to follow a direction accordingly to chance, gravity and spontaneity.

There are also self-taught and outsider artists, who for political reasons and personal principals produced works which reflect their private value system that inevitably run counter to prevailing socio-political and cultural norms of the society which they happened to be born into. Trans-gender artists belong to this category; where in the face of vilification, persecution and even physical violence, soldiered on to assert their rights as human beings with unconventional personalities and social identities against the ones proscribed for them by conventional society. Self-taught trans-gender painter Ummi Natasha and artist-activist Shieko Reito are clear examples. Ummi has participated in many group exhibitions showcasing her batik paintings of Hindu Gods and Goddesses, to the chagrin of her fellow Muslims while Shieko highlights the plight and concerns of the transgender person in a society that is growing increasingly conservative and stifling through her zines, illustrations, graffiti and installations. Shieko had also represented Malaysia in the 2013 Singapore Biennale at the invitation of contemporary artist and curator Yee I-Lann.

The issue of gender discrimination, especially by religious authorities whose actions they claimed are validated by sayings of their prophets and religious texts are some of the challenges also faced by many women in this country. Attempts to regulate their behaviour and to impose restrictions on their actions by the patriarchy operating behind religions have resulted in needless suffering and injustices. Muslim women activists like Norhayati Kaprawi, who is a self-taught painter and documentary film maker, continue to play important roles in challenging and correcting skewered views of the fairer sex who are blamed for them being sexually victimized because of their dressing which according to some religious leaders not only leads to a general breakdown in morality, but also causes natural disasters! It is these ignorant prejudices that Norhayati Kaprawi has dedicated her life to fight and dispel. Yati, who also paints abstract Arabic calligrapher, depicts in humorous and insightful ways local women clad only in sarong from the bosom down going about their daily lives in her latest series of paintings. These women in kemban, a common sight before the 1980s growing conservatism imposed from top down to replace a cultural identity with religious ones, is her way of reclaiming a piece of her heritage that has now today being made into something immodest and sexualized.

Besides gender issues, there are also those who are engaged in socio-political commentary through their art and other related activities. These are self-taught artists and non-partisan activists who operate outside the mainstream’s socio-cultural and political framework. Without any explicit political affiliations or as recipients of political patronages, they continue to produce works that highlight issues of exploitation, discrimination, oppression and transgressions committed by the state, corporations and powerful individuals. Individuals like Rat Heist and Rizo Leong are some of the best examples in this category of self-taught artists cum activists who specializes in proletarian art to deliver their ideas, observations and also to inculcate awareness on issues affecting the everyday people. Some are direct agit-prop while others celebrate the indigenous and the grass-roots’ way of life. Rat, who is also a strong proponent of alternative transportation, continues to work quietly in producing agit-prop with spray paint and stencils on walls around the city streets had also recently produced 3 D works in addition to his large-scale stencils. And large works that celebrate the life of the working class and indigenous people, especially from Sabah is the speciality of Sabah-based self-taught artist and community activist Rizo Leong, who together with his friends Jerome Manjat, Mohd Bam and a handful of others in their hometown of Ranau, operates through their community arts collective called Pangrok Sulap or Punk Rock Hut (29). Brought together by their love of punk, folk and hardcore music which they also perform to deliver their observations and comments on society, culture and politics. They seek to preserve local Sabahan heritage and identity while empowering the various communities in Sabah by providing skill and training for making proletarian and folk art which they can then use to express themselves while also to make a living. Rizo, whose full name is Mohd Zayrul, is the de facto leader, had initially trained the members of Pangrok Sulap where they collectively produce small- and large-scale print works on paper and textile, is also making a name through his own solo works, mostly woodcut prints that celebrate Sabah’s own local and indigenous cultural and spiritual heritages which is slowly being eroded by the nationalized identity promoted by the federal government.

It is usually the challenge mounted against the state in the areas of rights and freedom of expression, actions and thoughts by the individual that they find themselves subjected to the blunt force of the powers that be. Deemed to be a threat to society, Chan Yong Sin who recently published an anthology of Malay poems called ‘Bebas’ (30) written during his detention under the draconian Internal Security Act (ISA), now replace by the even more insidious Special Offences, (Special Measures) Acts (SOSMA), had spent 11 years under detention without trial supposedly for his ‘subversive’ activities in championing students and workers’ rights. Released in the early 1970s, he is until today, still in the dark as to the nature of his ‘crime(s)’ that he was unjustly deprived of slightly over a decade of his life from being an active and contributing member of society. While under detention, Yong Sin kept himself occupied with numerous activities. Among those activities was the making of art and craft work. He had produced drawings, handicrafts and also handmade musical instruments including guitars and violins which were given away to friends. His works, produced when he was locked away from family, friends and society by the arm of the law is highlighted here as a prime contrast to the types of outsiders and self-taught art celebrated in Europe and America, with many of its early luminaries consisted of mental patients, the marginalized groups of people and eccentrics. Yong Sin’s incarceration was not due to some psychopathic misdeeds, rather it was his audacity as an individual, who for reasons of principals and common sense fought against the oppression of the thinking and working peoples by the powers that be in collusion with state institutions that propagates submission and obedience to the system and its leaders who then allow big businesses to exploit the people with impunity and the land with minimum impediment.

With the growing conservatism, unjustifiable attacks against our individual selves and the increasing restrictions imposed through the institutions and media encroaching into our way of life by prescribing and regulating what we should see, say, hear, wear, eat, drink, act and think, turning us sheepishly into faceless pawns and mindless automatons to be used in their power games and manipulated in their morality plays, are we then ready to be inspired and liberated ‘by the force and wonder of the heroic expressions of those who are ever true to themselves.’?

This exhibition entitled ‘Singular Rhapsody’ celebrates the local outsiders, self-taught and naive artists who create from a place of pain, hope, pleasure and freedom against the tyranny of standardization upon our distinctive identities and the oppression against our innate abilities. These are the everyday people, who without expecting monetary rewards or titles, go on making the works that they do and doing the things they believed due to the strength of their individual personalities, principals or driven by inner necessities. They have been persistent in pursuing a path of art that is wholly their own, unyielding to trends or commercial pressures and unwavering in their artistic, socio-cultural and political visions. We are indeed fortunate to be able to enlist the participation of the following artists to this exhibition. They are Thangarajoo Kanniah, Jainal Amambing, Fathullah Luqman, Rahmat Haron, Adeputra Masri, Hasni Dan, Melissa Lin, Gaelle Chong, Waja (1955-2014), Avroco (1974-2011), Shanthamathe, Cheev, Dennis Chan, Pyanz, George Daniel@Dany, Ismail Baba, Ummi Natasha, Shieko Reito, Norhayati Kaprawi, Rat Heist, Rizo Leong and Chan Yong Sin (who is also the principal of Xin Art Space). The list of self-taught, naive and outsider artists mentioned in this essay are by no means exhaustive. It is hope that in some modest ways, this writing and exhibition can further inculcate appreciation for a different kind of creativity and artistry that reflects the singular visions, experiences and temperaments of the everyday people who gladly embrace art as a calling as opposed to those who struggle to ‘make’ art for a living. “Art, therefore, in which is manifested the sole function of invention, and not those, constantly seen in cultural art, of the chameleon and the monkey”.

The exceptional outputs of these individuals have ‘immediate connection with daily life, an art which would start from this daily life, and which would be a very direct and very sincere expression of our real life and real moods” should be highlighted and rhapsodised.

By celebrating THEIR unique artistry, we are in fact, honouring the uniqueness of our OWN individualities.

References

Colin Rhodes, ‘Outsider Art: Spontaneous Alternatives’ (pg26-39) published by Thames and Hudson Ltd (2000)
http://rawvision.com/about/raw-visions-definitions
Ibid
Colin Rhodes, ‘Outsider Art: Spontaneous Alternatives’ (pg23) published by Thames and Hudson Ltd (2000)
Ibid (pg24)
John Maizels, ‘Raw Vision: Outsider Art and Beyond’ (pg13-30) published by Phaidon Press Limited (1996)
Lucinenne Perry, ‘Art Brut: The Origins of Outsider Art’ (pg 13-16) published by Flammarion (2006).
Ibid
Jean Dubuffet, ‘Anti Cultural Positions’ (1951) pg26 from ‘Theories and Documents of Contemporary Art: A Source book of Artists Writings’ (2nd edition) by Kristine Stiles and Peter Selz (editors). Published by University of California Press (2012)
Ibid
http://www.artbrut.ch/en/21006/outsider-art-definition
http://rawvision.com/about/raw-visions-definitions
See Robert Adkin’s ‘Art Speak: A guide to Contemporary Ideas, Movements and Buzzwords 1945 to Present’ (pg 124-125) Published by Abbeville Press (1997)
John berger’s ‘About Looking’ (pg 71) published by Vintage (1992)
Exhibition catalogue ‘Yugoslav Naive Art (Senilukis Naif Yugoslavia)’ 5-25 June 1987 published by the National Arts Gallery, Malaysia is according to the Chairman’s message the first of its kind in Malaysia. The exhibition was organized by the gallery and the Embassy of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia together with the Gallery of Primitive Art (Zagreb) and Gallery of Naive Art (Kovacica).
Ibid
http://rawvision.com/about/raw-visions-definitions
See Gary Alan Fine’s excellent ‘Everyday Genius: Self Taught Art and the Culture of Authenticity’ published by The University of Chicago Press (2004) also see ‘Outsider Art : From the Margins to the Market Place’ by David Maclagan published by Reaktion Book Ltd (2009) and ‘All Together Now: How Outsiders Became Insiders, and Vice versa ’ by Lyle Lexer, ‘Modern Painters: Art, Architecture, Design, Performance, Film’ ( February 2010). Of interests- see the following links http://www.furtherfield.org/features/outsider-art-art-markets-cultural-capitalism-moment http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2013/09/out-is-the-new-in/309428/
http://chrismcauliffe.com.au/outsider-art-and-the-desire-of-contemporary-art-october-2014/
http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20130604-take-a-walk-on-the-wild-side , http://www.artspace.com/magazine/interviews_features/close_look/close_look_massimiliano_gioni_encyclopedic_palace-51308 http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/06/arts/design/venice-biennale-in-its-55th-edition.html?_r=0
Gary Alan Fine ‘Everyday Genius: Self Taught Art and the Culture of Authenticity’ (pg32)
For an introduction to Malaysian Art history, please see ‘Vision and Idea, ReLooking Modern Malaysian Art’ (1994) published by the National Art Gallery, Malaysia (edited by T.K Sabapathy with contributions by Krishen Jit (1940-2005), Redza Piyadasa (1939-2007), T.K Sabapathy and Zainol Shariff) It is one of the seminal publications on modern and contemporary art Malaysia.
See ‘Malaysian Art 1965-1978’ by Syed Ahmad Jamal (1929-2011) for the exhibition at the Commonwealth Institute, London in 1978. Published by the National Art Gallery. Also of interest, ‘Rupa Malaysia: Meninjau Seni Lukis Moden Malaysia’ by Redza Piyadasa, published by The National Art Gallery, Malaysia (2001)
Leading contemporary and modern artists and writers including the late Redza Piyadasa, Wong Hoy Cheong, J.Anurendra, Sharifah Fatimah Zubir, Siti Zainon and art writers Ooi Kok Chuen and Laura Fan had written favourably on the self-taught painter Sylvia Lee Goh.
She curated their exhibition ‘UlangTayang: Variation in Repetition’ 19 April-11May 2006 at Pelita Hati House of Art, Kuala Lumpur. To read more of her writings, please see ‘Euforia: Selonggok Retorik Nurhanim Khairuddin Tentang Seni’ published by Muzium dan Galeri Tuanku Fauziah, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Pulau Pinang. (2010)
‘A Display of Guard’s Artistic Talent’ by Thomas Huong, Star Metro (pg 25) The Star, 7 August 2003.
‘Ordinary People, Extra Ordinary Artistry pt 2’ by Tan Sei Hon (pg 30-31) ‘Senikini no.17 published by National Visual Arts Gallery (2012). Also see ‘Ordinary People, Extra Ordinary Artistry pt 1’ (pg 14-15) by Tan Sei Hon in Senikini no 14. (2011)
‘Belasungkawa Almarhum Avroco Nasir (1974-2011)’ by Rahmat Haron, (pg 22-23) ‘Senikini no.15 published by National Visual Arts Gallery (2012)
Pangrok Sulap FB
‘Bebas: Antologi Sajak Chan Yong Sin’ (2014) published by Gerakbudaya Enterprise. Includes a Chinese version published in 2015.

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