Zulkifli Yusoff – A (n) Historical Survey 1996 – 2009

For an out of towner, or maybe even an in-towner, you have to be pretty determined to seek out Jalan Changkat Duta Kiara, in K.L.’s Mont Kiara. Bearing in mind that Mont Kiara is not mentioned on road signs until you are virtually on top of it, and the fact that you have to be agonisingly shrewd to understand that Sri Hartamas is a prelude to Mont Kiara. Once again, it is a case of having to know where it is, to know where it is.

Geographical Location taken into account, it is a shame that the gallery is difficult to locate, because Zulkifli Yusoff’s partial retrospection exhibition, in Art Salon @ Seni, is a fascinating exhibition to visit.

Once you have by-passed the, seemingly permanent, builders’ yard of Jalan Changkat Duta, and entered the building, housing the underground exhibition, you are greeted with lounging dust-covered labourers and a telephonist/ receptionist wearing a paper mask. Not exactly the ambiance of a modern art gallery, but you have to be very, very patient, because the good stuff is below, down a flight of stairs, amidst boards propped against walls containing oddments of plastic pipe and baffling objects unconnected to the exhibition.

However, to be fair, I did arrive on the morning of the launch, one full day before the exhibition was due to open, at least according to the catalogue. According to other (internet) sources, the exhibition opened on the 6th of January, such is the (lack of) communication regarding these events.

To get to the ‘art,’ and by this time it is beginning to seem like the twelve labours of Hercules, you have to first slide past the young lady who, apparently, knows little about the exhibition – including the name of the artist, prominently displayed a few feet from her. For when she asks, “How did you know about the exhibition” and you reply, “The artist, Zulkifli Yusoff, told me of it,” she says - “Who.”

If you are really, really, patient then finally, and at last, you set sight on the exhibition itself, and with a huge sigh of relief, all those concerns just melt away, as, once again, Kuala Lumpur delivers yet another stunning display of some of the finest art in the world.

You may have caught Zulkifli Yusoff’s installation - ‘Merdeka 57’ during the ‘Go Block’ exhibition, at the Petronas Gallery, third floor, Suria KLCC (last year), or his installation - ‘sedangkan lidah lagi tergigit,’ (sometimes you have bitten your own tongue) fronting the upper galleries, at the Kuala Lumpur National Art Gallery (NAG). If you did, then you might have some sort of idea of the artist’s imagery in this latest exhibition.

If you did not see any of the artist’s previous exhibitions, then let me explain that, much of Zulkifli Yusoff’s latter works engage the exhibition visitor with acrylic printed image juxtapositions. They are sign and symbol concurrences in the manner of Pop Artists Peter Saul, Peter Phillips or even the inimitable Gilbert and George.

Zulkifli Yusoff flexes this flat style to draw disparate images together to form a distinct narrative, which frequently relates to the emergence of Malaysia, from Malaya, and consequentially reveals conceptualisations of identity and place.

From screen printed images of war (planes and Samurai swords), film images of illustrious film idols - P.Ramlee and Saloma, up to and including a Time magazine cover proclaiming a new nation (Malaysia - April 1963), Zulkifli Yusoff reveals what it has meant, semiotically and symbolically, to be Malaysian, unshackled from the colonial yoke.

Weaving a comprehensive tapestry of imagery, from the 1940s, 50s and 60s, Zulkifli Yusoff achieves a narrative concerning an outsider’s view looking in (Ken Anakin’s - The Planter’s Wife, starring Claudette Colbert and Jack Hawkins, 1952) and an insider’s view looking out (R. Azmi and the afore-mentioned P. Ramlee). This, with the greatest of fortune for the onlooker, is not done is any dry, dull, academic exposition, but rather in a colourful, joyous, intriguing revelation which, while in one sense looks back to the works of Rezda Piyadasa, simultaneously looks forward to a fresh, exciting era of contemporary Malaysian art.

As this is a partial retrospective of Zulkifli Yusoff’s work, there are many themes displayed other than the Malaya Series (2007 – 2009). This display, essentially, covers glimpses of the artist’s work from 1996 to 2009, but, sadly, excludes his magnificent installations, for this is a selling exhibition, in a private gallery, outside the remit of full retrospectives.

The few initial series, which grace the comfortably lit walls of the Art Salon @ Seni gallery - Brave New Art 1996, Brave New Art 1997, Ahmad and Jibul 1997, Reformasi Series 1999 and Current Event Series 1999, all hint at the Expressionism of a Malaysian James Ensor, or an Asian Emile Nolde.

The artists ‘expressionism’, however, moves ever toward abstract, with a further two, intriguing, works, strangely reminiscent of the Latin American artist Wilfredo lam and the character Nemesis the Warlock (from the comic 2000AD) drawn by Kevin O’Neill.


These abstract images form part of the Early Malay Sketches series (2007 – 2009) - Jeligan (out of the corner of the eye) IV and Jeligan V, are oil painted, abstracted works full of painterly movement and dynamism. These artfully constructed canvases reflect the artist’s interpretation of short stories written about Malaya, by the first Resident General of the Federated Malay States - Sir Frank Swettenham (Malay Sketches - 1895). However, these canvases are not without their own air of cynicism - a gently cocked snook at Swettenham and colonialism, perhaps.

Whether it is Zulkifli Yusoff’s abstract expressionism or his latterly, Pop Art influenced, works there is a delicious thread of humour, or downright cheekiness, which seems to unite what, otherwise, might appear as a disparate collection of the artist’s work.

Early work in the exhibition draws upon cartoon and caricature, especially Ahmad and Brave New Art series, while the Malaya Series references popular culture, song and imagery contemporaneous to the decades 40s, 50s and 60s, to make its point.

In Malaya Series Study II (2009), twin images of actress Saloma, and actor/singer/ director P. Ramlee, radiantly smile from the canvas, amidst images of red roses and multiple images of romantic hearts. The smiling eyes and inviting mouths of these bygone idols appeal as infectious, provocative, reminiscences of romantic nostalgia, causing the infected viewer to smile in mirrored reflection, even if a little bemusedly.

On the other hand, humour extending from Malaya Series Study I and from Itik Pulau Pinang (Penang Duck) II and Itik Pulau Pingang II is a different form of humour, a cheeky, nudge, nudge, wink, wink humour, lustily delighting in equating a curvaceous woman’s swaying walk, with that of a waddling duck. This sentiment is revealed through the lines of R. Azmi’s song - Nona Singapura (woman from Singapore -1940s), occurring, at least in part, in each of these paintings, emphasising a forlornly bygone ribaldry.

Even in the more serious work - (no more coffee for you sir - 2009) the viewer continues to be provoked to grin at smiles on the faces of both Claudette Colbert and the Malay, songkok wearing, waiter, in this still from The Planter’s Wife. However, it is a very different type of smile, which attaches itself to the viewer’s mouth, more of a ‘knowing’ smile, brought about by the picture title’s dual meaning. Within this picture, amidst the familiar kopi tiam cups, saucers, Malaya stamps, teapots and cut fruit the title resonates - at once referring to a lack of coffee/ more coffee unavailable, or, alternatively, and specifically, no more coffee for the colonials/colonial time is running out for the planters and their wives.

There is much that I have not mentioned; including the Hot Temper Series (2005), and the First Malaya Series – The Planters (2008). It really behoves a visit to the gallery, to see the works face to face. All I can do, here, is give a glimpse of this mini retrospective and begin the process of exposition. I eagerly look forward to a major retrospective, perhaps at one of the larger galleries, nearer to the city centre where more people will be able to access the fine imagery and delicate symbolism of Zulkifli Yusoff’s work.

Zulkifli Yusoff – An Historical Survey 1996 – 2009
Art Salon @ Seni
SENI Gallery
Lot 55350, Changkat Duta Kiara, off Jalan Duta Kiara, Mont Kiara, Kuala Lumpur.
16th January to 20th March 2010
www.theartgallerypg.com