Art & About: Attention grabber

Lucien de Guise is curator of the Islamic Arts Museum Malaysia. You may write to him at luciendeguise@yahoo.com

IT’S rare enough for an art exhibition to draw much attention. When a single painting pulled off this feat, I found myself rushing round to Galeri Petronas.

The main attraction is the Merdeka Painting. On the basis of size alone, it is massive. When an opportunity for people-spotting is added in, you can see why it would be irresistible.

Among the many fallibilities of mankind is a need for lists. The most popular part of any publication is the regular rundown of who or what is “in” and “out”. The Merdeka Painting is a visual “in” list, although who is going to be able to examine it in years to come is unclear. The work was commissioned by Datuk Yap Lim Sen, who will need a very large home to accommodate this panoramascape.

Fortunately, it is a series of canvases, and not a mural as described, so it should be quite portable. It would also make a fine postcard or, being realistic, a large series of postcards. If you have enough family members, it would be possible to send one card to each of them and let them have the challenge of trying to sort everything into the right order.

The painting provides a fascinating selection by three artists who have created something coherent from their different creative strengths, and from Malaysia’s short but rich history.

As the artists are from overseas, I would assume that someone guided them through their selection. Their lineup should get viewers excited.

All the familiar faces are there, and just to make sure that the political balance cannot be questioned, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim are both in the midst of the action, dressed in equally colourful fashion and making more dramatic gestures than any of the other party cadres. Is it a coincidence that a senior policeman hovers above Anwar’s head?

The current Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister have not been forgotten either, presented with such quiet dignity they are almost invisible.

Just as I suspect, the artists had some help with piecing together the vibrant tapestry of Malaysian life, I reckon the principal painter, Shen Jiawei, made his own choices with a nearby work called The Third World. It might be because this painting shows a wider geographical vista of post-colonial history, but there also seems to be a surer hand and more conviction in the way it’s painted. This is a darker, more mysterious work, filled with international “A-listers”.

Shen knows his way around the world. He has managed to cram in most of the supposedly Third World faces that have ever graced the cover of Time magazine. It would be interesting to know his criteria. The Merdeka Painting is peopled with individuals who built the nation, leaving out the anti-heroes.

There are property developers aplenty, which might not be a coincidence as the patron of the painting has also made his own contribution in this field. It can’t be denied that building is these tycoons’ business.

There are no real villains though. Maybe Mona Fandey is in there after all, emanating a sinister but hidden presence. I couldn’t detect it, and visiting children seemed to show no fear. This is Malaysia at its sunniest.

Over by The Third World canvas, things are different. Malaysia, by the way, does make an entry among the 94 figures on display.

The nation’s representative is the former Prime Minister, almost obscured by the majesty of Imelda Marcos, who looks ready to let rip with a karaoke number. The Iron Butterfly grips the ample arm of the most arresting figure of all — Chairman Mao Zedong.

It’s no surprise to find an artist who made his name during the Cultural Revolution paying homage to the man who wrought more destruction on China’s heritage than anyone in history, apart from Mao’s wife. Jiang Qing, leader of the Gang of Four, was so ghastly she appalled even her genocidal husband, seems to have had a soft spot for Shen’s work.

Such is the adaptability of mankind that Shen has moved on to become a painter of uplifting canvases in a Sydney suburb. His view of Malaysia in the Merdeka Painting is as golden as The Third World makes you grateful that only one Malaysian has been consigned to that gloom. Nobody looks unhappy or underfed in the Merdeka Painting, except for some British, or more probably Australian, soldiers working for the Japanese during the Second World War.

The local tigers look vigorous and highly reproductive, although the male appears to be missing; presumably he is not in the medicine shop.

The Third World has a more haunting quality, as if the artist is saying: “This way for the significant work.”

In comparison, the mega-painting next door is a promotion for Warna Warna Malaysia. Both works show Shen’s background as a propaganda artist.

The Third World manages to squeeze in a message among the enormous egos that populate this vision of history. Centrestage is Mao holding a bullet-ridden Che Guevara. Below them is the dove of peace holding its olive branch despite the arrow through its heart. There are symbols and allusions all over the painting.

Shen’s technical expertise cannot be doubted. Maybe the time has come to make it more commercial. Less message and more product placement could be the way forward. Perhaps for the next Merdeka painting celebration, the subjects can be sponsored for inclusion?

“Wallscapes” ends Oct 12 at Galeri Petronas, KLCC