작품 상세

Zulkifli Dahlan is like a James Dean equivalent in Malaysian art. He died in his prime at the age of 25. His works are astonishing, far out, working against the grain of Nanyang stylistic métiers, and the bucolic ‘swaying coconut trees’ landscapes, with his fractured world of ‘bare-forked’ deformed figures in an absurd surreal setting. Even then and as a founding member of Anak Alam, he rails against materialism, hypocrisy and the status-conscious. This is best exemplified in his large and monochromatic masterpiece, Separate Reality: One Fine Day In A Forbidden Land. His radically stylized human figures and surrounding landscape transformed the aesthetics of naïve art and cartoons. A most belated and befitting tribute was given to Zulkifli Dahlan in the exhibition, Bumi Larangan, at the National Art Gallery Malaysia from May 9 to July 2, 2017. Zulkifli travelled to Europe, Jakarta and Bangkok during the 1970s. Self-taught and a son of an ulama, Zulkifli received the Special Award in the Man And His World exhibition in 1973. He was resident artist of the Angkatan Pelukis SeMalaysia in 1973-1974. In 1974, he had a two-man show with Yusof ‘Volkswagen’ Osman in an unusual venue, the open Taman Jaya in Petaling Jaya. He was also a resident artist with fellow Anak Alam strongman Mustapa Ibrahim in Medan, Sumatra, under Indonesian artist Mozes Misdy.