작품 상세

Attention is drawn to the singer’s puffy white skirt, as if strapped in a chicken fancy-dress. She looms on the edge of the stage as if going to topple over the audience seated close in front. The music seems loud in what looks like a cabaret with the blast of the trombone musician on the right and the violinist with the rest of the orchestra on the right. Though Arifien Neif is Indonesian, it’s a cinch that the setting is Western, a favourite reference in his works on show bands and dancers. His work, Dancers, sold for HK$60,000 (RM31,401) at Bonhams Hong Kong in the March 29, 2018 auction. At the Singapore Art Week auction in late January, his work, 2 Perempuan And 1 Lelaki (180 x 100cm), sold for S$35,000. Self-taught Surabaya-born Arifien Neif chose the pseudonym, Neif, a reverse of his nickname, Fien. He moved to Jakarta in 1974 and worked in odd-jobs in construction in order to buy materials to paint. After a brief hiatus, he resurfaced in an exhibition, Fine Romance, represented by Zola Zulu Gallery, at the National Museum in Singapore in April 2008. Earlier, he picked up painting by visiting the Surabaya Arts Academy (Aksera) and watching Affandi with friends at a café in Tim in Jakarta, and is known for his rough strokes and labelled by some as a Fauvist. Jean Couteau wrote: “Arifien Neif is a witness to the vagaries of life.” 33 x 27cm