This month, we feature artwork from Penang State Art Gallery’s permanent collection.
Zulkifli Yusoff, Penceramah, 1999, Oil on Canvas, 35.5 x 40.5 cm, donated by Dato’ Dr. Tan Chee Khuan.
Image courtesy of Penang State Art Gallery
Part of Dato’ Dr Tan Chee Khuan’s donation to PSAG, Penceramah was produced two years after Zulkifli Yusoff’s participation at the Venice Biennale in 1997, at the time when Malaysia was on the cusp of one of its biggest political turmoils. Many artists responded to what was popularly known as the Reformasi Movement or Gerakan Reformasi.
The Reformasi Series, in which this work is a part of, reflected Zulkifli’s response to and reflection on the political situation in the country as politicians were adamant in pursuing or even maintaining their own political power. The series was exhibited at The Art Gallery in 2000 under a solo exhibition entitled Powerful Dialogue. It was Zulkifli’s third exhibition at the gallery, after Brave New Art (1996) and Ahmad & Jibul (1997).
The word “Penceramah” in the title of the work denotes various speaking and even preaching engagements (e.g., ceramah agama). Taking the series in context, “Penceramah” here connotes the politician as speaker and/or preacher. In many instances, politicians used their touring ceramah politik as one of the effective ways of explaining the latest issues and controversies to the grassroots, especially in cases where they felt the need to be vindicated by the general public. The artist’s mood can be felt through the emotional energy and gestural surface, with the impression of spontaneity seen in the solid colours interspersed with strokes of solid black lines used to denote politicians.
Penceramah belongs to the 1990s socio-political phase of Zulkifli’s early career before he moved on to visit historical themes and significant historical texts as his main subject matter from 2000 onwards.
Sarena Abdullah, Ph.D is an art historian at the School of the Arts, Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM). She is the author of Malaysian Art since the 1990s: Postmodern Situation (2018) and co-editor of a publication of Southeast Asian Art entitled Ambitious Alignments: New Histories of Southeast Asian Art 1945-1990 (2018). She has written extensively about Malaysian art on various academic journals and platforms.