Varsity seeks to dispel ‘starving’ artist myth
KOTA KINABALU: University College Sabah Foundation (UCSF) is working to dispel the ‘starving' artist myth in Sabah.
Its vice chancellor, Professor Datuk Dr Mohamed Ghazali Ismail, said the perception of artists destined to become “longhaired” and starved individuals who live in destitute must be extinguished.
He stressed there is an art to turning paint and canvas into a sustainable and lucrative source of livelihood that can be maintained past the typical retirement age.
“Artists can be very rich if you have the strategy,” Ghazali said at the second UCSF Painting Community “Rhythm of Falling Colours” with Tuan Syed Bakar and the Nature Inspiration Art Gallery project at UCSF in Sembulan here yesterday.
He reminded that artworks had been sold for millions in other parts of the world and were even sought out by art collectors or corporate figures willing to fork out a fortune.
“I want to dispell the myth. That is the reason behind this project, which is supervised by a very well-known artist,” explained Ghazali.
According to the vice chancellor, potential buyers from as far as Labuan had already expressed their interest in the two previous 10 feet x 30 feet art pieces through his social media.
“This abstract impressionism art is done as a team, not by a person. I think we are opening new opportunities for local artists to prove that art can be a livelihood,” he affirmed.
The project, inspired and supervised by well-established Malaysian artist Syed Mohd Bakar Syed Mohd Salim, is done with the integration of 14 UCSF resident artists aged between 23 and 47 from Indonesia, Kelantan, Terengganu, Pahang and Sabah.
The team of artists, who have also completed a mural art at SMK Sanzac here, used their hands and unconventional tools such as a broom and mop, dish sponges, paint rollers, wooden sticks as well as shreds of paper boxes to create an abstract impressionism art piece together.
As a result, a 10-day to two-week worth of art could be completed in a fraction of the time and work will be cut up into 10 to 20 pieces before being sold between RM5,000 to RM10,000 each.
“This is what we call action painting with the theme rhythm of falling colours. For the first time, artists get together to work. It is not very easy to do but these people have been interacting with each other, thinking together, living very closely together, it is so easy to get them working like this. Otherwise, artists always work in seclusion in little studios,” said Syed Bakar.
“I don't interfere, they themselves are on their own and have proven their very capabilities. Sometimes when you come while people are working on a painting, you can break their chain of thought. That is the worst thing that you can do because painting is about one's own life,” he added.
Syed Bakar began painting as a teenager and later taught art for over 40 years including at the Kuala Kangsar Malay College. He was a resident artist of Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) and curator of the Bank Negara art collection.
At 82 years old, he is still producing art pieces sold no less than RM40,000 a piece and they are collected by the likes of ENcapital and Bloomberg TV Malaysia chairman Tan Sri Datuk Seri Mohd Effendi Norwawi and the richest Bumiputra corporate leader in Malaysia, Tan Sri Mokhtar AlBukhary, said Ghazali.