THE‘HEART’OF RENEE KRAAL
Artist Renee Kraal showcases spiritual art that’s both evocative and breathtaking,
RENEE Kraal knows her life purpose. Her form slight and frail in her wheelchair, her delicate features shadowed in the darkened gallery, she looks at me with wise eyes before saying gently: “I’ve finished what I’ve come to do.” Her words are enigmatic. Just like the pieces displayed at her latest exhibition. A-Ha Moments — Exhibition of Paintings and Drawings by Renee Kraal features some 68 art works from the prolific artist who has been very much part of the Malaysian art landscape since its infancy.
The abstract art of Renee Kraal summons up strange powers of the imagination that stir deep regions of the soul.
Her labyrinths of red and gold, turquoise and brown can be joyous and ecstatic, oppressive and eerie, but always they’re tremulously expressive — and completely out of time.
Her paintings portray a visionary artist who operates beyond the cultural mainstream; creating imageries and work that do not fall into familiar art categories. “I’ve always been fascinated with the supernatural,” she confides.
From shamanism to Bomoh practises, from Mak Yong to Main Teri, Kraal’s work has evolved to take on a deeper spiritualism that has culminated in the 73-year-old drawing out the seven chakras — an ancient religious teaching originating from Hinduism and Buddhism.
Your work is beautiful, I tell her and she looks faintly surprised. “Is it? Oh I’m so glad,” she responds. She mulls over my words for a while, before adding with a smile: “An artist is always insecure.”
RISE OF AN ARTIST
The KL-born and bred artist has been painting for the last four decades. An early member of the Wednesday Art Group — a pioneering arts collective in the 60s and 70s — Kraal joined the likes of illustrious Malaysian artists such as Sivam Selvaratnam, Ho Kai Peng, Ismail Mustam, Mohd Said Abu and Datuk Mustapha Mahmud to create a strong vibrant presence in the Malaysian art scene.
“I first joined the Tuesday Art Group, an art group for children organised by the Department of Education in collaboration with the US Information Service when I was 7,” she recalls, adding: “I’ve always loved painting from young. I’ve always doodled and messed around my mother’s study!” Did the artistic talent run in the family? I wondered. She pauses, before replying: “Well, my family was musically inclined. My mother played the piano while my grandmothertaughtit. Allmyauntiesanduncles played some form of musical instruments. I on the other hand, preferred painting.”
She was only 15 when she joined the Wednesday Art Group collective. “I always say I went there to meet the boys!” she quips, laughing. There was so much to take in, she recalls. “We had live models posing for us to draw. It was then my interest in the human form developed.”