A man of thought
National Art Gallery exhibition celebrates 30 years of Ahmad Fuad Osman’s multi-faceted career.
AHMAD Fuad Osman’s mid-career survey at the National Art Gallery spans three decades, a collection of work that is for the most part, visually bold and sometimes quite startling in its presentation.
Peer around the screen in a corner of the room, and what do you see? Flowers in a vase on the table, a man in bed with an IV drip attached to his arm. Beside him, a chair. Here, your nose is assailed by the smell of antiseptic. Hello, hospital room.
You are almost convinced that you can hear the beep, beep, beep of a machine – if there were one.
Now walk a bit further, and you will see clothes hanging on a line. If there were a breeze in the room, they would flutter like they would in the great outdoors.
Around the next corner, a strange sight greets you. Not unlike sled dogs working hard in the snow, miniature versions on the floor drag a huge golden mountain - a stalagmite casting behind them, and giant pigs with udders almost brushing the ground run circles around them.
At The End Of The Day Even Art Is Not Important has many of Fuad’s paintings, videos, sketches and objects – both found and fabricated – grouped around the gallery.
But what will perhaps be the most memorable to the casual viewer is the unexpected way some of the installations jump out at you.
Fuad would probably be pleased if a visitor were to do a double take.
“Because how boring would it be, if art – or life – just passes you by,” says the artist, who turned 50 in early October.
Most of the exhibits at At The End Of The Day Even Art Is Not Important are on loan from private collectors, including Fuad’s iconic larger-than-life self-portraits created in response to the Reformasi movement of the late 1990s. It is a familiar sight, a nod to the “see no evil, speak no evil and hear no evil” trinity of monkeys.
In comparison, his newer works seem less visceral, at least on the surface.
But Fuad comments that although the presentation may differ through the years, he remains the same person inside.
Conceptual outlook
“I still relate to that guy from all those years ago, absolutely. But as time passes, I find myself drawn to more conceptual ways of expression. The rawness of the 1990s, the bodily engagement that was so much a part of my work then ... I find other ways to express myself now, especially through installation pieces. I must say, though, that when I paint, I still feel the same kind of fire within me,” he says.
The exhibition space allows visitors ample opportunities to rediscover this Baling, Kedah-born artist’s creative growth.
At The End Of The Day Even Art Is Not Important presents seven cycles of research within a largely chronological sequence, spanning three decades of Fuad’s career.
It starts off with Cycle One: Manimal’s Dream, that provides a glimpse into his early days – of being an art student, of getting acquainted with history, documentation and presentation.
Fuad’s love for storytelling started to take form here, a vocation that would see him through the many creative hats he went on to wear.
After completing his art studies – painting and printmaking – at the Mara Institute of Technology (UITM), he ventured into filmmaking and theatre.
“Initially, it was just to make ends meet. It was a struggle to try and do that with just art. But eventually, I came to realise that all the elements I love about filmmaking and performance art, are similar to why art and artmaking speaks to me,” shares Fuad.
Even as a founding member of the Matahati art collective in the early 1990s, Fuad’s works used to stand apart, showing a pensive and philosophical side.
Of his mid-career survey, he says that it makes him feel nostalgic to see his works gathered in one place.
“Many of the artworks here, I have not seen for years, even decades. But I realise that I still remember every single thing about them: where each piece was produced, what sparked them, where I was at that time. Every piece, even a small drawing, is personal and precious to me,” he says.
Fuad currently divides his time between Bali in Indonesia and Shah Alam, Selangor.
“I prefer living in quiet places, far away from all the noise,” he mentions.
The buzz, however, has been following Fuad this year. He has been busy, his art seen all across town. In the past two weeks, his works have appeared at the Ipoh International Art Festival’s Climate exhibition, while the recently launched The Body Politic And The