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Artist Exhibitions:
EXHIBITION
2007 : ‘ ARTRIANGLE ’ 20
Mei – 30 Mei. Wisma
Kebudayaan Soka Gakkai
Malaysia. Kuala
Lumpur
2007 : ‘ Katharsis ’ Two
Men Show by Mohd Hairi Yaakub
& Syahrulniza Ahmad
Zaini. 07 Feb
– 03 Mar 07. NN Gallery ,
Kuala Lumpur.
2006 : ‘ Mind, Body & Soul
ii ‘ 1 Nov -23 Nov 06.
Wei-Ling Gallery, Kuala
Lumpur.
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Further Information
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Artist Galleries:
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Artist Reviews:
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Commissions:
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Artist Statement for Mohd Hairi Yaakub
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ARTIS STATEMENT
Siri Pemain Wayang
Mohd Hairi B Yaakub
Though it speaks to any audience, ‘Permain Wayang’ is deeply rooted in traditional Malay culture – especially the Wayang Kulit shadow puppet theatre from the east coast of peninsula Malaysia.
The painting speaks eloquently of two themes: exposure and alienation.
Hairi comments, “When a Malay child is born, we dress him up as what we want him to become. What I have done is taken the dress away, leaving the man’s true self, naked and exposed. He cannot hide.”
Yet exposure makes us desperately vulnerable, and hiding is second nature. This introduces the second theme: alienation. The man in the painting is alienated in a double sense: alienated from his environment, and alienated from himself.
Facing his audience head on, the man remains wholly impassive - blank. Moreover, only half his face is visible, enabling him to hide himself, despite his nakedness. We cannot see his eyes, and he cannot see us. There is no communication, no interaction. The alienation is complete.
But the man is equally alienated from himself, figure of Ravana, an evil spirit from Indian mythology, and a key figure in Wayang Kulit theatre. Ravana is a force both within and outside the subject – a latent evil he cannot control.
The painting embodies the tension between exposure and concealment. It also poses a question. In this game of shadow-play between man and demon, which of the two figures is the puppet?
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