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Book Review: Working

Dr. Tony Donaldson - 4/15/2011

Review of Working, edited by Ahmad Zakii Anwar, Jalaini Abu Hassan, Adeline Ooi and Beverly Yong, with photography by Tara Sosrowardoyo. Published by Rogue Art, Kuala Lumpur [2010] MYR120 [US $40]


It is a fundamental truth that art requires artists to produce art. Without them, art would not exist. But this truth is easily lost in the wilderness of art discourses which was transparently obvious at a workshop I attended a few years ago in Singapore in which the panel spoke for 90 minutes on contemporary Southeast Asian art without making a single reference to an artwork or an artist.

While it is important to understand how the art market operates or to place art into its broader geographical, historical, social, or political context (which museums and universities are inclined to do) it is also vital to understand what artists do in producing art in the context in which they live and work. It is therefore refreshing to see ten Malaysian artists come together to produce Working - a book that explores their own narratives in an attempt to make sense of what they do in making art.

Working focuses on how artworks are made rather than the meaning of the works. It sets out to investigate how artists work and their processes as an inquiry into the studio practices of artists. It attempts to explore the different ways in which artists create and to discover the methodologies of these artists.

The book is entirely artist funded. Each artist produced a work for the project. The artworks were exhibited in early 2010 and sold with the proceeds going towards the costs of producing the book. The idea for the book started in a conversation at the home of the international figurative artist Ahmad Zakii Anwar - initially between him and Jalaini Abu Hassan, and then later extended to include Ahmad Fuad Osman and Hamir Soib. Besides these four artists, a further six were selected for the book, in particular, Ahmad Shukri Mohamed, Chong Siew Ying, Kow Leong Kiang, Raja Shahriman Raja Aziddin, Ramlan Abdullah and Yee I-lann. These artists were born between 1955 and 1971.

The book consists of a brief introduction, interviews with the artists, and a large collection of photos by Tara Sosrowardoyo of the artists and their work. The role of the interviewer is to draw out from the artists an understanding of art processes. The format of the interviews emphasises the artist’s voice, the studio, its daily life, how time and space affect artist working alone, how artists deal with mistakes, resolve issues, and approach materials and tools. The interviews were conducted in Mandarin, Cantonese, Malay and English, but all are presented only in English.

The interviews offer an entrée into the world of each artist which is an important approach in art scholarship simply because art is personal to artists just as it is to collectors, curators and viewers. The narratives attempt to draw the reader into the world of each artist – a technique that offers compelling insights. For instance, Ahmad Faud Osman illuminates the intricacies of the editing process in the making of his art and the need for an artist to be clear about what she or he is communicating while Ahmad Zakii Anwar talks about the intimacy in using charcoals, a medium he is particularly drawn to at the moment, in which he applies charcoal directly on to paper with his fingers.

Equally compelling are the narratives by the sculpture artist Raja Shahriman Raja Aziddin who is particularly attracted to Malay weapons, and Kow Leong Kiang who talks about the experimental approaches he uses in attempting to challenge the boundaries of making art. There is also a moving exposition by Jalaini (Jai) Abu Hassan about his first encounters with art in which he observes a friend capturing in a drawing the sadness of his mother’s passing – a moment that inspires Jai to draw together with his friend.


Workings Raja Shahriman Raja Aziddin


The book has been designed artistically – perhaps overly so as it is too heavy and is not library-shelve friendly due to its large wire spiral binding. It is also not reader friendly. The text is sometimes set in a large font size on different coloured paper which is distracting. Using large fonts also gives the impression that the book has been padded out to more than what it actually is. The book may have difficulty generating interest beyond Malaysia and Southeast Asia in part because each interview starts cold without preparing the reader. An introduction to each artist would help readers unfamiliar with the artists to make the transition into their world.

The idea of documenting artist voices is not new. Other researchers have been working in this area for some time. The contribution Working makes is that it goes some way to bridging the gap between artists and scholarship which theories of postmodernism demand. The narratives of the ten artists dispel the stereotypes one sometimes hears from critics or those in the business of art that artists are incapable of explaining things. It serves to remind us that the voices of artists must be firmly integrated into scholarship. Because of the way the book is produced, it will be of particular appeal to art enthusiasts, though curators and art historians will likely find the material of interest as well.