CORE contemporary art

Sight is a given. It is observed that artists, without a doubt, rely on sight the most. John Berger mentioned in his book Ways Of Seeing that seeing comes before words. It is seeing which establishes our place in the surrounding world; we explain that world with words, but words can never undo the fact that we are surrounded by it. 

Graduated from UiTM Seri Iskandar, Perak in 2019 with a Bachelor in Fine Arts (Hons), Raden Hisbullah is an artist who works within the confined — figuratively speaking. Following his 2016 diploma in fine arts graduation, he has joined in numerous exhibitions in several local galleries since 2016, gaining recognition for his distinctive style of painting. Additionally, he also entered major art competitions such as Art Against Aids, Karex and UOB Painting of the Year, and for his efforts has won the Emerging Artist Category award for it.

While imagination sometimes triumphed over what we usually see normally, what we eventually processed in our thoughts, on the other hand, could always mean the opposite.

It is worth noting that regarding his works, the recurring irregularities of forms are always a deliberate choice. as emphasised by a scholar below:

Form is limitless. it is a state of pure possibility until it is defined. Form exists in an oppositional relationship with formlessness. The dissolution of form is not only a powerful compositional device but is also metaphorically potent. Form accommodates a need to embody an idea or a perception. Formlessness challenges that very need and questions our sense of the immutability of things as we know them. Form is a vessel. It can be open or closed.

— Kit White, 101 things to learn in art school

The key understanding of ‘forms’ in this exhibition is not only paving the path to merely an abstracted world; It is, to Raden, a world of the unseen, imperceptible and unlikely to be understandable to the naked eye. Raden is keen on his interest in the supernatural, its fantastical aspects of storytellings, tales or events, that at some point in history was prevalent in various cultures and religions.

There is a sense of logic to it that surpass the idea of normativity, perhaps — obviously, we are the epitome of the contemporary. We have been living in a digitised age for decades that reverting to the old mystic way of life seems regressive, if not strange. Then again, we are most wondrous about the limitless possibilities of perceiving imperceivable things.

Raden has largely exemplified in how he predominantly works with the imagination (read: imperceivable) that looks within his spiritual self. He accentuates his belief with his religious upbringing or his spiritual inclination by always relating it to his artmaking. A spark of interest he is reminded of initially is of a yokai, loosely translated as supernatural beings or a bakemono (‘changing thing’, monsters, or shape-shifters) that appears as wisps of smoke that comes from the bonfires, called Enenra.