From the Sky, to The Land, to The Sea

Landscapes are often regarded as a picturesque interest to a selection of people who deemed that in whichever way you are experiencing it, the beauty of landscapes at times surpassed unfathomable reasons — there is unmistakable, innate magnetism to the idea of seeing and immersing oneself in the beauty of one.

What landscapes do — again, as picturesque interest — usually contributes to the pause of the mind. Calmness, easiness, tranquillity; all of these words equate to how any person would have described a distinguished landscape’s scenery, perhaps followed by a deep appreciation of its peculiar expansiveness. It may be (that) it is powered by an invisible mechanism of orienting humans to navigate through the different types of geographical scapes — lands, seas, and skies — for those who are keen and curious enough that it unfailingly allows one to imagine and ponder.

Undoubtedly in art throughout history, depictions of landscape imagery were one of the most constant subjects. Taught in art schools, it became a normative standard to learn the basic fundamental of depths when it comes to two-dimensional visuals. Here lies the importance of focusing on the elemental — capturing and tracking, honing in on the moment the atmosphere change when the sunlight shines and casts new shadows, the whispering sifts of the pulsating wind, the sea’s torrent a little too riveting to catch in paint.

As UiTM graduates who seek opportunities to create incessantly, concurrent with the goal of becoming full-time artists, Isa Ishak, Nadzrin Haziq and Loqman Zainal strive for a signature in the style of painting sceneries that resonate within themselves.

The three young artists offered a perceptive worldview in how they understand lives lived through the tendency of constructing elemental visuals, a fixation on their preferred subject of contemplation that has over the years changed into an object of affection.

Perhaps the alignment in thoughts and processes within the same art community, or sharing a studio space, has shown the complexities yet continuous disparities in describing abstracted worlds as an urgency to delve deep into, akin to life-long research practice. In an unceasing recreation of myriad forms of landscapes, be it the sky, the land or the sea, the young artists accumulate their reactions to their surrounding nature as the ultimate means to find purpose and cause of its unparalleled characteristics.

extracted writing by Falil Johari