Exhibition Period: Tuesday, 7th July 2020 - Thursday, 30th July 2020

Exhibition Venue: Balai Seni Negara (National Art Gallery), Kuala Lumpur

Project A : Last Man Standing can be traced as narrative of the societal changes of Malaysia for the past ten years up until this year 2020. Is Vision 2020 just a mere achievement of a developed country status in terms of economic standing or it is a vision that weighs more than that? By 2020, Malaysia supposedly to be a nation that is fully developed along all the dimensions: economically, politically, socially, spiritually, psychologically and culturally. Every societal change must first start from individual efforts before we are able to step forward together as a nation. Perhaps the very core essence of moving forward is first to have the beliefs, con dance and pride in their own identity as a Malaysian. Artist or cultural producer as individual also plays a role in making the effort in this overall social system. Project A : Last Man Standing serves two main prongs: as a narrative and timeline both for the artist as an individual and also as an insight to his personal observations of the social changes in Malaysia for the past ten years leading up to year 2020.

Imitation Master series is an important observational series as different works produced at different timelines alludes the social, cultural and political narrative of Malaysia in the post-colonial era. The infusion and juxtaposition of local elements and symbols of trending imageries such as Pokémon or iPhone are just examples of the way Ali Nurazmal documents the globalisation effects and changes on the Malaysian society. Imitation Master series has become an imperative visual log of the Malaysian society in the era of post colonialism.

To know Ali Nurazmal Yusoff as an artist and his artistic contribution to this society is not merely to study the context of individual paintings of this Imitation Master Series. Rather there is a strong need to view it from the perspective of entirety as every piece serves as a documentation and narrative that focuses not only on an individual artist’s artistic development and progression but also its reflection on the events and timeline of the Malaysian contemporary society.