[JOURNAL] Art Criticisms Versus Art Writings: The Malaysian Situation KEMANUSIAAN Vol. 19, No. 2, (2012), 63–78 (original) (raw)

Issues and Problems in Malaysian Contemporary Visual Arts

Journal of Visual Arts and Design, 2016

In Malaysia, there is a question in term of intellectualism activities in the context of visual epistemology. Therefore, this paper revealed the problems that linger in the Malaysian contemporary visual art scene. In fact, Malaysian contemporary artists appear to have insufficient intellectualism values and less discourse activities. The lacks of scholars in the field of visual arts create a gap in the visual arts scene in Malaysia. The question of this study was to uncover the main problems in Malaysian visual arts that led to the problem of art intellectual development. In addition, this paper presents the awareness of the valuable contributions in the intellectual development that able to enhance the communication in the art object.

Knowledge of Art in Malaysian Contemporary Visual Art

Journal of Visual Arts and Design, 2017

Malaysia has a scarcity in the presentation of art knowledge through visual art. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the importance of art knowledge in the field of visual art. In fact, Malaysian contemporary visual artists appear to have insufficient values of intellectualism and lack shared vision. The intention of this study was to reveal the factors in Malaysian visual arts that led to the crisis in art knowledge development. This project uses a qualitative triangulation method in order to reveal similarities from face-to-face interviews and document studies. The analysis was supported by evidence obtained from observation of several art discourses. The findings of this study revealed the importance of world knowledge and perception of art based on critical thinking. In addition, the results of this study also present the awareness of the valuable contributions of art knowledge in visual art. This paper revealed the factors that lead to the unconvincing development of art knowledge, specifically in Malaysia. The importance of art knowledge can be investigated further in order to validate visual art as an intellectual product that communicates knowledge.

PROMOTING THE AWARENES OF ART AMONG MALAYSIANS

Art is a very subjective term that comes in so many definitions depends on a person. As art students, somehow we are aware about how art was developed through ages and understand that the definition of art is always changing. The awareness of art also sometimes depends on the different background of a person such as education, profession, and also sources from various media. In Malaysia especially, the awareness about art highly promotes through galleries, art exhibitions and art events. Thus, besides studying the existing factors that affect the perception of Malaysians about what art is, this study is perhaps fulfilling our curiosity in knowing what others think about art. The findings show that conducting educationalbackground research and public research such as identifying sources of respondents" knowledge about art, self-definition about art and ways to promote art awareness, further the strategies to increase art awareness through various ways besides only through galleries or other art base exhibitions or events.

THEMATIC APPROACHES IN MALAYSIAN ART SINCE THE 1990s

This paper discusses on the impact of thematic approaches taken by Malay artists in Malaysia since the 1990's.Malaysian art has become increasingly diverse in terms of its approach, subject, theme and media. This growing artistic diversity is discussed within a postmodern framework and is representative of a shift in tendencies away from a purely Malay/Islamic-centred artistic tradition to a more postmodern approach that is inclusive of Malaysia's emerging middle class. Since the 1990's, works produced by Malay artists have taken a more critical perspective aligned with the postmodern situation or situasi percamoden in accordance with Malaysia's leapfrog into modernization. Through their works, Malay artists raise concerns and issues pertaining to the consequences of development and modernization, and explore themes ranging from social problems, environment and urbanization, and contemporary issues thereby employing postmodernist approaches in their art. What is obvious is, that Malay artists are concerned with the immediate and near future, rather than looking back or glorying the past. These artistic tendencies epitomize the challenges, divergences and even connections of perspectives that define the growing Malaysian middle class especially in the context of the construction or even deconstruction of Malaysian society.

National Policies and Their Reverberations on the Art Making and Art Scenes in Malaysia under Mahathir Mohamed's Premiership

Wacana Seni, 2024

This article examines the direct and indirect reverberations of the 1971 National Culture Policy, followed by the indirect impact of the Islamic resurgence and the 1985 Dasar Penerapan Nilai-Nilai Islam dalam Pentadbiran (Inculcation of Islamic Values in Administration Policy) on Malaysian art and art scene. The National Culture Policy (NCP), reiterated the ethnic preference policy of the National Economic Policy which resulted in an espoused policy that centres on Malay culture and Islam. Although there were incongruences and inconsistencies in the impact of the policy towards the art field in general, this policy has resulted in the rethinking of the presentation of art in Malaysia. This article first discusses the context of the NCP and traced how many exhibitions and discourses along the line of Islamic/Malay culture are frequently organised. This article also discusses the tendency of the artworks that were selected to be included in these exhibitions based on the selection of works that alludes to Islamic art, the Malay culture and works that have both elements of Islam and Malayness.

The Scientific Articles on Art Criticism

Research has been extremely involved in improving in the art criticism area. These improvements are reflected in scientific articles. This article purposed to investigate the 214 articles in art criticism to explore their main characteristics. These articles published in the Web of Science database of the Institute of Scientific Information (ISI) from the period of 1980 till 20 December 2013. Types of articles were article and review which is included in the study. The three top cited (more than 10 times citations) articles in art criticism were published in 1993 and 1999. The 214 articles mean citation rate was 0.87 (SD 2.38) times. Among the various fields, art (58.87%), arts humanities other topics (28.03%), both art and arts humanities other topics (5.14%), both art and education and educational research (2.33%), both art and history (1.40%), art, arts humanities other topics and literature (1.40%), both art and cultural studies (0.93%), both art and philosophy (0.93%), both art and literature (0.46%), and both arts humanities other topics and cultural studies (0.46%) were the most popular fields of research. The results showed that researches were done in the United States had highest citation which was written in English language.