Details
CollectionSouth & Southeast Asian Collection
Object numberS1999-0011-001-0
TitleKapitan Cina
CreatorRedza Piyadasa
DescriptionKapitan Cina belongs to Redza Piyadasa's Malaysian Series that was initiated and continued throughout the 1980s. With this series of works, Piyadasa moved away from his 1970s conceptual art practices to address the specific issue of Malaysian identity in historical and contemporary multi-cultural Malaysia. Works in the series comprises of silkscreen prints and collages created from colour-enhanced old black-and-white or sepia photographs - portraits of royalty, families and other notable figures in Malaysia.
Kapitan Cina is a title for headman of an ethnic community originating with the Portuguese who ruled Malacca after defeating the Malaccan sultanate. Baba Family depicts a Peranakan family posing for a family photograph. Both works are meant to evoke nostalgic reflection into Malaysia's past and encourage audiences to greater levels of awareness concerning contemporary conflicts in a multi-racial and cultural environment like Malaysia.A colourful silk-screen image of a seated mandarin is repeated twice. Normally this would be the main pictorial content and focus of attention. However, this is not what the artist intended it to be. By deliberately manipulating a found object (in this case, an old photograph) as a double print simulating a film strip he is trying to draw attention away from the content to the PROCESS of picture-making. The subject matter is irrelevant. It is the CONCEPT (the idea) of the artist that is all important.
Production placeMalaysia
Production date 1990 - 1990
Object categoryPainting
Dimensions
H: 91 cm
L: 114 cm
L: 114 cm