{"id":8552,"date":"2015-12-24T15:29:02","date_gmt":"2015-12-24T07:29:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www2.weiling-gallery.com\/contemporary\/?post_type=portfolio&p=8552"},"modified":"2015-12-24T15:36:17","modified_gmt":"2015-12-24T07:36:17","slug":"the-passion-of-an-angry-man","status":"publish","type":"portfolio","link":"https:\/\/weiling-gallery.com\/contemporary\/portfolio-item\/the-passion-of-an-angry-man\/","title":{"rendered":"“The passion of an angry man”"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

The Star, 4 March 2006
\nThe passion of an angry man<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

BENEATH the gentle and soft-spoken demeanour of highly acclaimed artist Yusof Ghani is a man of strong character with steely determination.
\nAt 56, the affable man still has the energy and passion of a young man and is opinionated about social issues like famine, war, poverty, and injustice.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>

The Segerak III series makes your visit to the gallery a worthwhile one.<\/p><\/div>\n

His anguish is reflected in his works of art.
\n\u201cMy anger has been with me for 30 years. It started when I was a fresh graduate,\u201d said Yusof, who studied in the United States.
\nAt that time, he was studying graphic design and was introduced to the fine arts course by his professor.
\nHe discovered that fine arts was different as it was about expressing yourself rather than producing works in accordance to your client\u2019s requirement as in graphic design.<\/p>\n

\"This<\/a>

This piece, entitled Victims 2006, under the Segerak III series was painted with charcoal and oil on linen.<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cI was influenced by the American expressionism. You can paint just about anything, whether there is or isn\u2019t any subject matter involved.
\n\u201cI also developed a fondness for humanistic element,\u201d said Yusof.
\nHe added that perhaps his frequent travelling turned him into a social critic.
\n\u201cIn one part of the world, we have people who are obsessed with weight-loss, while elsewhere, people die of starvation due to poverty or famine!
\n\u201cI came back from the United States an angry man because of these issues,\u201d said Yusof.
\nWhen asked if he has mellowed over the years, he firmly answered, \u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Masterful<\/a>

Masterful command of strokes is what sets Yusof apart from the rest. This painting, called Fighter 2005, is one of them.<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cI\u2019m still an angry man.\u201d
\nOne could sense that in his latest composition, called Segerak III, currently exhibited at Wei-Ling Gallery in Brickfields.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>

A figurative painting entitled Liberator 2005, drawn with mixed media on linen.<\/p><\/div>\n

In all the 23 pieces, figure sketches in black, white and brown tell personal stories, reflecting the good and evil in today\u2019s society.
\n\u201cAs you can see, no vibrant colours are used. In a way, colour has become secondary in my work and spontaneity is what\u2019s important.
\n\u201cCompared to my past two series, Segerak I and II, form and speed here are my primary focus,\u201d said Yusof, a lecturer of UiTM Shah Alam.
\nHe said materials like bitumen, charcoal and chalk, were layered on various types of linen and polyester to give Segerak III a unique freshness.
\n\u201cThe idea for my Segerak series came as a reflection on the issue of one\u2019s daily life-cycle such as people rushing to work and back home, which has become way too robotic.
\n\u201cThere is this humanistic element in Segerak, to show that things are moving whether we like it or not.\u201d
\nThe Pontian-born artist added that Segerak is a continuity of his famed Siri Tari series painted from 1984 to 1991.
\nHe used fluid lines as metaphor to express the chaos in society due to inequality.
\n\u201cI painted with only my emotions and was not too worried about anything else.\u201d
\nHe then proceeded to his Topeng series produced in 1992, which was inspired by the masks worn by Kenyan tribe in Sarawak during his trip there.
\nThe masks are used as metaphor for our role in society.
\n\u201cI paint everything from memory. It\u2019s about spontaneity, as I never sketch.
\n\u201cI usually stare at a blank canvas for days before having any ideas as to what stories to tell.\u201d
\nDuring the recent soft opening, the gallery\u2019s main exhibition area featured Segerak III works while the second exhibition level highlighted some striking samples of previous works.
\nThe exhibition is on until March 8.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Star, 4 March 2006 The passion of an angry man BENEATH the gentle and soft-spoken demeanour of highly acclaimed artist Yusof Ghani is a man of strong character with steely determination. At 56, the affable man still has the energy and passion of a young man and is opinionated about social issues like famine, [...]","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"portfolio_entries":[17],"class_list":["post-8552","portfolio","type-portfolio","status-publish","hentry","portfolio_entries-news-2"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/weiling-gallery.com\/contemporary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/portfolio\/8552","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/weiling-gallery.com\/contemporary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/portfolio"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/weiling-gallery.com\/contemporary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/portfolio"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weiling-gallery.com\/contemporary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8552"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/weiling-gallery.com\/contemporary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/portfolio\/8552\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8560,"href":"https:\/\/weiling-gallery.com\/contemporary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/portfolio\/8552\/revisions\/8560"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/weiling-gallery.com\/contemporary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8552"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weiling-gallery.com\/contemporary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8552"},{"taxonomy":"portfolio_entries","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weiling-gallery.com\/contemporary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/portfolio_entries?post=8552"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}