I was very saddened to hear of the passing my artist friend, Ib.
Its not commonly known that Ib was blind in his right eye, due to a childhood accident with a dart. This makes his prowess as an artist even more of an achievement. Without the benefit of binocular stereo-vision, perspective become a very challenging issue. He obviated this potential handicap by working with techniques that didn't rely on perspective ~ particularly freeform contour lines. For this reason, he tended to avoid painting portraits, and so, on the rare occasions that he did accept portrait commissions, the results, lacking perspective, were not particularly flattering for the subject.
I think his magnus opus is Dance of Life (see detail, above) which displays his "contour lines" technique.
Ib had an irreverent and cheeky sense of humour. For the catalogue of an exhibition at the US Embassy curated by Yeoh Jin Leng, of works by leading Malaysian artists who had studied in the US, he had submitted just two words: "Big Deal!" for his entry in the catalogue. Not wanting to embarrass the American hosts, his entry was reduced to: "Big!" He was greatly amused by this censorship.
One of his paintings using the "contour lines" technique depicts a male and a female form entwined in orgasmic ecstasy. When I asked Ib why he had called the painting "Arrival," he asked me for another word that means "arrival." We burst out laughing when I realised it was a play on "coming"!
Copyright 2003-2009 Azlan Adnan Legal Notice
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