On offer here is a figurative pastel drawing of a young woman dressed in contemporary white blouse and blue jeans named Farah as the title suggests. Seated demurely, this elegant drawing is a shift from the masculinity of silat warriors, a testament to his flair in painting the human figure.
 

The late Datuk Syed Ahmad Jamal once remarked on Amron’s ability to capture the human anatomy when viewing his first work from his iconic Pertarungan (The Duel) series in 1980: “From the world of advanced arrangement of forms that is distinguished from other painters of human figures in other countries, making him significant among other anatomical painters in this country. His paintings represent his good training.”
 

Amron Omar was among the earliest result of Institut Teknologi Mara (ITM). The Art and Design Faculty students in the 1970s were greatly influenced by western style painting as their lecturers were trained in the West. There were two events that changed the course of Malaysian art during this period: the ‘Kongres Kebudayaan Kebangsaan’ in 1971 (National Culture Congress) and ‘Seminar Akar-Akar Pribumi’ (Seminar on Roots of the Native) in 1979 which increased the interest among local artists towards the aesthetics of Islamic and traditional arts, particularly Amron’s interest in projecting a narrative through the glorious movements of silat since 1980 as a celebration of Malay culture and heroism.

More than 150 works from Amron Omar’s Pertarungan series over three decades were displayed at the National Visual Arts Gallery, Kuala Lumpur in 2012. He worked briefly for an advertising company upon graduation but decided to paint full-time in 1983, specialising in portraits for royalty, dignitaries, corporate captains of industry and also the commoner. He won the Minor Award in the Young Contemporary Artists competition in 1982 with a self-portrait.

 

REFERENCE

Pertarungan – Amron Omar , National Visual Arts Gallery, Kuala Lumpur, 2012.