Lot 111
RAJA LOPE RASYDI RAJA ROZLAN
b. Perak, 1972
BAROH, 2012
Signed and dated 'LOPE 2012' (lower right)
Acrylic and airbrush on canvas
122cm x 92cm each, triptych
PROVENANCE
Private collection, Selangor.
ESTIMATE RM 9,000 - 16,000 |
If there is membership for the Theatre of the Absurd Art Club, Raja Lope Rasydi would be an honorary life member. His, however, is not as far-out as Chan Kok Hooi’s or Lim Keh Soon’s. Raja Lope is more strapped to the good old-fashioned fairytales and comicdom heroes such as Tarzan, Sinbad, Tin Tin and Mowgli although a robot-like creature managed to slip in on this triptych canvas. The canvas titled Baroh has a bird with insect wings and frog legs, a sharp-eyed insect Tinkerbell and a bat in human form. And a prehistoric buzzard, Tinkerbell’s pet and killer lackey. Baroh is a term used to refer to the Malays as “lowlanders” or “downcountry.” The connection, however, is ambiguous. The whole landscape is bleak and fraught with perils, but as a whole wondrous. It’s like an animal-world fantasy with nary a true human in sight.
Raja Lope started with a Diploma in Fine art at the Malaysian Institute of Art, Kuala Lumpur, in 1992, but followed up with a Graphic Design degree at Universiti ITM, Shah Alam in 1996. He was roped into Core Design’s stable of young contemporary Malay artists and featured in a solo at Core Design Gallery in 2013, and its grand show at the Art Expo Malaysia 2014 and 2015 under the Great Malaysian Contemporary Art side-event. |