Lot 125
RAFIEE GHANI
b. Kedah, 1962
DERU LAUT CINA, 2014
Signed 'Rafiee Ghani' (lower left) and dated '2014' (lower right)
Oil on canvas
122cm x 123cm
PROVENANCE
Private collection, Selangor.
EXHIBITED
Homeland by Rafiee Ghani, 2016
ESTIMATE RM 14,500 - 22,500
PRICE REALISED RM 17,920 |
World (and world-class) traveller Rafiee Abdul Ghani may be drawn to the Matissean sense of beauty, but Deru Laut Cina (Roar of the China Sea) spells trouble among at least seven countries locked in territorial (island and maritime) disputes over islands like the Spratly and Paracel. It basically pits regional power China against the rest of the claimants. But Rafiee Ghani the Artist never allows himself to be too strayed from what he does best: Colourscopia! His works are often intriguing, whether still-life, landscapes or figuratives, for he has been to the most inhospitable and remote of places, in places and countries that few ever heard of, and his basic Arabic, French, Swahili, Thai and Urdu coupled by his friendly humility have seen him through all over the world. He also takes terror photographs. Rafiee Abdul Ghani last had his big solo, Homeland, at The Edge Galerie, Kuala Lumpur, in 2016.
Rafiee Abdul Ghani struck a brilliant double when he won the Minor Award in the coveted Young Contemporary Artists exhibition (BMS) in 1984 and 1984, and to show that it was no fluke shot, he also won the Minor Award in the 1991 SalonMalaysia. He was 2nd in the one-off Malaysia Art Open (MAO) in1994 and among the five Juror’s Choice Award winners in the Philip Morris Asean Art Award – Malaysia. He first studied at the De Vrije Academie Voor Bildeendie Kunst at the Hague, the Netherlands, in 1980, but did not complete. He finally obtained his Diploma of Fine Art at the Universiti ITM (1981-1985), and a Master’s from the Manchester Metropolitan University (Manchester Polytechnic) in Britain (1986-1987). He had taught at the UiTM from 1986-1988 and 1989-1990, and had a teaching stint in Mahe, the Seychelles, in 1991-1993.
His 2016 work titled The Beginning Of The Red Sea was sold for a record breaking HKD 325,000 in Sotheby’s Hong Kong April 2017 auction sale. |