Lot 064
Samsudin Wahab
b. Perak, 1984
Self-Portrait As General (Let It Be), 2009
signed and dated ‘Samsudin 09’ (lower right)
wood frame, acrylic & bitumen on canvas
115 x 83cm
PROVENANCE
Private collection, Kuala Lumpur
ESTIMATE RM 8,500 – 14,500
PRICE REALISED RM 33,600.00
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Hail, ‘Jeneral’ Samsudin Wahab self-caricaturised with a goofy smile and large elephant ears plugged with probably an audio-prompter or he could be wrapped in a world of his own, listening to his favourite music. As in character, the general is unashamedly bedecked with ostentatious medals, never a mite embarrassed over the scandal of two missing engines from government fighter jets parked at the Sg Besi air base in 2007 (they got sold to a South American dealer, it was revealed). If you want more shenanigans, there’s the submarine deal fiasco in France, and the phasing-out of the Nuri (Sikorsky S-61A-4) helicopter after 89 crew members lost their lives in 15 accidents. Malaysia dropped to 56th from 47th on the 2009 Corruption Index by Transparency International.
Samsudin Wahab won the Malaysia Emerging Artist Award in 2009. He was resident artist in Rimbun Dahan in 2009, and in Mumbai, India, in 2010, under Khazanah Nasional sponsorship. He won the Juror’s Award in the 2013 Bakat Muda Sezaman, 2nd Prize in the Goethe-Institut’s Salon Meets Art in 2007, and a Consolation Prize in the Tanjung Heritage competition in 2005. He was educated at the Universiti ITM, with a BFA, Majoring in Printmaking, in 2007. He co-founded the printmaking collective, Cetak Kolektif. |
