Lot 046
Samsudin Wahab
b. Perak, 1984
The Last Supper, 2011
signed and dated (lower right)
acrylic and bitumen on canvas
123 x 96cm
EXHIBITED
Culture Vulture, Taksu, October 2011
PROVENANCE
Private collection, Kuala Lumpur
ESTIMATE RM 18,000 – 32,000
PRICE REALISED RM 23,520.00
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Hail, the New ‘King’! Long Live The ‘King’! The tired refrain installs a new Skull leader, fancy coat and red tie et al, to the ‘throne’ but one booby-trapped with spikes and springs. With knife and fork in hand, the new supremo is fawned at with a choice slice of meat but has the Skull King appetite for the bait or will this be his biblical ‘Last Supper’ with his detractors bent on poisoning him? This typical political scenario lives in perpetuity in the wake of ego, conspiracies and corruption, so unless there are drastic bold reformations, it’s status quo and déjà vu.
Samsudin Wahab, one of the most consistent of the younger artists, finally hit paydirt by clinching the Major Award of the Bakat Muda Sezaman (Young Contemporary Artists) competition in 2019, after winning the Juror’s Award in 2013! Earlier wins were Consolation Prize in the Tanjung Heritage competition in 2005 and 2nd Prize in Goethe-Institut’s Saloon Meet Art competition in 2007. Dealing with paint and sculptures, he is also into performance, and his works impinge on socio-cultural issues related to self and the larger national context. Coming from parents who are paddy farmers in Semanggol, Samsudin graduated with a diploma in Fine Arts at the UiTM Seri Iskandar, Perak (2002-2005) and BFA (Majoring in Printmaking, 2005-2007). In 2008, he held his first solo, Enough, at Taksu, Kuala Lumpur. He was a resident artist of Rimbun Dahan in 2009, the year he won the Malaysia Emerging Artists Award. He was also resident artist of HOM in April-June 2008 and Khazanah Nasional’s in Mumbai, India, in 2010. He was co-founder of the Cetak Kolektif, focusing on printmaking, and is a member of the Sebijipadi Studio and experimental sound and performance group SO. |