Illustrated here is a sketch of a Balinese Legong dancer swiftly and precisely captured by Ahmad Zakii Anwar. Traditional Balinese dancers learn the craft as children from their mothers as soon as they are born, in the womb they are played the Balinese music and are taught to dance with their hands before they can walk. The provenance of this piece is clearly specified on the drawing indicating an unbroken chain from the artist to the owner.
A graduate of Graphic Design from the Mara Institute of Technology in 1977, Ahmad Zakii Anwar left his successful advertising career in pursuit of becoming a full-time artist. He came to attention with his virtuosity and command of a spectrum of media from charcoals to oils, building a reputation for stunning photorealistic still-life paintings and expressive portraits making him a master of Urban Realism. His career milestones were noted in 2007 when he joined the premier ranks in the artist’s workshop project at the Singapore Tyler Print Institute and a mid-career survey exhibition Disclosure held at Galeri Petronas, Kuala Lumpur in 2008. He has had a number of notable exhibitions abroad such as Bones and Sinews, Andrewshire Gallery (USA, 2011), Kota Sunyi, C.P. Art Space (Indonesia, 2007), Shadowland, Plum Blossoms Gallery (Hong Kong, 2001) and Presence, Barbara Greene Fine Art (USA, 1999). He participated in an artist residency program hosted by Baik Art in Jeju Island, Korea in October 2013.