Private collection, Penang; acquired directly from the artist
Description
This is one of the most iconic of Piyadasa’s Malaysian Series started in 1982, in a dramatic turn from his anti-figurative stance when he thrived on the cerebral nature of his Conceptual Art which included Towards A Mystical Reality in 1974 with Sulaiman Esa. Appropriating old photographs which he remastered (manipulated half-tone bromides) and ornamented with silkscreen and psychedelic strips of paper and fabric, Piyadasa poses questions of identity, heritage, tradition and change in the Malaysian multiracial matrix. Using this pictorial template, he had made several versions of collage and in slightly varying sizes, including one in larger format called Malay Serenade.