The artist begins our interview by apologising profusely, saying, “I’m late. Do forgive me. I should respect your timing.” In an industry where keeping to appointments at a planned time have become increasingly ‘just an idea’, this was unexpected, setting the course for one of those talks which I’ll remember for a long time to come.
And he arrives bearing a gift of plants: a bird-nest fern embedded in one of his father’s old work boots and a Katana-blade-sharp pineapple shrub. I had visited him a week earlier at his studio, Dusun Seni in Hulu Langat and marvelled at the vast foliage surrounding his house. I had stood staring at a bird-nest fern thinking how lovely it would look on my barren balcony. The pineapple plant has attempted to kill me twice since her arrival, but that’s the paradox about most things beautiful — they are lethal but it makes you want them even more.
In his previous solo at Vallette Gallery entitled Hidden: Treasures of a Natural World, Faizal Suhif utilised themes of nature as an allegory for the human condition. They comprised canvases of fertile lands, not unlike us. We are born, we become adults, get married, have children and when the time comes, we are returned to the Earth. “The show was a kind of homage to my father who raised us with income earned by his carpentry and gardening skills. We have a palm oil and rubber plantation in Muar, Johor where I grew up, and my father often compared life to vegetation: that it is brief,” he says.
His current works do not stray far. Faizal has of course expanded on his existing themes, and in his upcoming September show, we will get to see a ‘live installation’. We’ll not ruin the surprise but suffice to say it will involve watching life bloom before our very eyes.
MAKING OF AN ARTIST
His parents wanted their son to become an educator but Faizal had different aspirations. Scribbling graffiti on the walls of his house was a thing he relished. He had a gift and he meant to use it in any way possible. After concluding his secondary education, his art teacher, UiTM (Universiti Teknologi MARA) alumni Miznah Juki, introduced Faizal to her cousin who helmed the art group Persatuan Pelukis Seni Warisan Muar.
The group comprised many seasoned artists who have been in the industry for a long time. This was the perfect platform for the young and ambitious Faizal or Boy Suhif, a moniker he’s known by in the art circles. He soon became a member of the UiTM fraternity in Melaka — his entry in great part strengthened by an endorsement letter from the arts group.
“It was then I discovered that the art world was vast, and there was a real opportunity I could earn a respectable income as an artist,” he says adding that because of his upbringing, most of his works are rooted in themes of nature, “that very essence of life which is so remarkable and frustrating at the same time.”
Along the years, Faizal has exhibited his works in various galleries, including G13 (he has a solo show slated for December) which has played an integral role in his career, at Wei-Ling as well Vallette Galleries. “It’s important to maintain good relationships and to respect the ones who have helped your career,” he says fondly of his stints at those galleries.
In his Hulu Langat studio, he shows initial studies of the final works for his September exhibition — sketches of seeds sprouting, the seed itself as he says, ‘... is the beginning of everything.’ In nature, the seed has but one simple resolve: to grow. On his canvases, the seed is painted in monochromatic hues, gentle curvatures and symmetrical forms.
The kernels in his paintings can be interpreted in many ways, be it personal, religious, political and cultural. He speaks of ‘raped’ lands, of reproduction and deterioration, pureness and promiscuity, love and suffering, corruption and loss. His once lush landscapes eventually decay — that ‘vanitas’ (emptiness) scenes signifying the momentary nature of all things living, the breakability of life and nationhood.
Who would have thought that a seemingly simple subject can evolve to be such a far-reaching event?
His studies of plant-life are intense, and although he looks unassuming and self-effacing, Faizal is anything but. His works challenge us to take a step back and partake in the joys of observation, of the simple act of looking. As part of the art residency group, Barehands helmed by artist extraordinaire Juhari Said, Faizal’s offering was a large scale homochromatic composition rendered in piercing detail, stemmed from a deep curiosity/ affinity of nature.
He is that constant gardener who reflects on all things heavy, transitory, delicate and deep. A poem perhaps, is in order in anticipation of his September offering. From English poet Christina Rosetti, What are Heavy:
What are heavy? Sea-sand and sorrow.
What are brief? To-day and to-morrow.
What are frail? Spring blossoms and youth
What are deep? The ocean and truth.
VALLETTE GALLERY
52 Jalan Doraisamy
The Row, 54-01-01, Kuala Lumpur
Tel: (+60)19 301 2569
