Rasfan Abu Kassim
A Review by Miss Syefa of USM Penang
I am not familiar with reviewing artwork and here I am, typing away word per word on an artwork, a magnum opus of an amazing artist I've ever known and a close, virtual friend of mine. We knew each other through Myspace, thank god for technology!! Knowing him for a year is not enough. He is full of surprises. Once you thought you understand him well, he will surprise you with wonders and makes you question how far do you actually knew him. He is the kind of person that everybody loves to love. On how we met: One faithful day, he somehow found my Myspace account (I'm not sure how though. It's been a mystery right until this is posted) and he read through my blog postings and leaves me comment that prompt me to track down who is this fellow who tends to leave brilliant comment on my blog postings. You can say that I am GLAD I knew him. He is full of life and he's a very positive young man with extraordinary visions and goals in life. You might fall for him if you are not careful for he is such a sweet talker, but with a great big heart. Jangan marah Rasfan!
Rasfan Abu Kassim was born 25 years ago to a loving couple, Abu Kasim Manap and Rosnah Sitam (for you to fill in Rasfan!). He then grew up to be a person who is devoted to art and poetry. He enrolled in UiTM Shah Alam campus in 2001 and decided to take Fine Art as his path in leading his future undertakings. He graduated in 2004. However holding a diploma is not enough for Rasfan. His love for education triggers him to pursue his studies by enrolling again, in UiTM Shah Alam for Bachelor degree in Fine Art and graduated in 2007 with Honors Second Class (Upper). He is currently studying full time at Masters Degree level in UiTM Shah Alam, Selangor (again), majoring in Fine Art and Technology (Sculpture).
His participation in art related events are countless and his awards are stacked haphazardly in his room the same way as I stacked my immeasurable collections of Hot Gimmick manga and KLue magazines. Or so I imagined. He is also an apprentice for Mr. Saharrudin Supar, a Malaysian sculptor. He assisted in numerous of art events especially in UiTM Shah Alam, a place where he gains most of his remarkable experiences. Some of his prominent participation includes finalist for Nokia Upstart 2005 Fine Art Competition, participated and organized an art program 3hari 2malam at UBU, Bangsar Utama, participated in the Sculpture Design Competition in conjunction of the 10th year of the National Planetarium Kuala Lumpur. He was short listed finalist for the Art of Sculpture Competition organized by the Malaysian Handicraft Development Corporation, Ministry of Culture, Arts and Heritage Malaysia in 2007.
The particular sculpture that attained him a place among the finalists of the Art of Sculpture Competition is simply titled 5050. And I'm about to review it without any particular experiences in reviewing any sculpture. Gulp. Well, here goes nothing.
5050 Sculpture by Rasfan Abu Kassim
Basically, 5050 is made by the hands of Rasfan with Merdeka theme being engraved in his mind. 5050 is chosen as the title as our beloved country has just celebrated its 50th independence day last August. The base structure of the sculpture is triangle in shape, a mahameru concept as it is labeled by the artist. There are 3 parts of the sculpture, which tells the story of the masterpiece itself. We'll start with the first part, which is so obvious, and that is the bottom part. The one with the curves. This part is sculpted to look like a keris, a traditional Malay weapon used in the olden days. The keris signifies the struggle of the Malays for their endeavor and hardship they have gone through in order to achieve independence. The keris is directed downwards into the ground rather than aiming up where it seems to be a bit violent. (Well at least for me it looked a bit violent-lah..) The point of the keris is not visible as it is buried into the ground to signify that it will stay put in the ground and become the root of strength of the Malaysians instead of having the point of the keris upwards looking like it is ready to pierce into our body. It also indicates the brilliance of the Malay leader at that moment in attaining the independence through a nice peaceful discussion with the Brits.
The second part beside the keris buried point is consists of 5 platforms which resembles stairs. 5 small steps is being carved with the stairs is directed to the top. The 5 steps indicate the accomplishment that Malaysia has been through for the past 5 decades.
The top of the triangle, the third part of this artwork symbolizes the struggle to the top is getting harder by time. According to the artist, in the future, the effort to climb and put Malaysia on the top is getting harder and harder. More often than not, nothing gets easier and less complicated as the time goes by right? As you can see, the top of the sculpture is constructed steeply to represent the hardship to attain triumph in the future. Malaysia should set its vision high and instead of just relying on Vision 2020, we should set our vision for development and prosperity of Malaysia higher than that. Hence, the title 5050.
The artist is trying to picture the independence from different perspective. Now that we are coming closer to the Vision 2020 that Tun Dr Mahathir said would be the year that Malaysia have grown to be a fully developed country. Once we are in the year 2020, should we Malaysian just stop there, look around and be satisfied with everything that we have attained at that time? What the artist is, I believe, trying to convey in his work of art is that we should not stop progressing, we must move forward and set our target or goals for development higher than the previous ones. Development is a continuing process and should not be limited to a certain amount of time. Moving on to the sculpture itself, the fusion of the old element with the new element is nicely blended. Metal is used through the process of sculpting. I bet he gets bruises from molding the sculpture.
Overall, the artist effort in instilling the spirit of appreciating the past 50 years of independence and aiming to look forward instead of just being satisfied with what we had right now is pretty much clear in his masterpiece and his statements. This visionary artist should not be taken for granted, as I believe he is one of the successor in art field produced in present time with not only quality, but also integrity that will blow you away. Watch out for Rasfan Abu Kassim.
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