Gravitate by Ruzzeki Harris

Hallucination of dementia.

After hours of hectic rough traffic in Jalan Ampang, I went heading towards the HOUSE OF MATAHATI right around the corner where I was supposed to meet a pleasant young artist by the name of Ruzzeki Harris known as Akie- the artist in residence. Browsing through the artworks I had few conversations with the artist and realize that the concept and idea depicts on social critic among teenagers and others in the side effect of drugs. The artist had experienced a journey of life surrounded by this mutual addiction among other communities. In attempting to straddle the social problem, he used the subject matter of himself as a conventional image to portray the dream in pictorial representation.

 Most of the figure is thrown into the dark side and fantasy during the dosage of drugs. Images are floating in space with an illogic composition and lucidity. Ruzzeki uses a few supporting images such as clouds, cubes, bubbles, moon, dove, rainbow, melting imagery to create the feeling of paranoid hallucination and horrific fantasy while a person is ‘high’. This can be seen in his first major works in this exhibition. The concept and execution lies in the implication of the intensity of color experience in muddy areas and the backstreets. This is particularly so in portrait of himself. 

The artist prefers to work from his photographs rather than from life smeared paint texture, with which he evokes the face of reminiscent and floating figures to create tension. Favorite images have included his portrait in reclining position and sitting position, sometimes depicted transforming or exaggerated figures. He produced obsessional figures in which detailed reality is suddenly transformed into different, intricate, and disturbing images. Also, the artist experimented mixed media techniques influence by the natural environment and found objects such as, metal aluminum plates with a serendipity texture and textured wrappers.  In handling of paint, the artist used red color in the painting which gives movement to the pictures and used them in several areas so that our eyes keep moving and the color creates the energy of heat.

Throughout the composition of his paintings, Ruzzeki created tension between figure and space that force together in supporting one another. Being strongly influenced by Salvador Dali, the surrealist western artist, the space in his paintings instinctively manipulated in certain devices which created an intuitive ambience. There were even few paintings that were submerged by the architectural building of Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre known as KLCC. His experience of the stated view of KLCC was an environmental influence from the second floor of the MATAHATI studio. Impressive catchy words such as “1st Grade” in his miniature installation paintings raise several questions to the audience as to whether the artist meant for the “1st Grade school children’s” or as the “1st grade drug quality”? Most of Ruzzeki’s metaphor left questions and unanswered. 

Ruzzeki’s artworks created emotional feelings by the viewers and this is evidenced by the surface effects of dripping ‘bitumen’, gestured effects of oil paints, textured pigments and solid opacity. These effects resemble mosses on the walls along the filthy, muddy streets of Kuala Lumpur and other places. The psychoanalytic association of emotion by the artist covers a vast range of experiences, from truth to power, from anger to irritated, and congested to sadness. He foresaw a coming era of reason, tolerance and humanity. Metaphoric images exploited by Ruzzeki in his paintings are a true world which finally became a fable.

By  Rina Shukor, 2008


Artwork

Bagai Bintang Di Pagar Bulan
188 x 262cm 
(2 panels)Mixed media on canvas
2008


 brain study no.3
93.5 x 98 x 12.5cm
Mixed media on wood panels
2008


Diving
131 x 198cm
Mixed media on canvas
2008


Im A Valcano
Mixed media on canvas
151 x 131cm
2008


Im Coming To You My Love
Oil & acrylic on canvas
221 x 131cm
2008


Magic Carpet Ride
131 x 188cm
Mixed media on canvas
2008


Man Made Pills
197 x 131cm
Mixed media on canvas
2008


Panjang Tangan
188 x 131cm
media on canvas
2008


Shooting Brain
Mixed media on canvas
131 x 130cm
2008


Stoen Meditation
Mixed media on canvas
230x 131cm
2008


 Success With Flying Colours
Mixed media on canvas
221 x 131cm
2008


 The Archangel
137 x 131cm
Mixed media on canvas
2008


 The Camouflage
137 x 131cm
Mixed media on canvas
2008


 The Cubicle Atmosphere
mixed media on canvas
214 x 131cm
2008


Try Me I Can Transform
198 x 131cm
Mixed media on canvas
2008


 Vaporize By The Moon
mixed media on canvas
214 x 131cm
2008


Wow I Can See Everybody
Mixed media on canvas
137 x 131cm
2008



brain study no.1
105 x 55cm
Mixed media on metal sheet
2008


Distrubia
214 x 140cm
Mixed media on metal sheet
2008


brain study no.2.jpg
100 x 61cm
Mixed media on metal sheet
2008


Opening Night