About Sulaiman Esa

Contemporary art work from Eastern regions since the last few decades have shown strong inclination to either producing contemporary interpretations of their indigenous tradition or their response to everyday reality of their social environment. As such, art in the East is specifically spiritually oriented that played significant social roles in achieving felicity in worldly matters as well as in the Hereafter.

Unlike in secular West, which espouses the “pure” uncontaminated life view of art, Eastern tradition on the other hand, views art at mutually integrated with life. It has, since time immemorial, been one of the most effective vehicles in transforming religion and spiritual beliefs in various societies in the East. The ubiquitous decorative motifs and symbols on utilitarian objects in the Asians’ everyday life activities are but meaningful visual reminders deeply entrenched with their spiritual and religious beliefs. They are visual embodiments of commonly shared collective values of a community passed on from many generations.

In the Post-colonial era, traditional aesthetic approach is challenged due to global phenomenon. Critical analysis on non-Western art can no longer be discussed purely from Western perspective. As posits by Edward Said, a western presentation of work from non-western culture is no longer possible. This is because non-western art has been historically and persistently constructed from ethnocentric terms – cultural concerns, collectively practiced ethos by the respective ethnic group.

In the development of contemporary Malaysian art, there is an artist who has been persistently consistent in producing works inspired by his Malay Islamic aesthetic traditions for more than four decades. His main contention is not only sustaining his deeply-rooted religious tradition but most significantly, is to strike a symbiosis balance between globalisation and his own cultural heritage, drawing on Islamic spirituality in developing an alternative paradigm, in the development of contemporary Islamic art in the Southeast Asian region (Sanusi, 2016).

The artist is Sulaiman Esa.

Through his art, Sulaiman has shown us how the sacred and the profane can co-exist with modernism and nationalism in contemporary socio-political, ethical and spiritual concerns (Raja'ah, 2001). Who is this artist? Where did he come from? Who influence his thoughts? Why does he always explore the unbeaten paths? Perhaps, the following narratives may provide answers to these questions, but first, let us take a look at his formative years briefly, which may have had exerted much influence later in his artistic life.