Mid & Late Islamic Period

Mid- Islamic Period: Spiritual Awakening

Upon returning home after pursuing his Ph.D. in Islamic studies at Temple University, under the tutelage of world-renowned Muslim scholars such as S.H. Nasr, Ismail and Lamnya Faruqi, M. Ayoub, to name a few, Sulaiman’s preoccupation with Islamicity accelerated not only in producing art but also writing on contemporary Islamic art of Malaysia. It was a spiritual awakening to him. Most of his work created in the 1990s revolve in his interpretation of the deep nostalgia for paradise reflected in ‘the other world beauty,’ an influence from Sufism. The ‘garden mystery’ series developed soon after. For example in his Garden of Mystery series, he represents the symbolic space of carpet with all the inherent intimations of expansion, ascension, of man’s essential being in time and space.  Apart from Garden of Mystery series, he also produced works which reflect the world of nature as a sacred symbol – a sign of God, presented through symbols and stylized abstract designs entitled Alam dan Alamat (Symbols in Nature) series (Rajah, 2001).

Late Islamic Period: Universal Values of Islam (2002-Now)

The concept of tauhid for Sulaiman is not only the recognition of the oneness of God, but also implies of the subordination of power, wealth and individuals to the unifying principles of society. In order to develop a spiritually matured society, with resilience to face the vagaries of the future, our people must be more open in taking challenges brought by differences in worshipping God. The time has come for Muslim community to open up and study the teachings of the Qur’an as Islam opposes to sectarianism and encourages the quest for common principles by a love for God and humanity. In a multi-cultural society like Malaysia there is a critical need to stay united and live in harmony.In this period, Sulaiman embarked in multicultural art as in Qur’an teaching, surah al-Hujarat verse: 13, which calls for believers to respect and celebrate when there are differences as well as similarities. Such concept can be discerned in his Convergence and Divergence series in which icons and symbols from various religious beliefs are systematically composed on the theme of unity. As the great Sufi sage Jalaludin al-Rumi maintains that:

References

• Coombes, H. 1995. “ The Islamic spirit: Social orientations in contemporary Islamic art. In Art and Spirituality: Kuala Lumpur: NAG.
• Lovell, J. 2004. Malay artists and the Malaysian National Congress: Three case studies. A Degree thesis, ANU, Australia.
• Rajah, N. 2002. Insyirah: The art of Sulaiman Esa from 1980-2000. Kuala Lumpur: Galeri Petronas.
• Sanusi, K. 2016. “Encountering globalisation: Works of Sulaiman Esa from 1950s – 2011.” Paper for International Conference on Islamic Architecture and Art, Valencia, Spain, 17-19 May 2016.
• Sanusi, K. & Ahmad, F. 2010. From the periphery to the Centre: The social significance of Sulaiman Esa’s work from 1950’s – 2007. Shah Alam: UiTM.
• Sabapathy & Piyadasa, 1983. Modern artists of Malaysia. Kuala Lumpur: DBP.