Kuala Lumpur - Judging by the long list of criticisms levelled at the National Art Gallery - located along Jalan Tun Razak, Kuala Lumpur - in recent years, its newly appointed director-general Dr Mohamed Najib Ahmad Dawa has his work cut out for him.
The keeper of the nation`s fine arts heritage has been slammed in the media by art lovers for a variety of reasons, among others, for not investing in the works of up-and-coming Malaysian contemporary artists; for failing to train critical writers among its pool of curators and for lacking strategy to improve its collections.
Yet Mohamed Najib is undaunted by the negative press. In fact, he considers serving the National Art Gallery as a great privilege.
"In my younger days, I was a street artist who painted at Central Market and Wisma Yakin in Jalan Masjid India. To arrive here (as director-general) from a street painter is a big honour for me," says the 54-year-old.
Mohamed Najib was first invited to serve the National Art Gallery in 2005.
"But at that time, I was committed to Universiti Sains Malaysia," says the former dean of USM`s Centre for Art Studies who, at the time, was needed in the university to execute several projects as stipulated in the Eighth Malaysia Plan (2001-2005).
As fate would have it, Mohamed Najib was diagnosed with cancer that same year. His illness would have prevented him from accepting the National Art Gallery`s offer.
Surviving 11 chemotherapy sessions and cancer has given Mohamed Najib a different perspective on life.
"When you are lying on a hospital bed unsure of what tomorrow has in store for you, you have a lot of time to reflect (on how you want to make the most of your life)," he says.
Beating cancer gave Mohamed Najib the confidence to tackle any challenges life brings him, including the colossal task of transforming the listless National Art Gallery into a vibrant institution.
Many in the art circle are counting on Mohamed Najib to restore the respect it commanded in the 1980s. They believe that his 17 years of experience in academia is just the tonic the gallery needs.
Farouk Khan, a private collector, says that the National Art Gallery has made some damaging mistakes in the recent past.
"Alhamdulillah, it has realised its mistakes. The new director-general (Mohamed Najib) is an artist and an academician who has had a hand in establishing USM`s art school. I think he is the perfect candidate for the job," adds Farouk, who together with his wife Aliya Akbar, has amassed 600 of the best of Malaysian contemporary art works.
Mohamed Najib started painting at a young age. However, his father - a religious teacher - was not very keen on his artistic ambitions.
"He didn`t see it as an area with good career prospects," says the third child of eight siblings.
When Mohamed Najib reached his 20s, the Pahang-born tried his luck as a street artist but quickly realised that - as his father had predicted - he had to struggle to make ends meet as a painter.
This was part of the reason why Mohamed Najib decided to become a teacher in Pahang.
Still, he never allowed teaching to interfere with his interest in arts and crafts, particularly batik painting.
"I used to own a small batik factory in Gombak. I have been promoting the craft abroad on my own over the years," says Mohamed Najib.
His latest batik exhibition overseas was held last year in Reunion Island - one of France`s 26 (foreign) regions - which is located in the Indian Ocean, east of Madagascar.
Mohamed Najib chose batik as a subject for his master`s degree and textile for his doctorate. He was also a judge for Piala Sri Endon Batik Fashion Award - a coveted title for Malaysian batik practitioners which offers a prize of RM30,000 and a trophy - for five consecutive years.
Running the National Art Gallery for the past three months has kept Mohamed Najib busy. Still he finds time to plan a solo exhibition next month at a private gallery in Penang.
"I had promised (the gallery) that I would (do so)," he adds.
Mohamed Najib pledges - "to the best of my ability" - to raise the National Art Gallery to a new level, a mission he had been preparing for since he reported for duty last December.
On his first day at work, Mohamed Najib presented to staff members his two-year plan for the gallery, among others, to engage the institution in more research and publications and organise activities that will bring it closer to the Malaysian public.
He believes that repositioning the National Art Gallery involves allowing it to grow intellectually.
"From now on, all exhibitions organised by the gallery will be accompanied by catalogues which will include photographs of the art works as well as their critical analyses. We want to move away from the regular concept of catalogues - which features only pictures of the art pieces - because the term catalogue itself has negative connotations. These days even supermarkets have catalogues so we have to redesign ours."
The National Art Gallery will soon produce a magazine, tentatively called Rupa (loosely translated as form), which is aimed at increasing the volume of periodicals published by the institution.
"We will invite academics, journalists and anyone who is interested in the arts to contribute to this magazine," he says, adding that it is a "thinking" publication rather than an academic one.
"More of our curators have to engage in critical writing so that the burden (of writing) is evenly distributed," he says.
Indeed, National Art Gallery employees have a lot on their plates from now until 2009.
Those involved in research are currently in the midst of collecting data for an overview of the Malaysian art industry.
"Hopefully by the end of the year, we can identify the Malaysian trend in expenditure on art," says Mohamed Najib.
Findings from this survey may be able to persuade the government to give tax exemption on local art works to encourage more Malaysians to buy.
"Let`s say an art work costs RM50,000. Perhaps a certain percentage of the price can be tax exempted. This will boost the morale amongst local artists. We may even be able to generate sustainable economy in the arts.
"Currently, most local contemporary artists are selling their masterpieces abroad.
"Malaysian art works have `travelled` to places such as Hong Kong to be auctioned. Local artists cannot resist the pull of the American dollar and we can`t blame them," says Mohamed Najib.
The success of this study hinges on feedback from all artists and galleries in Malaysia. But as many art galleries have not responded to the National Art Gallery`s call for cooperation, the study is progressing slowly.
On the other hand, Mohamed Najib`s plan to bring the National Art Gallery closer to the public is coming along nicely.
The gallery`s first major showcase this year titled Timeline - featuring roughly 3,800 works it has accumulated since its inception in 1958 - is on schedule.
The exhibition will kick-off this month with a collaboration between Bapa Jelan Asuh, an experienced woodcarver from Rumah Panjang Long Segahan (suku Kajang), Belaga, Sarawak and two young contemporary artists who will be his apprentices.
"He will carve out of a log a totem pole and the activity will take three months. Bapa Jelan will be assisted by the two apprentices. Hopefully by the end of the three months, the young artists will have learned a lot from the woodcarver," says Mohamed Najib.
This is part of the National Art Gallery`s effort to bridge the gap between traditional and contemporary art.
Once the totem pole, or klirieng, is completed, it will be displayed in the gallery.
"We will organise a public discourse to determine whether it is art or craft, traditional or contemporary. Proceedings from the discussion will be published later on."
The National Art Gallery`s biggest event yet for this year is the national conference on art history in May.
Mohamed Najib hopes that Malaysians will not miss the chance to participate in events organised by the gallery.
"The art works to be displayed at the Timeline exhibition, for instance, were bought with public funds or donated to us by individuals. So (the public is) encouraged to see and evaluate the art works for themselves."
Mohamed Najib says that the gallery`s 3,800 art works may seem little to some "as compared to the collection of certain art enthusiasts".
For example, Tai, owner of Dai-Ichi Art Gallery and a private art collector from Sungai Petani, Kedah has single-handedly garnered some 3,700 works of art.
"We are doing our best," says Mohamed Najib, alluding to criticisms that the gallery`s collections are scanty.
Mohamed Najib says that he takes all comments positively.
"They are constructive comments meant to help the gallery improve itself," he adds.
He sees no point in "making enemies" with the critics, many of whom are private collectors and his good friends. He prefers to collaborate with private collectors rather than compete with them.
That is why Mohamed Najib is proposing to revive Koleksi Saya (My Collection), an exhibition which allowed private collectors to reveal their collected works at the National Art Gallery in the 1960s. He intends to hold the exhibition at the end of the year.
"We will table a proposal for this exposition. (If it is accepted) the committee will then select the best candidates."
Meanwhile, Mohamed Najib is concentrating on the National Art Gallery`s outreach programme aimed at rural children.
"We have conducted programmes for schoolchildren for 40 years but most of them were targeted at children in the Klang Valley."
The pilot project saw digital photography being introduced to youngsters in Negri Sembilan who had never held a digital camera before.
"We wanted to know what they will do with a digital camera. The children took lots of pictures and we put together the pictures and taught them skills - from downloading pictures into the computer to editing the images. We let them explore using certain software and the result was amazing."
Mohamed Najib looks forward to the prospect of the National Art Gallery`s collections being exhibited overseas.
His only wish is for the research culture and outreach programmes to become part and parcel of the National Art Gallery by the time his contract expires in December next year.
"Once that happens, my job here is done," he says.
Source: www.nst.com.my (11 Maret 2008)
