What drives us to create? Ask this simple question to a group of artists, and you’ll receive a diverse set of answers. For some, art is created for the pleasure of it, or to lend others a voice. Art is also created as a means of assembling fragments of thoughts, feelings and memories into a cohesive vision. There are also those who seek to find themselves, or build bridges with the rest of humanity through the art-making process. And last, but not least, there are those who create art to convey things or narratives that cannot be expressed in anyother way. In Zulkifli’s work, it is clear that he does not impose a narrative to connect with his audience on a personal level. Instead, he chooses to present the non-objective or non-representational, leaving the work completely open to interpretation. But the question is, why? Why does he not feel the need to convey a specific storyline? Perhaps to answer this, we need only revisit Corbusier’s idea that, “The value of a painting derives from the intrinsic qualities of plastic elements and not from their representational or narrativepotential”. However, it is important to note that the lack of narration does not equate the lack of meaning. In Zulkifli’s artwork, stylistic characteristics, formal strategies, embedded patterns, subtle colour tones, elicit immediate and honest emotional responses. Embracing tradition and mordernity When asked why he creates art, Zulkifli replies simply, “To seek and share value.” He goes on to explain that it doesn’t really matter what ‘value’ is shared. It could be cultural, religious, philosophical, political, or simply the value of a beautiful thing he discovered. You are free to take away any value you perceive, or that resonates within you. Having said that, however, this essay will take you through the underlying aesthetic philosophies that are embodied in his work. Aesthetics, or the principles and appreciation of beauty and artistic taste, plays a big role in our daily lives. In short, we gravitate towards the things that are pleasing to look at. As one who always seeks value in everything he sees, Zulkifli sees value and beauty in things that we wouldn’t normally consider beautiful or banal. If we look back at Zulkifli’s earlier work, we can see that he has always used unconventional media as his medium. In the bodies of his work before this series, he used rust or corrosion as his main medium and subject matter. In the current body of work, he uses things found in nature, such as dirt, soil, limestone, sand, leaves and more to create his art. In comparing both series, one thing is certain, there is consistency of his interest to explore the relationship of personalised and impersonalised forms, as well as the language of materials. Due to the way formalcharacteristics are expressed in his work, one might consider his works as heavily influenced by Western or external modern art ideas. The directness of material and monotonous patterns found in Zulkifli’s work may also draw comparisons to the Zero and Nul movements of the 1960s. In addition, his economic approach of art elements and subtle contrast of colours may be interpreted as being minimalist. There are also some parallels between the physical aesthetics of his work and Eastern artistic styles, such as Dansaekhwa (Korea) and Monoha (Japan), particularly in their meditative quality and repetitive elements. But this comes as no surprise, as Zulkifli’s subtle embrace of elements from foreign artistic genres reminds us that Malaysian arts and culture has never been practised in isolation. Much like a living organism, our artistic traditions have, for centuries, been enriched by influences, materials and technologies of various other civilisations. However, upon closer examination, it is evident that his works are not simply derivative of external ideas. There are intrinsic differences, as Zulkifli’s work is inextricably linked to his own experiences, cultural background and faith. Zulkifli’s approach has arisen from a strong sense of belonging to his roots. We can say that this aligns with the spirit of the seminal National Cultural Congress in the 1970s, which has often been described as a ‘turning point’ in the growth and development of Malaysian art. The purpose of the Congress was to harness the power of culture in fostering unity and social integration among Malaysia’s multicultural society. It was during this time that local artists began reevaluating Western-centric art and decolonised their artistic approach. As Prof Mohamed Ali Abdul Rahman cited, “The process of creation in Malay art forms is influenced by its religion, cultural values, community, history and customs. It is not instilled as something separate from its environment.” In his works, Zulkifli bridges his modern painting practices by an introspective methodology that has its origins in Islamic aesthetic philosophy, called Nazzariyah, as well as the formalistic values of Malay art. The Nazzariyahsaniyyah and Illahiyyah. Tabiat can briefly be explained as the beauty of nature that exists outside the control of humans. Meanwhile, Riyaziyyah discusses the beauty that exists in geometric forms and numbers. Insanniyah talks about the beauty of humans and Illahiyyah is about the beauty of God, the one that created it all. All these ideas can be found by analysing the process and formal strategies in his works. Materiality of nature The relationship between man and nature is a subject that many an artist has pondered on, perhaps since the beginning of time. Some artforms depict man as the centre of the universe, others depict the impact that man has had on the natural world. In building his theory, Syed Ahmad Jamal clarified briefly on the Malay art form concept. For him, the Malay art form is the creation of the soul that inspired it, which mirrors the harmony of man with nature. Normally, in Malay and Islamic art, when figures from nature are used, they are subjected to denaturalisation and stylisation. The same theory is echoed in Zulkifli works. However, as opposed to traditional methodology, nature is not presented in his work in a stylised, denaturalised or mimetic form. Instead, he directly uses the materials from nature as his medium and subject, thus borrowing from the ready-made or found-object notion of Western art ideas. In his work, nature is presented using the materiality of his medium. Using organic materials directly found in nature, such as soil, limestone, sand, mud and leaves, he engages himself with the physicality, visual properties and phenomenological aspects of the chosen materials. Furthermore, he aims to represent the processes that impact it, developing pure plastic means via scientific translation of reality. Nature exists in his work not as an illusion or imitation, but rather the real thing itself. For instance, the colours of the work are the natural colours of the real soil he found and used to make pigments that he painted onto the surface of his work. It is not some form of mimesis or colour that he made up by adding other materials to mimic it. Retaining the natural character of his medium has been the main focus; this act emphasises the pure and natural beauty of the materials. Order and chance Visually, his work is made up of geometric patterns, taking his reference from traditional Malay and Islamic design. Generally, the work is composed based on six basic formal characteristics of the aesthetic expression of Tawhid, as discussed by the late Ismail and Lamya’ al Faruqi, which are: Abstraction, modular structure, successive combination, repetition, dynamism and intricacy. Such formal values are normally found in traditional Islamic and Malay art. The patterns are composed without an element of focality, with no end and no beginning, portraying ideation of infinity, which alludes to the Almighty. However, rather than repeating known traditional motifs to represent this traditional idea, he designs his own repetitive patterns that somehow reflect the contemporary environment he is living. In addition, the principles of unity play an important role in his design, perhaps conveying the same concept of unity that can be traced in the Malay Seloka that explain the concept of traditional ornamental motifs, namely Awan Larat, below; “Awan larat berjunjung tinggi Berangkai bersambung panjang Panjang tidak ada hujungnya Kalau genting tidak memutus Kalau patah tidak bercerai Kalau habis tidakkan punah” Meandering cloud is highly revered intertwined and continuous in length Its length is without an ending If intense, it will not break off If broken, it will not fall apart If finished, it will not be destroyed The geometric forms in Zulkifli’s work reflects the ideation of the Riyaziyyah philosophy, and the order of it also express a precise and logical ordering of thought about space arising from human experience, which can relate to the Insaniyyah philosophy too. The pattern structures in his works are generally built by modular structures that use simple combinations of diagonal, horizontal and vertical lines. These structures are systematically arranged by means of mathematical order. Mostly, the structures appears strict, perfectly ruled and controlled, but some parts are left imperfect and freed. This tells us that in his work process, rather than striving for total control, he embraces changes and chances. In nature’s order, much is arranged by chance, and it has its own laws. Materials that form the pattern are left to the elements or their own devices. Here, natural phenomena replaces composition. The marks created by chance deform or transform the images created by the artist and vice versa. This supports the idea of impersonality, where he as an artist submits part of the image-making to chance. He chooses not to choose. By injecting the joy of accidental beauty created by natural phenomena, his patterns do not appear too mechanical and looks more casual. The geometric forms can be interpreted as “man’s action,” while marks of imperfection created by the element of chance are “nature’s action”. The interposing of both intuitive acts of the artist and natural behaviour of his chosen medium juxtaposes the balance between both elements. In this way, he captures the relationship of beauty and harmony between man and nature. The interlocking of all three aesthetics of Tabiat, Riyaziyyah and Insaniyyah in his approach is an allusion of the Islamic spirit and remembrance of God, who created it all. This presents the beauty of Illahiyah, the final part of aesthetic beauty that forms the Nazzariyyah philosophy. Toward everchanging times In the challenging new era of globalisation, different cultures and ideas will always cross paths with each other, creating ever-changing definitions of art as a vehicle of cultural values. Zulkifli’s work shows that the essense of ideas or philosophies within traditional art forms can also be conveyed in non-traditional forms. He opens up a new perspective on how art, culture and nature can connect through a symbiosis of traditional and contemporary ideas. He also shows that art and cultural values can exist in fluidity and not a rigid form, enriching and strengthening one another. Bibliography: Al’Faruqi, I. and Lamya’, L. The Cultural Atlas of Islam. New York: Macmillan, 1986 Tenas Effendy, Ungkapan Tradisional Melayu Riau. Kuala Lumpur: Dewan Bahasa dan pustaka, 1989 Syed Ahmad Jamal, Rupa Dan Jiwa, Kuala Lumpur: Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka, 1992 Muliyadi Mahmood, Sulaiman Esa, Manifestesi Jiwa Islam Dalam Senirupa Malaysia Sezaman: Katalog pameran. 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