c u lt u r a l m e d a l l i o n
2020
Sark asi Said
Sarkasi bin Said (1940–2021), better known as Tzee, was a Singaporean batik painter known for his unconventional waxresisting technique, bold use of colours and depictions of nature. By employing abstract and modern techniques, Sarkasi portrays vibrant and intricate decorative elements in his works. Dedicated to his artistic pursuit for almost 60 years, Sarkasi is regarded by many Singapore visual artists as the pioneer of local batik paintings. His interest in art was sparked at age five or six by a gift from his grandfather for his birthday – a toy aeroplane made without the use of nails. At 16, he dropped out of Beatty Secondary School to pursue his interest in art. He cycled around Singapore, painting and selling landscape works. He knew about batik from young because his grandmother earned extra income from selling batik cloth. However, it was only after he became aware of the use of batik techniques in the paintings of foreign artists that a more serious interest in batik took root. Batik was part of his Javanese heritage. Sarkasi travelled extensively in the region, visiting Karang Malang, Yogyakarta, Indonesia, his grandparents’ hometown and a batik manufacturing centre. A self-taught artist, he had always been eager to learn from the masters. He studied with the famous Indonesian batik painter, Pak Aznam Effendy, at Yayasan Akademi Senipura Nasional in Jakarta, Indonesia. As a batik painter of international renown, Sarkasi held exhibitions in many countries including Brunei, France, Indonesia, Japan, the Philippines and the United States of America (USA). His works have been displayed in the homes or offices of prominent figures, including the Sultan of Brunei, across the world. Likewise, his batik paintings have graced the halls of local hospitals, government and embassy offices, and the Istana. In addition, many Singapore leaders have worn batik shirts designed by him. In May 2003, Sarkasi created a 103-metre long work, the world’s longest batik painting, achieving a Guinness World Record.
Student visits to ‘Always Moving’: The Batik Art of Sarkasi Said, NUS Museum, 2017
Sarkasi served on several committees as a board member, such as the Malay Heritage Centre Committee (1992–1995), the National Arts Council’s (NAC) Arts Advisory Panel (1992–1998), Singapore’s Modern Art Society (1995–1998) and the NAC Council (2006– 2008). He promoted awareness of batik through workshops at the Malay Heritage Centre, mentored many young artists and served as an external examiner and adviser in art schools. He also donated many of his paintings to charitable organisations and taught art, as a volunteer, in Changi Prison, Sembawang Drug Rehabilitation Centre and Jamiyah’s Children Home.
Photo courtesy of NUS Museum
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Sark asi Said: Batik as a Way of Life by Syed Muhammad Hafiz
Sarkasi Said’s name is synonymous with the development of batik in Singapore’s art history. Known for his unconventional wax-resisting technique, use of bold and vibrant colours and depictions of nature in his work, his dedication to his art practice had endeared him to the wider community. His contributions to Singapore’s cultural landscape over the years included serving as a board member on various committees such as the Malay Heritage Centre, National Arts Council and the Modern Art Society, as well as setting a Guinness World Record for the world’s longest batik painting with a 103.9-metre-long batik artwork. To begin an appreciation of Sarkasi’s art practice, one has to understand not only his mode of working but also how the nascent art world during the post-war period made an impact on his thoughts. His journey led him to eventually carve a name for himself among his artistic peers. Born on 27 March 1940 to Said Bin Haji Abdul Razak and Suminah Binte Sarpan, Sarkasi grew up at 8 Gentle Road in the village of Kampung Pasiran. Both his parents were Javanese immigrants from Indonesia. They divorced when Sarkasi was very young. He and his elder sister were then raised by their paternal grandparents, Haji Mukayat and Hajjah Suriati. Growing up, Sarkasi was pretty much left to his own devices. His grandfather worked as a builder, spending most of his time at construction sites while his grandmother went around villages, hawking batik textiles. Sarkasi would occasionally tag along with his grandmother during these trips, and it was this early exposure to batik textiles and his grandmother’s clients that shaped his worldview on the role of batik— both as a means to earn a living and as something useful and present in daily life. Sarkasi started his education at Sekolah Melayu Tanglin Tinggi, a Malaystream primary school. Walking barefoot from his village, he enjoyed
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school and had fond recollections of his early exposure to the arts. For music lessons, students were taught how to play the violin, and for drawing classes, they had the late Mr Sulaiman Suhaimi as their teacher. Usually remembered as Cikgu Sulaiman, he was one of the early Malay artists in Singapore to make an impression on Sarkasi.1 The artist had said:
I was enthralled by nature and the late Cikgu Sulaiman showed me how to develop this interest as I was only painting trees at that time. Some trees were short and some trees were reaching for the skies. Why is that so? It is because they need more sunlight and better air to grow healthier. Hence, I became more attuned to the natural world and adopted the same attitude in life – I needed to carve my own way. 2
Sarkasi Said Tzee ‘Fish’ 1978 Batik, 101 x 83 cm Collection of National Gallery Singapore Photo courtesy of National Heritage Board
It was this independent spirit that saw Sarkasi “growing up in the streets,” literally. In his early teens he was already juggling odd jobs while attending school. He would also spend much of his time at public gardens like the Singapore Botanic Gardens and Kian Kee Gardens (near presentday Newton Centre), usually immersed in drawing and sketching. Subsequently, he would spend his nights sleeping at one of the warung (food stalls) in his village. Sarkasi’s belief in the generosity of society, coupled with his modest lifestyle, can be traced to these early influences. Living it rough in the streets may seem an unconventional lifestyle for most people, but it was his way of living since young. Sarkasi’s path to art had also been unconventional. The Singapore art world from the 1950s to the 1960s was an eventful period. Societies and affiliations were being forged across the various ethnic communities at the dawn of national independence, and cultural activities flourished – as part of the “hearts and minds” strategy – amid active surveillance across the Malay Peninsula. 3 Alongside British patronage, there were also influential expatriates like Donald Moore and Frank Sullivan who were actively promoting various aspects of Malayan culture.4 The former also managed a gallery in Singapore where artists could sell their works, and it is interesting to note that Sarkasi recalled having sold some of his works there as a teenager. 5 Sakarsi’s batik pursuit was thus against a lively discourse on Malayan identity at that time, specifically questions about how and what did Malayan art looked like. Batik continued as a niche within the fine art world even as many artists across the peninsula started to adopt the technique with renewed vigour.
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While batik seemed to be increasing in popularity in the Malayan art world, the 1960s was a challenging period for Sarkasi. Unable to pay for a formal education in an art academy, he could not tap on the affiliations or networks such an opportunity would have provided. In 1967, he started a family with Hajjah Salamah and during that time, it was still relatively unheard of for an artist to strike out on a full-time basis, even more so for an artist with a young family. Looking back:
Eldest son Ika recalls how his father had to rush to complete a painting for the money to buy groceries or their long-awaited bicycle. The children often had to be content with toys made by their father. 6
Sarkasi Said Tzee ‘Aspiration’ 1989 Batik, 63.7 x 63.7 cm Collection of National Gallery Singapore Photo courtesy of National Heritage Board
Sarkasi learnt what he could from his observations and the little contacts he had by visiting artists’ studios like those of Wee Beng Chong and Lim Yew Kuan, among others.7 He also spent his time and whatever little resources left, travelling across Malaysia and Indonesia, visiting batik craftsmen in obscure villages to deepen his knowledge about the batik medium. 8 In 1973, Sarkasi eventually had his first solo exhibition. Held at the Malay Art Gallery, then located along North Bridge Road, the exhibition, titled ‘Miniature Batik Paintings,’ featured about 300 works of various sizes. It opened to rave reviews. His strong abstract works were praised by the media as most artists of that era would usually start off with the realist style. Besides the remarkable number of works on display, the exhibition also showcased Sarkasi’s dexterity with works across various media, beyond batik. Sarkasi’s rising status within the local art world was cemented when he was one of the 92 local artists selected for the inaugural exhibition of the National Museum Art Gallery (NMAG) in 1976.9 NMAG was the predecessor to the Singapore Art Museum and National Gallery Singapore, and the launch of this art gallery within the old National Museum of Singapore building was a momentous occasion for Singapore art. Unfortunately, none of Sarkasi’s works from his abovementioned solo exhibition are in public collections here and Sarkasi had no record of the collectors who bought his works in the early years; hence we are not able to see them today. Having said that, one surviving work from Sarkasi’s early abstract style had been acquired by the NMAG in the 1980s. This work was also selected for display in the 2015 opening exhibition, ‘Siapa Nama Kamu: Art in Singapore since the 19th Century,’ at the National Gallery Singapore’s permanent gallery for Singapore art.10 The 1980s witnessed a batik revival of sorts culminating in the search for the “Singapore Dress,” a nation-wide search organised by the National
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Trades Union Congress.11 Batik became fashionable again for the general public in Singapore, especially those adorned with Singapore’s national flower— the orchid. Though Sarkasi did not win the nation-wide contest, his art practice and sustained engagement with both the orchid motif and the batik medium was thrust onto the national limelight. Sarkasi’s abstract and stylised floral compositions had struck a chord with the public:
Sarkasi Said Tzee ‘Voices of the Soul’ Undated Batik, 77 x 111 cm Gift of the artist Collection of National Gallery Singapore
My whole idea is to use traditional batik techniques in a Singaporean context, with a contemporary approach and with a little abstract and modern technique. That’s how it reflects what we are: a new nation. By combining the influence of different ethnic backgrounds, we can, hopefully, come up with something we can call our own.12
Photo courtesy of National Heritage Board
In recent years, Sarkasi’s contributions to the promotion of local batik were evident during national events like the annual National Day Parade. Local dignitaries like the Singapore Prime Minister and other public figures had commissioned him for their batik-inspired shirts, giving both the artist and the medium international visibility when these events were televised, or when these shirts were worn during diplomatic visits overseas.13 Sarkasi continued developing his abstract batik style into newer directions throughout the 1980s and 1990s. His compositions became more complex while at the same time, retaining the dynamic movement that compel viewers to appreciate their energy. Examples of his work from this period are ‘Aspiration’ and ‘Voices of the Soul.’ In a solo exhibition, ‘Introspection,’ which was held at NMAG in 1991, the eminent art historian T.K. Sabapathy described Sarkasi’s works from the period as such:
Fragmented, patterned shapes overlap and penetrate one another; at times they integrate at the surface plane and produce powerful vortices of movement.14 While his subject matter did not venture far from scenes inspired by natural landscapes or nature, Sarkasi’s insistence on the use of the ‘canting,’ the pen-like applicator used to apply the wax to the cloth, to produce his batik paintings, defines his identity as a batik artist. Since he first learned to use the ‘canting’ in his mid-20s in a village in Indonesia,
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his mastery of its application marks his identity as a batik artist and can also be seen as a tribute to how traditional batik textiles are produced. It is this unique ability to combine traditional craftsmanship and fine art sensibilities that makes his abstract works compelling even in our contemporary environment, as showcased in his most recent solo exhibition ‘Always Moving,’ held at the National University of Singapore Museum in 2017.15
Sarkasi in front of ‘View of Life’, located at Serangoon MRT Station Photo courtesy of LTA
1 ‘Our Pioneer Artists: Malay Visual Art Practices from Post-War Period,’ Angkatan Pelukis Aneka Daya (Singapore: 2013), p. 37. 2 Author’s translation from original interview text in Malay. Mohamed Noh Daipi and Rahmat Subadah, ‘Bicara Budiman: Sarkasi Said,’ Malay Language Centre, Ministry of Education (Singapore: 2020), p. 17. 3 Beamish, Tony, ‘Art Exhibitions in the Federation of Malaya’ in ‘The Singapore Artist: Journal of the Singapore Art Society’ Vol 1, No. 2, Dec 1954, p. 24. 4 T.N. Harper, ‘The End of Empire and the Making of Malaya,’ Cambridge University Press (Cambridge, UK, New York: 1999), p. 275. Frank Sullivan was the press secretary to Malaysia’s first Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman during this period. He was also an influential collector and staunch supporter of Malayan artists. In 1967, he opened Malaysia’s first commercial art gallery, known as Samat Gallery. 5 Mohamed Noh Daipi and Rahmat Subadah, ‘Bicara Budiman: Sarkasi Said,’ Malay Language Centre, Ministry of Education (Singapore: 2020), p. 20. 6 ‘Lyrics in Wax,’ Tzee Creation Pte Ltd (Singapore: 1997), p. 41. 7
Ibid, 33.
8
Ibid, 35.
9 ‘National Museum Art Gallery Official Opening,’ Ministry of Culture (Singapore: 1976), unpaginated. 10 Low Sze Wee (ed.), ‘Siapa Nama Kamu? Art in Singapore Since the 19th Century,’ National Gallery Singapore (Singapore: 2015), p. 268. 11 ‘4 designs for ‘Singapore dress’, ‘The New Paper, 8 Sept 1989. 12 Ibid, 39. 13 Mohamed Noh Daipi and Rahmat Subadah, Bicara Budiman: Sarkasi Said, (Singapore: Malay Language Centre, Ministry of Education, 2020), p.75. 14 Introspection, (Singapore: Tzee Creation Pte Ltd, 1991), unpaginated. 15 ‘Always Moving’: Batik Art of Sarkasi Said, (Singapore: NUS Museum, 2017).
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Featuring 11 batik works dating from the 1990s, these works could be said to summarise Sarkasi’s evolution as a batik artist. The exuberant colours in the abstract compositions remind us of his childhood days spent in the public parks, where nature provided and continued to serve as his main artistic inspiration. Reflecting the slogan of “batik as aspiration and prayers,” he created a nine-panel work titled ‘View of Life,’ which was re-produced as an 18-panel print-on-glass mural for the Serangoon MRT station – a commission by the Land Transport Authority. For an artist who had always attempted to bridge his art, not just to his daily surroundings but also across the whole spectrum of society before his passing on 14 October 2021 at the age of 81, this can be seen as his ultimate tribute to Singapore.
Syed Muhammad Hafiz was previously a researcher with the Singapore Art Museum and among the inaugural group of curators with National Gallery Singapore. As an independent curator, he has curated exhibitions for galleries in Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia. He is currently a Curatorial Fellow with the Malay Heritage Centre and a PhD candidate with the National University of Singapore.
words of appreciation To President Halimah Yacob, Members of Parliament, Minister Edwin Tong, Cultural Medallion panel members, my nominator, and Jamiyah Singapore: I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude for your kind support and appreciation. I feel very honoured and encouraged by the award. I am thankful for the appreciation and the Cultural Medallion. To Minister Edwin Tong, I would like to say a personal thank you for your support and encouragement to the younger generation in their arts education. I am also grateful to the museums and institutions that have supported my art practice; the curators and writers who have written about my works; and the collectors and institutions who have bought my works in support of my art practice. My journey as a batik artist is to make people aware about the value of learning, and that gives me my sense of purpose. I wish to thank my friends for their support and appreciation, especially Yatiman Yusof, Zainul Abidin, and Hawazi Daipi. Without them, I would not be where I am now. I would like to thank my family—my wife and my children, Ika, Illya, Indra, and Imelda—to whom I owe my tremendous gratitude as they have had to deal with my unstable income situation as a freelance artist. Despite the hardship, they have always been there for me.
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