LOT 7
KHALIL IBRAHIM
B. Kelantan, 1934 – 2018
Malay Boy (Kelantanese)
Signed “Khalil Ib” on lower left
Batik
51 x 39.5 cm
Provenance Private Collection, Canada
Khalil Ibrahim is indeed a legendary icon in the Malaysian art scene. Humans and the rural Malaysia has always influenced his artworks, having created many iconic images of men and women in the East Coast Malay fishing villages. The artist’s obsession with human figures continues with this portrait of a Kelantanese Malay boy. This portrait features batik painting – a traditional method to stain cloth – once again paying homage to the Malay culture. The young East Coast boy with brown skin, and his head wrapped in a turban of Batik cloth, captures the essence of Malayness and rural living in Malaysia.