Lot 59 | Auction XXIII

LOT 59

RAFIEE GHANI
B. Kedah, 1962

By the Window, 1996

Signed “Rafiee Ghani” on lower right

Oil on canvas

66 x 83 cm

Provenance
Private Collection, Kuala Lumpur

SOLD
RM 9,017.60

Having delicate and beautiful things so close, we tend to overlook it, but Rafiee Ghani is almost poetic when recollecting the sights and sounds that he has witnessed. He rearranges it in such a way that it makes things around us look even more visible than they truly are, and that makes us take a moment longer to appreciate it, as seen in this piece.

As the artist has said before, “I imagine happiness and express it. I want the play of shapes to dance in the viewer’s eyes. And when it does I want to capture it. It’s like a piece of music frozen in time. People always ask what does it mean? I say don’t concern yourself with the meaning. The key to appreciate modern contemporary art is to put meaning aside. See how the paintings affect you. Does it play in your eyes or does it go deeper? It’s about the ‘mood’.”

Rafiee Ghani was born in Kulim, Kedah. He studied and obtained the De Vrije Academie Voor Bildeende Kunst at The Hague, Netherlands. Thereafter, he pursued his Diploma in Fine Art from Institut Teknologi Mara, Shah Alam. He then obtained his Master of Art in Fine Prints at Manchester Metropolitan University in 1987.