Saiful Razman

Biography

Saiful Razman’s works are experiential attempts to explore impermanence by transforming disposable objects and materialising their simplicity. He manipulates ordinary and disposable everyday objects, such as medical gauze and tissue paper, to construct larger surfaces and installations that retain the physical features of their former form.

His solo exhibitions include Future Love, Chan+Hori Contemporary, Singapore (2019); Vertical Speed, Richard Koh Fine Art, Jakarta (2015); Forms of Void, Richard Koh Fine Art, Kuala Lumpur (2013); and Ereksi Jeneral, Richard Koh Fine Art, Kuala Lumpur (2012). He has also participated in numerous group shows, such as the 18th Asian Art Biennale Bangladesh (2018); Art Jakarta, D’ Gallerie (2019); 1st Kuala Lumpur Biennale, National Art Gallery (2017); The Unreal Deal: Six Decades of Malaysian Abstract Art, Bank Negara Malaysia Museum and Art Gallery, Kuala Lumpur (2017); and Beirut Art Fair (2013), among others.

His works can be found in the collections of the Singapore Art Museum; Rimbun Dahan, Kuang, Malaysia; Museum Azman, Shah Alam, Malaysia; Galeri Z, Kuala Lumpur; Public mural art Open Arts at Facebook Headquarters in Singapore; and United Overseas Bank, Singapore.

Razman is the recipient of the UOB Southeast Asian Painting of the Year award (2021).

He is the co-founder of Notthatbalai Art Festival, an alternative art event in Kuala Lumpur (2004) and a pro-tem of Puncak Purnama Declaration, a protest against the demolition of a public sculpture by the City Council in Kuala Lumpur (2016).

Razman received a BFA from Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia (2003). Born in 1980 in Teluk Intan, Malaysia, he currently lives and works in Kuala Lumpur.

Residency Interests

During my residency at Sharjah Art Foundation, I will be expanding on my ongoing studies on the subject of ‘Home and Shelter’. I am interested to see how the experiences and definitions of a ‘permanent place’ and a ‘temporary place’ could affect my understanding of a landscape. I plan to experience desert camping in Sharjah in the hope of expanding my visual data and inspiration in the art making process. I will also be compiling the visual and video data collected throughout my residency at Sharjah into a ‘scrapbook’ that will be published as an art journal.

I am planning on creating a collage from disposable items, such as paper, rolled tissue, fabric and medical gauze. Using everyday disposable items enables me to aesthetically engage with various aspects of their inherent properties, thus revealing unexpected beauty in ways unseen.

We identify familiarity through the details of the world around us. Though transforming disposable objects into an art experience may seem superfluous, it is capable of reminding us what the value of art truly is. As most of my works are experiential attempts, I believe beauty exists independently in thought, even in the most ordinary of things.