FAUZUL YUSRI (B.1974)

Malaysian contemporary artist Fauzul Yusri intentionally deforms the surfaces of his canvas to express themes of harmony and juxtaposition that mirror the chaos and randomness of his subjects. His works are heavily subjective, and the viewer is left to interpret the myriad of meanings and emotions that his paintings evoke.

In the present lot, Game Over, the artist presents us two battling figures he has defined with bold sweeps of yellow paint, clearly contrasted against the bright blue background of the painting. Layering the composition with scribbles and diagrams, the work mimics the endless paraphernalia and distractions that intrude into our daily life. The naively rendered figures are framed by a large control "X" button in the right of the painting, and the scrawl of "GAME OVER" across the lower half. The artist leads us to question the simplistic reduction and perspective of the world that video games promote. After all, "game over" in video games does not mean defeat - the game can be replayed indefinitely, and Fauzul Yusri exaggerates the banality of such an existence.