GERAK ALAMAT HIDUP, DIAM ALAMAT MATI... Shahriman could draw before he learned how to talk. That is how I remember him. Being youngest in the family he got away with becoming an artist. His family's love and support have always encouraged him to be the best in whatever he decides to do. Shahriman however produced works which many have described bizarre... and his family became his worst critics.
Shahriman was undeterred in his mission and set out to produce one bizarre work after the other. He seems so sure of the path he alone has to take. He describes his work as a part of him, part of his search in finding himself. His early works when he was a student was figurative. They were rough and raw and angry, quite unlike the person he was on the outside. Shahriman has moved away further and further away from the figures he once seemed obsessed with. He has now come full circle. When I first saw the works he made for this e exhibition, I asked him: "Why figures?" He looked at me and said that it had to be done. They were inside him and he had to let them out. His eyes appealed to me to understand. He said it was the last time he would ever do figures. Somehow I know Shariman is right. It is something he had to do.
with sister, Raja Aliza Aziddin
The works of Shahriman for this solo exhibition, Gerak Tempur, is still very typical of his identity, yet there is something different. These works although touching on a violent subject-matter, seem soft and gentle in their movements, very much like the Shahriman we know. Perhaps Shahriman has been successful in finding himself, perhaps it is just the beginning. In all the battles he will face, I wish him well.
Tengku Eli Aziddin
