The Critic's says

AlAmbya (the prophets): 87

Feb, ’09. Size 40” X 40”.

Medium: Mixed medium on Linen.

Meaning of ayat:

And (remember) Dhun-Nun (Jonah), when he went off in anger, and imagined that We shall not punish him! (i.e. the calamities which had befallen him)! But he cried through the darkness (saying): La ilaha illa Anta (non have the right to be worshipped but you, o Allah), Glorified (and exalted) be You (above all that evil they associated with you)! Truly I have been a wrongdoer.

Haffendi Anuar or Eddie is a graduate from Rhode Island School of Design near New York. He is a budding Art Critic in Malaysia and this is what he wrote about Shukor Yahya's work for a Qalam exhibition at Chandan Gallery, Damansara Height, Kuala Lumpur.

The assimilation of geometric abstraction and pop art into Islamic calligraphy works could be seen in Shukor Yahya’s. Yahya’s colorful, hard-edged square-kufic pieces use a centered composition that imitates fertile, overflowing arabesque designs.

The play of simple shapes and geometry transform the paintings into a visual delight displaying savvy design sensibilities and control. Yahya’s “restrained touch” differs greatly from the angst-fueled works of Din Mohammad’s, Ghani’s and Hourmain’s where expression is the main concern. His usage of Qur’anic http://www.quranflash.com/en/quranflash.html verses in his paintings hint of the traditional practice of Islamic calligraphy which was meant as a way to document specific verses from the Qur’an onto parts of architecture or objects for the purpose of contemplation or decoration.

In AlHadid : 8 aquamarine blue and dark violet background holds an orange-yellow abstract grouping of sentences from the Qur’an in a rigid centered composition framed in a square canvas. Small colorful primary and secondary colored squares and rectangles playfully dart in-and-out of the kufi maze, cryptic in its message to the lay-man, hinting at the esthetics of Egyptian hieroglyphs and the musical nature of Peat Mondrian’s mature paintings.

Al Hadid: 8. May, ’09. Size 40” X40”.

Medium: Mixed medium on Linen.

Meaning of ayat: And what is the matter with you that you believe not in Allah! While the Messenger (Muhammad S.A.W.) invites you to believe in your Lord (Allah); and He (Allah) has indeed taken your covenant, if you are real believers.

The work is like a melting pot of pop-culture and mystical influences, clearly demonstrating the modern inventiveness of his approach. He stated that his paintings are meant in a jovial nature, to allure viewers to the works for the purpose of contemplation and intimacy with the sacred.

For a full write up, please log on to: http://www.espifinearts.blogspot.com/

AlBaqarah: 267

Completed on 6^th June, 2009. 40 x 76 ½”. Mixed medium on Linen.

Meaning of ayat:

O you who believe! Spend on the good things you have legally earned, and of that which We have produced from the earth for you, and do not aim at that which is bad to spend from it, (though) you would not accept it, save if you close your eyes and tolerate therein. And know that Allah is Rich (Free of all needs), and worthy of all praise.