Syed Thajudeen

Syed Thajudeen
Syed Thajudeen has truly established his niche as one of Malaysia's distinguished figurative painters with a unique lyrical and poetic style
Born	(1943-08-23)23 August 1943 Alagan Kulam, India
Nationality	Malaysia (Penang)
Education	Government College of Arts and Crafts, Madras, India (now known as Government College of Fine Arts, Chennai)
Known for	Painting, Drawing
Notable work	Ramayana (1972) The Beginning: Founding of Malacca (2002) The Eternal Love (2012)
Movement	Cubism (early works), Surrealism, Figurative
Spouse(s)	Kulsia Ishack

Syed Thajudeen Shaik Abu Talib was born in 1943 and spent his formative years as a student in Penang, Malaysia. He pursued his art education at the Government College of Arts and Crafts, Madras, India in 1968 graduating with a post diploma in Fine Arts in 1974.

Without doubt, Syed’s unique style and aesthetic sense draw inspiration from the Bauhaus art of Paul Klee and his Indian education background fused with Malay cultural elements.

A distinctive stylisation, romantic treatment of subject matter and the rich colours as in the Ajanta cave paintings of Maharashtra and of the Mughal (enriched from the wealth of Indian mythology) are apparent in his works. This, together with the traditional visual arts' integral connection with literature, music, dance, sculpture and philosophy, helped shape Syed's early works. His works, as individualistic as they are, attempt to evoke a state of rasa, or heightened mood that belongs to a larger tapestry and sensibility of Asian artistic traditions. In many instances where his favourite subject matters deal with women and love, they share the same archetypal symbols and metaphors.

Syed's impressionable days spent at the Madras College of Arts and Crafts had a profound influence on his search for artistic style and identity. Baroda, Calcutta and Madras were at the time rife with new ideas, experimentations and soul-searching discussions by the pioneering figures of India's post-independence visual artists. These artists were struggling to establish their individualistic styles. At the same time, they felt compelled to learn from the larger vehicle of Indian traditional arts that ubiquitously permeate the life of the masses in India. A larger number of these early figurative contemporary painters of India, found the rich tapestry of the Indian tradition, a source of inspiration as well as a point of embarkation for their own contemporary approach. These pioneering protagonists of India's visual arts had a deep impact on Syed Thajudeen's early paintings.