FACULTY OF EDUCATION

ART & DESIGN DEPARTMENT (ED242)

ADE675: ART IN SOCIAL CONTEXT

TOPIC: ART IN CONTEXT AND ART
APPRECIATION

NAME: MOHAMAD FIRDAUS BIN AHMAD BURHAN

MATRIX NO: 2017163003
GROUP: ED2427A
LECTURER: MISS AKMAL BINTI AHAMED KAMAL
SUBMIT DATE: 21/4/2021
 1) ARTIST REFERENCE BIODATA AND ACHIEVEMENTS

Julia Volchkova was born in Nizhnevartovsk in Siberia, Russia in 1987. Volchkova Yulia
Anatolievna studied drawing from an early age. In 2004, Julia won the competition of the
faculty of art and design. In 2010, she graduated from the Institute and went to Saint
Petersburg where she began drawing graffiti and street art. Julia gained prominence in Russia
soon after and started to participate in commercial activities, as well as being commissioned.
In Russia and Ukraine, she took part in art festivals. Julia's true artistic journey started when
she was asked to paint murals in Malaysia.

She experimented with outdoor painting, or street art . She then moved to St Petersburg,
Russia's cultural capital, believing that her dreams were greater than Siberia. She picked it up
quickly and started to draw more from there.

When she got an invitation from a friend who owns a boutique hotel in Penang, she was
painting actively in Moscow. That's how she ended up in Penang, where she was invited to
paint a new hostel's wall. She couldn't pass up the chance to paint in a heritage town while
learning about Malaysian culture.

Julia had fallen in love with the art scene since her arrival. She was enchanted by the small
island's allure and decided to remain in Penang. Penang's vibrant culture captivated her, and
the island's rich cultures became the source of inspiration for all of her murals.

While she characterised her style as more realism and portraits, most of her murals showed
her interest in spray painting. In Russia, the art scene is more diverse and modern, while in
Penang, the emphasis is on history and national pride.
 2) ART APPRECIATION

Description:

Julia Volchkova, The Silat Mural 2016 is a mural that shows two figure portrait that
performing silat, the traditional martial arts practised in the Malay Archipelago and
Indonesia. COLOR – color that she used is mostly cool color which is black and grey for
clothes. It is match with the natural color of the walls. She also used warm color which is
white, orange, yellow and brown for skin. FORM – There is two human form figure. we can
see two realistic looking figure doing silat. The first figure on left defending from the right
male figure’ elbow attack. VALUE – There is a value contrast where there is lightness and
darkness in this mural painting. As we can see, the light source came from the right side.
Example if we observe the right figure, right part of his body have more light while left is
dark and shadow. This is show that the painter used cool and warm color to create value on
each figure. TEXTURE – by looking at figure’s clothes, we can see soft looking texture on
clothes. Not only that, the right figure’s goatee also contain texture just by looking at it.
Analyze:

CONTRAST – dark and light value is used on silat figure composition for example, warm
color is used on face and skin to make it look more highlight and smooth, while cool color is
used on dark part for example silat clothes is using black color to make it look rough. It is
painted to create visual interest and focus point . MOVEMENT – As you can observe the left
figure composition is obviously defending himself from elbow that moving toward him. The
right figure body composition show his body is moving toward left figure. The clothes
texture also show the evident of the figure movement. UNITY – both part of figure show to
be seen as whole.

Interpretation:

The Silat Mural is a mural on a wall in Balik Pulau, along Jalan Balik Pulau. It was painted in
January, 2016 by Russian mural artist Julia Volchkova. Based on my research, The Silat
Mural is the mural depicts silat master Johari Omar engaging in silat with another proponent.
Silat master Johari Omar, at age 48 in 2016, whose face is on the artwork featuring a martial
artist. The painter used smooth stroke to make the portrait look more realistic. She used
contrast of cool and warm color between the background and figure making both figure more
highlight. She appreciate the traditional martial art by emphasizing rough and smooth texture
creating visual rhythm /movement of the figure. She also tackle proportion of human figure
well which is the important part so that the visual show accurate human figure doing silat.

Judgment:
1. 2 similarities

Both artworks use 2 form of human figure composition to create unity and to attract
viewer’s eye. Both are using realistic style on figure. Julia Volchkova uses action poses to
show movement on both figure while michelangelo uses effect to show invisible
movement like the movement of air. Michelangelo uses emphasis on figure by adding
bright flat background while Julia Volchkova emphasis uses natural flat background to
make two main figure more highlight.

2. 2 differences

The two artwork, however, difference in term of color and form. Michelangelo uses
mostly bright color and contrast on each figure and background, while Julia Volchkova
uses darker color such as black and grey on each figure clothes. Not only that,
Michelangelo artwork show full human anatomy, while Volchkova artwork only show
from head to torso of human figure.

3. compare/contrast your interpretation of both

The uses of color create rough and smooth effect in the visual making make both
artworks expressive. Julia Volchkova The Silat Mural artwork combine rough and smooth
brushstrokes resulting interesting action pose visual, while Michelangelo show emotional
and religious visual using fine stroke.

4. Your opinion

In my opinion, both are successful in using color to add value on human figure and both
have great proportion on figure to make composition look accurate and realistic, both
artwork are eye catching and interesting to watch.
3) CONTEXT

WHERE AND WHEN

This artwork was created in January 2016 in Balik Pulau, along Jalan Balik Pulau to
appreaciate the culture in penang. She uses picture that she took on real situation/moment
and transform it into mural artwork. She transform old wall into piece of art without
cleaning the wall, not only that, she can turn any ugly wall or places into aesthetic value
art.

FOR WHOM OR WHAT

She create large mural artwork not only for local peoples but also for tourist so that they
know cultures and history in penang. This will not only attract tourist but also make
penang become one of the iconic in Malaysia.

HOW IT IS SIGNIFICANT

It is very significant to create a large visual image on building so that local people can
remember and appreciate culture and martial art in their country. As of today, there are
still some old Malay martial grow and live in these areas may be the result of the spirit of
the local people. The main driving force, Johari Omar, 45, have a rich culture and Malay
identity. Julia Volchkova uses actual martial artist’s face on her artwork to appreciate
them for still preserve the silat culture in this country especially in penang .

REFERRENCE

https://chengsim.com/portfolio/julia-volchkova-interview/

https://www.instagram.com/p/CMO5Mp2JOK0/

https://m.facebook.com/volchkovastreetart/