The Application of Printmaking Medium in Producing Artwork Among Malaysian Visual Artist

Abstract

Printmaking is an artistic process that has its own medium and technique that can be chosen for creating an artwork. Beside painting and sculpture, printmaking is one of the three main disciplines in fine art. Printmaking was also linked to the historical and cultural development of Malaysia’s history of art. Thus, it should be viewed in parallel with other disciplines in order to understand the Malaysian contemporary art. However, printmaking is getting unpopular recently in Malaysian art scene. Meanwhile, there is a visual artist who is involved seriously in producing printmaking as an artwork and at the same time there are many graduated student majoring in printmaking. In the contemporary artwork process, many artists using a mixed media approach in creating an artwork. The medium used are varied, cross to any discipline of art. Either the printmaking medium is part of mixed media approach or its getting popular among artist became the issue in this research. Thus, this research has two objectives; to identify the active visual artist in using printmaking as a medium in producing their artworks and to examine the suitability of using the printmaking medium in the current Malaysian art scene. This research is conducted using the survey method through questionnaire and observation among Malaysian contemporary visual artist. The main finding has shown that printmaking could still be a unique and interesting medium that can be explored by the artists.