Ahmad Izzan Qistan bin Kamarulzaman
Hello, I am Izzan Qistan and I am one of the artist who participate in REGENESIS, a degree show held by the final year students of Bachelor's Degree in Fine Art.
ARTIST STATEMENT
When we were small, superpowers were something that everyone wanted as they could ease their lives, but as one gets older, the idea seems to be faded as it is illogical to think of. But instead of letting go of the idea, I think it is best to utilize it as something that can help you mentally. I felt this is important because I have been a superpower enthusiast since I was small that I even developed my own superhero comic called The Mutant!
For that, I plan to create superhero comic characters that hold an autobiographical meaning rather than just plainly fictional. The artworks intended to manifest my personalities into comic characters with specific superpowers. By using Carl Jung’s theory of four archetypes – Ego, Persona, Anima/Animus, and Shadow, I sort out the most apparent personalities in me to express it as comic characters.
I used digital print of comic drawing as my physical artwork and animation for my augmented reality. Technically, I refer to comic artists like Jim Lee and Jack Kirby as well as manga artist, Koyoharu Gotouge. While contextually, Lynda Barry is my reference as she makes autobiographical comic in an unconventional way. For animation, I take Haris Abadi as my reference as he too, make animation on augmented reality.
ARTWORKS
Ego: Farouq/Petrichor
Digital print on canvas and
15-second animation on augmented reality
42.0 x 59.4cm (A2)
2022
Ego: Farouq/Petrichor is the first artwork of The Mutant series and it was made in 2022. The medium of this artwork is digital print on canvas and animation on augmented reality. The size of the physical artwork is 42.0 x 59.4cm or A2 size, and the animation follows the size of the canvas with the duration of 15 seconds. In the digital print, we can see a comic layout of three strips, on the top is a landscape strip and two vertical strips on the bottom. The images used are two of the many characters that I have created – Hazman (II)/The Messiah and Farouq/Petrichor.
In the first strip, The Messiah told Petrichor that he is the one Petrichor is searching for all this time. The second strip show those two characters facing each other and the third one show Petrichor started using his power to transform water into fire. For the animation, all of these strips are moving in a simple motion to show the emphasis of the scene such as the face reaction and the movement of superpower.
This artwork shows how I deal with my Shadow archetype using my Ego archetype – specifically how I deal with my dishonesty and lying attitude (The Messiah) by using my conscious personality of being hot-headed and firm person (Petrichor). I tend to be on my control and full consciousness when I am about to lie, as I have to think about the consequences happened from the action. In the comic, Petrichor has the power to turn water into fire to show exaggeration of how hot-headed I am that tranquil water could turn into blazing fire. Besides, Petrichor is designed to be a warrior as a warrior is rational, brave, and strong.
Anima: Kemp/Mirage
Digital print on canvas and
15-second animation on augmented reality
42.0 x 59.4cm (A2)
2022
Anima: Kemp/Mirage is the second artwork of The Mutant series and it was made in 2022. The medium of this artwork is digital print on canvas and animation on augmented reality. The size of the physical artwork is 42.0 x 59.4cm or A2 size, and the animation follows the size of the canvas with the duration of 15 seconds. In the digital print, we can see a comic layout of three strips, on the top is two landscape strips and one on the bottom. The images used are two of the many characters that I have created – Kemp/Mirage and Apit (III)/Scyght.
In the first strip is Mirage crying while the second one is Scyght staring straight to the viewers. The two strips on the top are divided by a slash as if someone tears the strip. The last strip shows Mirage using his superpower of turning his memories of the past into object of reality, creating images that surround Scyght. For the animation, all of these strips are moving in a simple motion to show the emphasis of the scene such as the face reaction and the movement of superpower.
This artwork shows how I tend to deal with my Shadow archetype which is jealousy and envy (Scyght) using my Anima archetype which is oversensitive, and overthink personality (Mirage). Mirage’s superpower of transforming his memories of the past into object of reality symbolises my attitude of living and not letting go of the past, which constantly makes me feel sad. And whenever I feel jealous of something, I tend to be overthought about what I deserve and what I am not, making me think of what I did with my life that I do not deserve the thing I wanted – in which my Anima shows. Furthermore, Mirage is designed to be a man who wears a sweater, as a sad person always need warmth.
Persona: Hamidi/Zephyrum
Digital print on canvas and
15-second animation on augmented reality
42.0 x 59.4cm (A2)
2022
Persona: Hamidi/Zephyrum is the third artwork of The Mutant series and it was made in 2022. The medium of this artwork is digital print on canvas and animation on augmented reality. The size of the physical artwork is 42.0 x 59.4cm or A2 size, and the animation follows the size of the canvas with the duration of 15 seconds. In the digital print, we can see a comic layout of four strips, which consists of three strips on the top and one big landscape strips on the bottom. The images used are one of the many characters that I have created – Hamidi/Zephyrum.
In the first strip – the top left – shows Zephyrum holding a bit of iron while talking to himself to use his power. On the top right which are the second and third strips show Zephyrum are changing to another form where tattoos called the “Tatu Jin” cover his face and hands and his eyes are changing colours. On the bottom last strip, Zephyrum uses his superpower that originally was the power to transform iron into wind but altered into wind that disintegrates. Zephyrum seems to be quiet and uncontrolled of his situation. For the animation, all of these strips are moving in a simple motion to show the emphasis of the scene such as the face reaction and the movement of superpower.
In this artwork, it features my Persona archetype, Zephyrum. Imagine a hard rock iron as a problem, and the way you want to solve the problem is the wind. Hamidi can turn the iron into soft wind or even tornado based on how the problem should be solved and that needs a high rationality. In Carl Jung’s theory, Shadow is our personality that is not morally unacceptable. Negative thoughts, behavior. I symbolise Shadow in my comic as, Jin. And in this comic strip, his “Tatu Jin” appears on his hand, which means he is becoming a Jin/Shadow. This represents how my Persona in real life is, how I cannot manage to hide my bad behavior and behave well even in public. How easily my rationality (Zephyrum) mask can be off.
Shadow: Hazman(II)/The Messiah
Digital print on canvas and
15-second animation on augmented reality
42.0 x 59.4cm (A2)
2022
Shadow: Hazman (II)/The Messiah is the fourth artwork of The Mutant series and it was made in 2022. The medium of this artwork is digital print on canvas and animation on augmented reality. The size of the physical artwork is 42.0 x 59.4cm or A2 size, and the animation follows the size of the canvas with the duration of 15 seconds. In the digital print, we can see a comic layout of single strip. The images used are one of the many characters that I have created – Hazman (II)/The Messiah.
The single strip shows The Messiah in his illusioned form saying that he was sent to bring peace and people should obey him. He also does the crossing finger symbol which means he is promising. For the animation, the image of The Messiah in his illusioned form glitches showing his original, eerie form which then glitches again and shows he puts his crossing finger at his back.
This artwork features my Shadow archetype, The Messiah with his power to create illusion and manipulate lie in which he can change one’s reality to live in his own illusion world. As his power suggested, he is the representation of my lying behavior as well as being fake in front of people. In the artwork, the pose of crossing fingers means he is promising something but when the image glitches and changes to the pose of crossing fingers at his back, it means that he is lying. His lore and design are inspired by the deceiver of the End-Time, Dajjal (based on the Islamic eschatology) or Anti-Christ (based on Christianity) in which he will make people believe him to be the Messiah. The most iconic characteristic of Dajjal is that he has blind eye, messy hair, and in the middle of two eyes is written the Arabic word, “KAFIR”. This can be seen in The Messiah’s design in which one of his eyes is blind, and on his forehead is written “LIAR”.
Shadow: Apit(III)/Scyght
Digital print on canvas and
15-second animation on augmented reality
42.0 x 59.4cm (A2)
2022
Shadow: Apit (III)/Scyght is the fifth artwork of The Mutant series and it was made in 2022. The medium of this artwork is digital print on canvas and animation on augmented reality. The size of the physical artwork is 42.0 x 59.4cm or A2 size, and the animation follows the size of the canvas with the duration of 15 seconds. In the digital print, we can see a comic layout of three strips in descending orders – top, middle, and bottom. The images used are two of the many characters that I have created – Apit (III)/Scyght and Kemp/Mirage. This artwork is a continuation of the second artwork, Anima: Kemp/Mirage.
The first strip shows Scyght closes his eyes, followed by the second strip where he opens all of his nine eyes aggressively. In the last strip shows he reveals his powerful, destructive power to turn eyesight into scythe in which he eliminates Mirage’s power of images. For the animation, all of these strips are moving in a simple motion to show the emphasis of the scene such as the face reaction and the movement of superpower.
In this artwork, Apit (III)/Scyght who is the representation of my Shadow archetype that holds jealousy and envious personality is featured. Scyght’s superpower to change eyesight into scythe shows how dangerous jealous can be, that it can give misery to other people. His design of many eyes is a literal inspiration of a term in Islam called Al-Ayn or The Evil Eyes, a belief that one could bring bad luck or harm to either people, animals, or objects, by looking at them in a way that show jealousy or envy. All of the pupil in the Scyght’s eyes are written the Arabic letters ي, ع, and ن in which when combined pronounced as Ayn.
What Is Your Superpower?!
Happening
184x189cm (The Board)
2022
What Is Your Superpower?! is the sixth artwork of The Mutant series and it was made in 2022. The medium of the work is Happening in which I let the audiences participate in my artwork making. In this case, the audiences are let free to write whatever they wanted about their superpowers on a board. Stationeries are provided.
This artwork is actually to be an exercise to the audiences so that they can relate more to my other artworks. As not all of us is thinking about superhero or superheroes constantly, it might be an unrelatable moment when they see my artworks. Therefore, this work will open up a bit their mind about superpower, make them think of something they never had think of before. Besides, I also want my audiences to have fun interacting with my works so that they would not be just staring at the canvas, but they use other senses to enjoy the artwork.
AUGMENTED REALITY ON ARTIVIVE