Ahmad Zakii Anwar

Ahmad Zakii Anwar (b. 1955), also known as Zakii, is a prominent Malaysian artist with a strong command of several artistic mediums and modes of figurative representation. A graduate of the School of Art and Design, MARA Institute of Technology Malaysia, Anwar began his career in advertising as a graphic artist.

Zakii is known for his photo-realistic, large-scale charcoal drawings of male nudes, which are simply composed and boldly defined. Evoking, in two-dimensions, a visceral reality reminiscent of Michelangelo’s slave sculptures, Anwar’s drawings combine his theological, psychological and cosmological inquiries of the human spirit and body. He also maintains a fervent activist practice supporting AIDS patients, women’s rights and his local community. His work has been exhibited internationally in New York, Los Angeles, Hong Kong, Jakarta, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, and Manila. Zakii currently lives and works in Johor Bahru, Malaysia.