Presenting the first chapter of HOL through a body of drawings, the artist stumbled upon the word by coincidence which was etched on an ancient marble in a Jewish burial site in Penang, Malaysia and which he personally interpreted the word as an acronym for “Higher Order Love”. The interpretation is also inspired by the Google search result, Higher Order Logic which references a complex high-level mathematical theory.
HOL to the artist means eternal love or unconditional love, is manifested into a ever growing and mutating world fed by memories and sensations of the real-world. Memories as interpreted by the artist, evolve and mutate and eventually transforms into a cerebral wilderness similar to a permanent forest reserve. Much like his previous bodies of work, the universe of HOL is informed by Hasanul’s personal experience, life events and rites of passages. The physical manifestation of the universe is divided into chapters that displays episodes of memories and snippits of the artist’s life, conjuring complex scenes and wondrous landscapes populated by raging wild animals, strange characters in quarantine suits, a lake of seeds and places of worship. Real-world and fiction are woven on paper through precise and intricate drawn lines and luscious color swatches.
HOL, Chapter 1: The Fall, the first chapter of the series presents scenarios that range from the experience of falling off a bike to the sensations of falling in love for the first time. They include moments of bliss and periods of gloom and signify how the artist sees life as, a precious collection of memories and physical sensations to be cherished that simultaneously reminds us that we exist on earth.
