The Philosophy and Geometric Patterns of Malay Woodcarving

Abstract

This paper investigates the Malay woodcarving in terms of its philosophy and innovative potential. Its philosophy emphasizes creative expressions of the woodcarvers that are influenced by moral ethical values, which are connected with the worldviews of the Malays. The display of fine craftsmanship serves as a real multicultural artistic value inherited from various cultures. It is an attempt to investigate and examine the characteristics of the design motifs used within the carvings, which manifest the cultural values that exist between the religion and cultural heritage shared by the dominant Malay-Muslim people. It also inspects the esthetic dimensions of the creative aspirations of the Malay woodcarvers where the enjoyment of beauty is not only present but also blessed in the religious, practical, and material needs of the Malays. Malay craftsmen make use of the practical applications of geometric principles to execute a wide range of geometrical patterns that they use in their work. The principles of organization involved are usually aimed at finding certain solutions for unity, in an attempt to create a unified whole out of diverse elements of balance between harmony and variety. Through the intricate construction of geometrical patterns, Malay woodcarving functions as cultural link that ignites artistic imagination of human activity built upon intuitive understandings of an instinctive mathematical knowledge used in the community in producing artistic products. Analyzing its design patterns will not only extend but also develop new ideas in this area of research. Even though the connection between traditional art and mathematics is considered ancient, it is not clearly established and defined in the study of the Malay woodcarving.