Yusof Majid is known for his facetious look about life in general, using his trademark Lilliputan figures to tell the story. Here, they are shown lining up together and dragging a sleepy-head in a sleeping bag at night all over the valley under the light of the moon and myriad stars. To some, sleep could be something precious and not for the world for they tear themselves from the bed unless they have something important to do.
William Shakespeare in his play, Macbeth, hints as much when Macbeth intoned in Act 2, Scene 2:
Sleep that knits up the ravell’d sleeve of care,
The death of each day’s life, sore labour’s bath,
Balm of hurt minds, great nature’s second course,
Chief nourisher in life’s feast.
The work is from Yusof Majid’s solo, Paper Trails, held at his own Pace Gallery (now Nadine Fine Art) in 2011. Yusof spent most of his first 27 years in Britain where he graduated with a BA in Art in 1991, and Master’s in 1993. He returned to Malaysia for good in 1995, and set up his gallery business which he first named ‘Darling Muse’. His first solo, however, was in France, at the Municipal Hall in Bergerac.