The Malay word, gelek, refers to movement with the hips and belly, often of an erotic nature, like in belly-dancing: a lascivious dance. But what’s on canvas is something more static: perhaps, a revolving cavalcade of mask-like totems which take on different expressions as they move around, and because of the speed and momentum, look like the whirling dervishes of Istanbul’s sufi dancers, though more in slow-mo. Topeng more veers towards grimaces, though in ancestral tribal lore, it’s meant to protect. The work’s stained with the brighter hues of yellow and red, though streaks of green, sepia and white tend to mellow down what would otherwise be a ‘shout’. The years, 1997-1998, are transition years when Yusof Ghani moved between Topeng and Wayang, and it was in 1997 that he was invited to hold a solo exhibition of his Topeng at the Jenkins Johnson Gallery in San Francisco. Yusof Ghani is also an academician (Universiti ITM), gallerist (Tapak Gallery) and collector. Through Tapak, he organised the Shah Alam Bienniale starting in 2016. He was doing illustrations and graphic designs for 10 years before a scholarship changed his life. He studied for his BFA at the George Mason University (1981), and then MFA at the Catholic University in Washington, USA (1983). His notable series were Tari, Topeng, Wayang, Hijau, Segerak, Biring, Wajah and Ombak. In 2017, he had a solo, Segerak VI – Transcendent Figures, in London. Segerak VIII, the final episode of Segerak series, was organised by Curate Henry Butcher, Galeri Prima, and Pinkguy Gallery in August 2019, and received well response.