A partly peeled banana resting on its cut stalk on a pear done with Orientalist techniques. Now does this convey some erotic overtones, and why would anybody compose a still-life this way, unless there’s some kind of message? But really, it’s just a juxtaposition of two fruits of different shapes and properties. The banana is slightly curved and can only be eaten with the skin peeled, revealing the soft whitish-yellow ‘batang’ which can be fried with batter as ‘goreng pisang’ or prepared as the Malaysian favourite dessert, bubur chacha, complete with yam, potatoes, jelly, pearled sago, black-eyed peas, pandan leaves and coconut milk. With the pear, with its ‘guitar’ shape resembling a torso, it can be eaten as it is or with the skin shaved because of the fear of pesticides residue. The arrangement of banana and pear is set at the edge of a wooden table, creating a certain tension. So, both the composition and placement are awkward. Zakii has done another work similarly framed, but instead of a pear, the one mounted on is a mango. Ahmad Zakii Ahmad’s early still-lifes often exude some kind of sexual humour, although it shows off his mastery of medium and a clever concept. Ahmad Zakii Anwar graduated in Graphic Design at the Mara Institute of Technology in 1977. After a successful stint in Advertising where his clients included the Singapore Tourism Board and the Singapore Airlines, he decided to be a fine artist and paints fulltime. A series of memorable solos led to the Disclosure exhibition at Galeri Petronas, Kuala Lumpur in 2008, a timely mid-career survey. In 2007, he was invited by the Singapore Tyler Print to do a series of prints. Zakii has had solos in the United States (Barbara Green FA in 1999 and Andreshire Gallery in 2011), Indonesia, Hong Kong and Singapore.