They look like odd contraptions but they personify the warlords scheming to get one another out of the way in their ascension to Power. Zulkifli Yusoff prefers to use the ‘kehalusan’ and grace of bangsawan to convey his message. Works in the 1990s show Zulkifli with harder-hitting messages from when he debuted with his chessboard-piece in his installations of the latter half of the 1980s. Zulkifli won the Major Award in the Young Contemporary Artists (BMS) competition in 1988 and 1989. In 1992, he landed Malaysia’s biggest art award when won the Grand Minister’s Prize in Salon Malaysia in 1992, apart from the 1st and 3rd Prizes in Sculpture. There was a time when he concentrated on his educator’s role at the Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris in Tanjung Malim, and his educating credentials and his artist’s accomplishments won him the National Academy Award (Visual Art) in 2007. He did his Diploma in Art and Design (Fine Art) at the Mara Institute of Technology, Shah Alam, (1989), and then studied at the Manchester Polytechnic in England for his Masters (1991). It is his selection for prestigious international events that raises his profile. 1) The 1997 Venice Biennale under the fringe ‘Modernities and Memories: Recent Works from the Islamic World Venice Biennale; 2) 1st Asia_Pacific Triennial of Art in Brisbane in 1993; 3) Singapore Biennale 2013; 4) Rukunegara 2: VOICE Theo Art Projects, Art Stage Singapore, 2013; 5) Seychelles Biennale 1992; apart from solos: 6) Writing Power, National University of Singapore, 2011. As a team, he won the 2nd Prize in the Sand Sculpture competition in 1988. At home, eye-catching solos – The Power, NN Gallery, Kuala Lumpur, 1996; Powerful Dialogue, The Art Gallery Penang, 2000; Icons, Wei-Ling Gallery, Kuala Lumpur, 2008; Brave New Art, The Art Gallery, Penang, 1996; and Negara Ku, National Art Gallery Kuala Lumpur, 2010, advance his cause further.