150 meter Meranti Tree sculpture gets into Malaysia Book of Records

KUALA LUMPUR: Entrepreneur artist Nizam Abdullah's deep interest and involvement in the art of sculpture created history when his work of a hanging sculpture based on the concept of a Meranti Tree made a name for himself in the Malaysia Book of Records, yesterday.

The sculpture designed by Nizam, 41, is as high as 150 meters and weighing around 2,000 kilogrammes (kg) was hung on the 47-storey Pudu Alam Rekreasi Residency building, making it the tallest hanging sculpture in a residential building in Malaysia.

What is even more amazing is that his wife Shima Nekmat, said the project produced in Nizamsculpture Studio costs RM1 million due priority being given to public safety.

"This is because the main material used for this project is winch (a type of heavy lifting equipment) which is placed on the highest floor (of the building) to hang the sculpture. The winch alone is worth more than RM100,000 because it is imported. We also imported the cables (for the sculpture) from Germany at a cost of more than RM40,000.

"When we talk about security, we cannot compromise. It is necessary to use quality materials, " she said, adding that the sculpture construction project took about a year to complete.

Shima, who is also the business advisor of Nizamsculpture Studio, said the project was one of the biggest projects ever undertaken by her husband apart from another iconic sculpture, a colored statue named 'Togetherness' which is now located around Menara Naza, Platinum Park KLCC.

According to her, Nizam who is an alumnus of fine arts from LimKokWing University had previously received several awards including Best Sculpture Provider 2021 by NiagaTimes for the Excellence World Award category and Singapore Business Review 2022.

"Our aspiration is to create a hub at Nizamsculpture Studio so that students can do industrial training. This is because students of this stream of art need a hub for them to do art such as sculpture construction and so on, " she said when contacted by Bernama.

Meanwhile, Senator Datuk Armand Azha Abu Hanifah said the local art industry and talent needed to be raised to face the wave of popular culture competition from foreign countries which was seen to be drowning the country's art culture.

Armand congratulated Nizamsculpture Studio managing director, Nizam for his success in producing high quality sculptures and making history in the Malaysia Book of Records as the tallest hanging sculpture in a residential building.

"This success is also in line with the vision and mission of the Malaysian Family to produce highly creative and innovative thinking people. I hope, this achievement will continue to produce and encourage more talents among local sculptors, thus elevating the art industry, especially national sculpture, " he said.

-- BERNAMA