Renowned artist Sulaiman Esa's early works hit Instagram, delighting art lovers

An Instagram exhibition put together by Suzy Sulaiman, features a selection of old works and unpublished sketches from her dad Sulaiman Esa's archives. Photo: Instagram

There are few works by senior Malaysian artist/writer Sulaiman Esa that are discussed as much as the well-known Towards A Mystical Reality, first presented in 1974, and then with selected “reinvented” pieces commissioned for the National Gallery Singapore in 2015.

But how often do you hear of everyday stories such as how a frog hiding in this trailblazing artist's boots on a rainy day once made him scream, how his young children would warily rouse him from his afternoon nap to move his vehicle so they could play on the car porch, or how his daughter used to drive him up the wall by “borrowing” his art tools and, much to his chagrin, adding her doodles to his work?