Leotards is a cheeky example of the sculptural figurative forms that Dr Iskandar undertakes every now and then. While refraining from representing the full human figure, Dr Iskandar nonetheless creates forms that suggest parts of the human anatomy or depict the garments that the body would be robed in.
The sculptural vessels he has pursued in this vein have been inspired by the Balinese sarong, Peranakan wear and Malay baju (outfits) and songkoks (headdress). Occasionally, modern elements such as the depiction of shoe-laces would appear in his creations.
Here, he takes a light-hearted dig at the skin-tight leotards worn in modern fashion. A similar clay form that he named Hermaphrodite suggests that he found that such leotards rendered their wearers androgynous, with no obvious indications of gender. In Leotards, the ‘female’ figure is subtly differentiated by mild ‘chest’ bulges that is not perceptible from a distance.
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