In Malaysia, “Fighting chickens” used to play a prominent role for the “IBAN” as it was a form of entertainment and a symbolic representation of men resolving disputes with each other using cockfights (fighting chicken battles). It was quite harmless until knives started to be strapped onto the chicken’s legs. The court ruled it as animal cruelty and made cockfights illegal.
Gasing was once a very popular spinning top toy played to pass time. Skills are honed and people would customize and bring a Gasing which fits their playstyle to tournaments. The deterioration of this tradition is due to the modern generation refusing to sweat and get “dirty” from playing it. Now, only a few “Gasing” masters are left to carry on the tradition.
I decided to incorporate Takashi’s art style as in my opinion, his style embraces weirdness and chaos in a fun and quirky way which appeals to the younger generation. Every one of his artworks exudes happiness which is something I’ve always wanted to bring to people viewing my artwork. Even though activities that defined our culture are slowly dying, what matters is we know it was there and how much joy it brought to our ancestors. Most importantly is to know that some activities like cockfights are better dissipated, like paper dipped in acid.