Art Battalion’s Evoking Art Scene In Malaysia

Art Battalion’s tagline ‘Wall Is Our Playground’ encapsulates the main of their business which is mural art. As the company has grown, it has expanded into heterogeneous outputs, not only taking commissions for murals on the wall but also not missing their opportunity to collaborate with big brands such as Getzstudio, Blaststore.kl and The dUCk Group.

The mastermind of Art Battalion, Dhiyaul Mohd Asyraf, 30, or better known as Yaulacap does not only have a great talent in art but is also wise in looking for opportunities in business as one of his goals is to improve the standard of living of artists.

The vital key to the success of Art Battalion is not just only because of the founder itself but also because the squad who consists of a group of artists who specialize in murals, graffiti, canvas painting, sculpting, printing, digital illustration, graphic design, and architecture who are coming together to making changes in the art industry in Malaysia.

Yaulacap has taken a risk by quitting his job as a journalist at KarangKraf to expand his wings in the art business because he thinks that he cannot do this business as a side hustle as this kind of business needs a lot of time and courage.

Nevertheless, the courage pays off because his business went well even though he does it all alone but then he realized art graduates are not appreciated enough and he sees that they usually work in different fields when they graduate.

From there he realizes that he need to create a platform for these art graduates as he also needs to expand his business as the saying goes, “if you want to go fast, go alone; if you want to go far, go together.”

He started Art Battalion with only five members who have potential but are infamous in the art scene as the first criteria he searched for are quality.

He was quite shy to use ‘battalion’ as it refers to a huge group but he proudly says that in 2021, Art Battalion currently consists of 22 members and looking forward to adding more artists in the future.

Art Battalion’s Ambition Will Never Be Just About Business

The platform that he created not only aiming to help local artists encounter frictional unemployment but also to fulfill client needs by delivering the message to the wall with custom hand-drawn designs to suit their aesthetic.

He also wants to improve the level of appreciation towards art in general and he personally thinks that murals are one of the ways to shape the art industry in Malaysia.

“Usually murals are in public places and it can easily be seen by the public, unlike most art gallery or exhibition that only people who interested with art who will visit the gallery,” Yaulacap said.

There is a lot of mural artwork that went viral such as the frontliners mural at Section U12, Shah Alam. The mural that has been drawn by one of the members of Art Battalion, Miey Ali, has captured Malaysian’s eyes where it went viral all over the Internet.

As stated before, one of their mission is to improve the level of appreciation towards art in general and yet the best way is by exposing the art itself to the public.The mural usually can last for seven years so it clearly shows that it is a great medium to uphold the dignity of the Malaysian art scene to the world.

Faez Rauzan, 26, one of the Art Battalion's squad thinks that mural is more fun to do because usually, they will do it together and it will create bonding as a family while working.

"If I get a small freelance job, it is quite boring because I had to do it all alone and there are no human interactions," Faez added.

Leader, Not A Boss

A former intern and now currently one of the artists at Art Battalion, Wan Huzaifah, 22 revealed that Yaulacap is more like a leader, not a boss.

When being asked about how he knows about Yaulacap, he giggled and said that the first time his eyes laid on Yaulacap was when a local documentary interviewing him about chalk art in 2015.

From there, he sets up a dream to meet him as he was aspired to be like Yaulacap, and who knows that in 2021, he finally can complete his industrial training under Art Battalion by Yaulacap himself.

“Knowing Yaulacap is a blessing, he is not like another boss who would treat the intern like a stranger or outsider in the company.

“He put trust in me to do the project even though I am only a student who needs to complete the industrial training,” Wan Huzaifah said.

He even managed to get five figures income after three months of completing his internship by doing projects under Art Battalion.

Lukman Hakim or known as Loque, 25, one of the members of Art Battalion also said that Yaulacap is a great role model of a leader.

“I do not felt pressured to do any project because Yaulacap never pushes us to do the job faster and Yaulacap knows that artists need ‘mood’ in expressing art so he will let his artists to taking their own time.

“The best thing about working here is Yaulacap will lead us instead of direct us aggressively to do any work,” Loque added.

Art Battalion Surviving In A Pandemic

As Covid-19 hits Malaysia, Art Battalion also is one of the businesses that is affected because of the pandemic as their business is not considered as essential business.

However, Art Battalion manages to pivot their business by trying to find new opportunities such as by collaborating with big brands.

Their latest collaboration is with The dUCk Group by Datin Vivy Yusof, a well-known name in the fashion and beauty business line where they have launched a new collection of exclusive shopping bags with the theme ‘Hope by Art Battalion for Duck’.

Since we are unable to go out to explore the mural art, The dUCk Group has decided to bring the art to the public by launching dUCk shopping bags that are super unique where there is only one piece of hand-painted shopping bags by Art Battalion’s artists itself.

22 artists have poured their incredible talent on 107 pieces of dUck shopping bags and guess what?! The bags are sold out in less than five minutes.

This collaboration not only brings revenues to The dUCk Group and Art Battalion but also as one of the marketing strategies for Art Battalion because dUCk - the purple-colored cult brand itself has been a brand that is no longer unfamiliar in Malaysia other than contacting media to covering news about their current projects.

It is truly clear that Yaulacap’s brave action to quit his job back then pays off as right now Art Battalion is a familiar name in the art scene. A lot of clients have hired this company to do the mural services.

Customer satisfaction is always their top priority so they will make sure to consult with the customers to make sure both parties are clear about the design and the job itself.

"Art Battalion was easy to deal with and the service was good also we are satisfied with their service," Ong Kui Ann, one of the Art Battalion's clients said.

From government bodies, non-governmental organizations (NGO), actresses, influencers, you name it, the customer has been from different backgrounds and it shows that Art Battalion is a trusted company that doing mural services and people look up to.

Their hope is that they can expand their wings either in gaining revenues or in terms of workers' output itself because they need diversity of art to make sure their business is relevant in long term.