Artists

Haron Mokhtar was born in Selangor, Malaysia in 1963. Mokhtar made a big splash on his graduation year (BA Fine Art in Painting and Printmaking), UiTM from 1983 to 1987 when he won the Major Award in the Young Contemporary Artists competition with his Melayu Pop mix of traditional architecture and culture. In 1988, Mokhtar added his Art Teacher Diploma. He had taught in schools in Selangor and Sarawak, and since 1998 was a senior teacher on humanities at the SMK Ungku Aziz in Sabak Bernam. His other awards included: Second Prize in Landscape Selangor competition (Shah Alam Art Gallery, 2002) Consolation Prize, Historical Incidents competition (National Art Gallery, Kuala Lumpur, 2005) Second Prize.

M.Nasir was born on July 4, 1957, in Bukit Panjang, Singapore. He is the fourth of nine siblings. His father, Mohamed Sam, hailed from Pagoh, Muar in Johor and emigrated to Singapore. He worked as a firefighter in the Singapore Fire Department while his mother, Esah Yahya is a housewife who have a keen interest in the life story of Prophet Muhammad and studies in Arabic. After Singapore was expelled from Malaysia in 1965, his family decided to obtain the Singaporean citizenship. Nasir began his early education at the Sekolah Tinggi Kerajaan Bukit Panjang before pursuing his studies at the Boys Town Vocational Institute. He attended the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts and graduated with a diploma in Western painting in 1978, originally wanting to become an artist.

M.Nasir had been deeply exposed to music but he also dabbles in the art of painting, particularly abstract art. He has conducted several exhibitions on his canvas works; the first being Tanda in 2014 and Tanda II in 2015, both in Shah Alam.

M.Sukri Derahman (b.1975) an art teacher and also he was a protege of the late Ismail Mat Hussin, whom he learned batik from. He has exhibited at City Art Gallery, Kuala Lumpur in the group exhibition Lambaian Kelantan in 2015, the Gelora Timur Exhibition at Dita Colour Gallery, Kuala Lumpur in 2016, and China (Guangdong in 2016, Shandong in 2017). In August 2022, he participated in group exhibition named Synthesis at Galeri Prima, Kuala Lumpur.

Mazuki started drawing around 1997 and now he is a full time artist. He has joined many exhibitions and competitions especially spontaneous or live drawing. He was once a water color protege under Mokhtar Ishak, Khalil Ibrahim and Ismail Mat Hussin. He was also a tutor to Raja Perempuan Kelantan.

Muhammad Firdaus bin Yahya or also known as Daus, was born on 15th May 1992 in Kampung Batu Kurau, Perak. He grow up and finished school at the age of 17 at Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Dato' Kamaruddin. He works in Selangor as an assistant at a private company. Other than painting, he also write short poems to express about himself, other people and nature. Not only that, he has joined a few art exhibitions in Kuala Lumpur.

Rahimin Roni, born 1987 from Pasir Mas, Kelantan. He graduated with a Bachelor Degree in Arts and Social Science, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur. He also joined a group exhibition in 2013 called "In God We Trust" at MAA Gallery KL Sentral and in 2014 a group exhibition called "Hope" at Galeri Seni Universiti Malaya, Kuala Lumpur.

Razalli Lesut, born in 1961 Paya Rumput, Rembia, Melaka, is a self-taught artists who has joined numerous exhibitions throughout his career. Having the experience as a designer and illustrator for almost 2 decades. One of the highlights in his career is receiving the award from Kenyir Eco-Fest in 1994 for his painting.

As an artist, I have always been on a soul searching mission. I am inspired by the cycle of life that begins with birth, initiation and finally ends with death. Hence you’ll see that my earlier works were mostly influenced by the motifs of the past, dating back many thousand years to the Neolithic period. 'Lautan Mimpi' as the title suggests, is an 'Ocean of Dreams'. Dreams occur in a certain stages of sleep. The meaning of a particular dream is usually not known by the person. One could be experiencing a fantasy, nightmare, vision or even a repetition of real events in a dream. Thus the stories of this dreams being told in the surrealist way for the series of works ' Pasangan Surreal' and 'Di Sebalik Musim'.

Ahmad Tarmizi or better known as T:zi (b.1979, Singapore) is primarily known in the local community as a singer-songwriter. Having produced numerous albums and written songs for more than a decade, a little-known fact is that he is also a prolific, self-taught artist. Despite never attending any formal art classes, he has always expressed himself visually, gaining inspiration from various local and regional artists. Hence, his education in the visual arts was attained via reading numerous art publications and attending exhibitions over the years.

Having produced numerous paintings alongside his music career, as a multidisciplinary artists, he has been steadily participating in local and international art exhibitions and recentlt in August 2022, he had his third solo exhibition in Singapore. Having always seen his paintings and songwriting as mutually feeding off each other, T:zi's paintings offer multiple readings and interpretations. Ultimately, his paintings are often inspired by his introspective thoughts about spirituality with man and nature.

Painting that comes from the soul, instincts and feeling of the movement. I am more to experimenting the techniques because every techniques creates and has it's own characteristics. My body of work are mostly influenced by the great masters like Ibrahim Hussein, Mark Bradford, Peter Doig, Picasso and Salvador Dali. Even though I don't know how to play the music instruments, in wishing, I visualized music or anyhting else that come up to my mind through the language of painting. From the plain white canvas, not all of it can be filled and told without coming to an end. It is actuallu and adventure without a destination.