Ill probably stop being think. I think these bananas i think thats my favorite this one i think i think i like this one best. I like to leave it to been on the side of. Dangling each other you know its like clothes. But yeah you know they seem to sort of sit. Comfortably on the table. You know sometimes when youre in a hurry to take your clothes off. Not very often now that both my parents are gone i dont come down very often. Its not the same family house anymore but i think hes done a great job of building the house in that kind of like same spirit the front always will never close in our house except as not. We used to have lots of around the country jumble trees and all that thats all gone but in his planted lots of green it looks like a jungle now from the outside. A fair need only. Advantage of being a boy in a family that you know in a traditional house so i dont get to do any housework. I mean that bugs my sister we know. He would never climb the room with the entry and think that im going down because he was busy drawing all the time you know hed just lock himself up in the bedroom and just draw you know while i was the one who had to climb the tree split the room you know and then sought the room with hands out and distribute them to the neighborhood. Hopes and aspirations of my mother. And you know. I mean of course at that time nobody thought that you know being on an artist you know you could make money from being and i and of course my mother was worried you know because hes the boy hes supposed to have to support a family. I knew that when i was growing up i was extremely rebellious my parents very religious my mother had someone come to the house to instruct me to teach me but i kept questioning him you know where to go or. Of course he come im sorry but. In the end he left you know. He just didnt come anymore i think he was tired of me. All the. Neighborhood. We used to run around together you know so my friends will go. Its long gone. And theyll run home and. Months it will go on my bow tell me when i get it to get. This two of my favorite christmas. Chrysis. Additionally some of the weapon theyre scenes in carvings. Its a killing tool yeah its meant to kill it is. Something that is. Dangerous but at the same time beautiful the blade is for what we call. A blacksmith but hes not an ordinary. Blacksmith. Normally. Is a spiritual person you know he goes through various rituals its almost like a priest he strives to put the spirit into it into the metal people sometimes nowadays look down and cross you know because the thing. You know. Me. History. You know this. Very interesting way of introducing things to the children. There was a time i think when we. All six he felt it was time to draw. One of us had drawing and i remember that. And my sister and i were just. My brother just. As. I was going to be. You have. To make. Me. Something. He was not like warrior he didnt do well in school you know who were around the house and say i dont need to study i. Tell him. He was very lucky when he went. There was i thought. And they had a great. Ok being a fine you know ill find out he might not make money the intention was always you know after the foundations course to go into fine arts because thats what i wanted to be you know. But then again you know these voices from my sister and my mother and saying you know youre going to go its really becoming after. All what did you think design and school. I went into design. School i went into the commercial. I was working as a straight. As a designer. And i was working and im not a big copper ply and so you know Like Singapore Airlines some of what the response was shouldnt board. Every week ill make maybe two or three trips to singapore to get briefed. But i didnt like the ninety five life you know i find it very difficult illegal conform to that. There be meetings of the meetings we know there be changes. When you do a piece of work. You do not believe you will be here all day and have a ties or was the program. To hire. Really intelligent people to say. I was doing very well but i was unhappy. And just got tired of it all now so i quit going up with a one thousand and. Ninety one. And then i started thinking. Probably the most critical moment was this decision to go back to your home town i just got married. My wife was expecting our first child. And i wouldnt know whether i would make it as a painter. And went back to g. B. And i stay at the back of my mothers house my mother fed me. There was nobody my money i was almost penniless. First painting didnt work the second painting didnt work either until one day i buy a coincidence i met a friend who. Who knew. Where the senior artists in leisure life if. You said do something as simple as possible dont think too much so thats how it is still life paintings came about i think id be more simpler than a still life. And he was a very bold statement to make because in the one thousand nine hundred who was doing still like nobody was doing still life and he was somebody who came and said look im going to stand in the shadow of the masters and work within that tradition yet with a great deal of eccentricity and a lot of quirkiness and of course that he has a great deal of humor hes a humorous person himself. So. I did a whole series of still lives of. Fruits to me various compromising positions. Thats where the work. Started selling. For a while it became. My trick. Ive always read. The listed live on and off you know i might do tree. To four pieces a year. Always like a. Like a long love affair you know critics will be more like. I dont know what you call this. Its a very phallic looking figure. This short at the shop now but it looks looks nice i was looking for a small object actually to put this big thing on the know something feel almost invisible. The first stages of painting is always very technical at this moment. Im just getting. Together a group with the form of the whole thing. So i might not be too concerned about. The right side. Youve got the form you cannot get the rust off. The notion of a form in the western context and the notion of. Quite different you know within the western context for me. Its something which is totally physical. Looks like a supple in. All those working in the still lives you know but my real interest was the figure of the human figure. I mean certainly in the context of malaysia and there are conservative muslims you know that have led to size muslims who feel that to draw a figure is against the teachings of islam. I dont. Think what interests me was not. Smoking the smoke from the cigarette was covering the persons friess. It wasnt a physical mosque but it was a circle of people in moscow. The works after their took on a different dimension. There was a period when hes on the meta you know i too am actually did not teach figure drawing because of the influence of a politicized islam at the school. When i was a student one of the assignments we had. For art history was copy the painting my whole master. The printing that i chose to offer you was it was a cross them across the pacific ocean. For the music the becoming you know because its such a horrid notion. I was always intrigued by. It i mean for religious to me doesnt matter whether its just charity or buddhism or hinduism. His journey all these excavations have taken him into a part of both the military and Southeast Asian pop past that todays very contentious which is basically the very vibrant and still very vital please let me pass influenced by hinduism and buddhism hes painting a buddha hates for example the malays didnt get rid of their appease not me traditions the rationalized them and there was a. Process of a metamorphosis in which such be islamic believes very nicely with more mystical trends in the slums and the malays were mystics. And there has been the experience of islam for all the essentially are two very recent times in the past forty or fifty years. The challenge of. Pewter chemical islam has been a more recent one. The rise of wahhabi islam terrorism al qaida islam nine eleven ism you know bush reactionism all these kinds of things we understand islam within that within that because of islam has. So many dimensions. In which people can operate in gravity and i will it is our reductionist approach not just by non muslims but increasingly by muslims that islam is exclusively and its this aspect of islamic law what can and cannot be done dominate everything from break im going. Back to school my phone someone slashed the preachings. There was. Quite radical muslims running around in the temples. In the streets. And i think it was very. Of course it is a difficult climate to be controversial in this country because. You know that i feel that the controversies attacks are really generated for political reasons. Thats a political project in terms of wanting the country to remain. And the middle east in particular in the muslims in particular to be a certain kind of milling in a certain kind of muslim you know conservative traditional. I think with all fundamentalists and conservatives its a is about control conformity power and the having the sole power and authority to decide this is how you should think this is how you should act this is how you should paint. Or. I first came to london in one to me before its like. When youre living in malaysia or you dont go to see great. The artist in your mind or you see the books magazines. What are you looking for and see if its a fire. Why dont you look or feel you know its more a bar to her if the piece makes you and your hearts skips a bit enough so that it does there im interested to know if i look at it and it doesnt do anything to my feelings that. You know i dont do much for. The brains in the book is. Hardly a missile. Sort of production. In a painting on the wall and if youre already on the museum you know the connection is bright red. Theres nothing like it. You know a lot of young art this looks like a place like this. One the success you know but behind the successes a lot of hard work a lot of disappointments and so you have to live under all those you know not all the authors who are shown here had an easy life you know if you look at. Those works or see in the last gallery you know the right to see. That. You know those were the early days of modernism you know and they have to struggle to find a language a new language to speak you know to get rid of representation. You know sort of you have to feel that were around and that was it wasnt easy and you know today you look at them theyre nice here in this. Nice modern museum you know. The artwork looks so pristine on the wall you know the making of it is different. I think we. Contemporary. Its following a western digitals you know so even when i was in school we live in western history. Theres very few you should not history even today. Critical of you for that history condition lot and no one is really writing serious stuff about salvation so theyve compiled it into into a profit. Of Historical Perspective i think its a shame and then. Were not just. You know into the. West in a series in that this is. When you put all these things that you grew up with even though these are mostly in the real hindu theres a lot of mystical spiritual things that goes on you know you see she grew up we have the rituals and all that and how do you place that where you place that because those things are not going to be acceptable. I love indian food so. Look at all shell be. Looking back. Over the last almost a year yeah yeah we do have the female convents well sort of call them small yeah we should go make it so we make a three. Million rebel in the studio questionable you know. But i think a lot of kids dont understand that rebellion is a process you know it has to end up. In some sort of a conclusion you know who you rebel against something that. You have. The protection in mind to make things better you know you dont just rebel but rebel because its special you know because. Rebelling is not a job. Its not a career. Youre a bell when you want to change things. When zac you moved into painting you see of course cause its. Some controversy. Its a way of gauging social attitudes the sense you see nudes and minute as pornographic i want i admire the courage that he has you know to draw things that are not politically correct you know the buddha teams the new you know and these are things that are supposed to be the good muslim you know what about doing with elf causing the wrath of you know the conservatives within society but i think its irrelevant to him these are very important ways of challenging the notion of what comprises islamic cowards. You are born and you you die. And i dont think its. So much. An overt sexuality of the human body theres aki is preoccupied sort of trigger one was a painting that trigger the new series. I couldnt figure out how to make a painting with a new. Mutes was actually a direct response to a smile involved and so it was a it is not something that is ignored in islam in fact is contemplated a great deal in in islam the nature of sexuality which is then related to the nature of being all of these can be fine and so if you stick traditions and at heart i think hes going much see if you see painter. The reason hes not wearing any clothes is because i want him to be in these natural state so you know you come out and fight him whether. Hes wearing western clothes or eastern closer or whether he still gets released or batteries you know who he is so universal. It was something totally against islam. But then the works would never man to be about. You know if this is a it has elements of that but it was never meant to be erotic. Or sexually explicit. When i first started the new series. Responses some people think im gay i. Just find it to be you know. I dont feel and find anything wrong with being gay. Being in a closers because i want him to be in his natural state so you can i would fight him whether. Hes wearing western clothes or eastern clothes or whether he saw this race or that race you know he he is so universal. It was something totally against islam. But then the words were never man to be about. You know off the system it has elements of that but it was never meant to be erotic. Or sexually explicit. When i first thought of a new serious. Response and some people think im gay he. Just fired me here no. I dont for him find anything wrong with being gay. Some people thing dirty. Very few people can connect it to something religious so whats wrong with the erotic painting. I dont see anything wrong with it and now if people one to choose to me offended by it their best their right to be offended by it but they dont have the right to impose their values on one of the people who dont share those values so you know i mean one more i tease they should be totally free you know to paint what they want to paint i always remember that some of the most erotic poetry that you have in the world today written by muslim mystics and people like rumi have peace and i dont and i see that he in this light. Although you know the painting is this painted by me you know but to complete the work it has to interact with the public and giving the audience. The minimal of clues actually. So that you can open up your mind you know im giving you a lot of room to roll to do in the break. Religion and. For me the electorate and. Ive got some various traditional subjects sitting in the works. The ballet dancer the sea life pieces. Actually it is the next all season we shouldnt waltz music. Its sport form when there is someone sick in the house it is banned by the foss government and because its seen as a misled me. They still practice it today but im sick of. This other kind of things which which. Interest me you know that. Spiritual side of this performances the dances the musicians you know theyre all. On the dance drama form called that which is an all female form is very much rooted in the belief that we all possess animal spirits animal spirits then then define our own personalities so we may be eagle we may be crocodile we could be a lion you could be a tiger we could be a wolf. And sometimes you know i mean like. Dirty little animal like. Like the baby was a. Little bit. Small that the animal i saw it in the singapore you didnt want to take it home if you. You know i was compelled to make this bobby rush. Into something that this isnt profound even and i can only do that if i inject myself into it i gave this little animal my personality for many people of course its shocking because we had been severed of that mythological tradition and today you go to large parts of Southeast Asia and particularly in malaysia not only are these kinds of myths. Not encouraged they are seriously abused and meet illegitimate. The current series im working on. Is. Dale from the primordial god and you have that thing within you that were mentioned. About doing things beautifully. But then you have the other side of you you know the dark side. The more. Disturbing aspects of your personality that has to come out. In islam you know like in bali good and evil six together. Both are creatures of god i see him within a continuum. Of artists who carry this primordial spirit that is very particular to this region when he paints he actually invokes an entire landscape of this of this place that has also very strong historical resonances you do understand you entering a landscape of color and of a sensibility of a temperament and of a kind of spiritual memory. Meldrum. Only if i go to town leave it might be where i hang out. Im happy you watch people even. After i was in the studio a lot of noise my stews so cool to me is where. Theres a crowd. And this is my kind of guy. And. I. I. I. I. I know well and everyone goes to sleep with my wife is sleeping and it gets i sleeping thats im probably used to stand especially because im a little. I was specially made it live you know you know i dont get full of coals and. So its my this is the time i have for myself actually yeah late at night after midnight when everyone is asleep and you know thats my time. Was. This particular series that the sunni and it will disappear series was a series which i wanted to do especially on on on j. V. As a topic because at least once in my career i would like to acknowledge you know the town where i grew up in where i was born. With disappear and with us to do stuff with on the streets. And in effect alleys behind the streets. Would just wreck off life. People do well in the fringes of society. Oh i dont thing. I like to enjoy because im anonymous here. Is just a place well i was born you know i grew up here its a small town with a simple life. The town is growing also i might have to move. But. You know. Is where i was born and i like being here. I dont like the big cities. Oh oh. This actually live studies which i did so i go on ocean silly. We were traveling with a group of indonesian artists we ran around saigon looking for a model but we couldnt find any number in the hand. We found a couple of models and in a brothel actually. Who were willing to pose for us. I dont normally do female nudes. I dont have much of a choice. When you are drawing in the nude you know much or leave it off this is and comes into it you know. And here i think i tried to capture. That sense reality but very quickly. Although its a fairly conservative country and you have. To be is what we call the moral police you know you can sure everyone behaves. You know i mean ive been drawing and painting newts for years and. Theyre never bored with me. The female new its not anything new isnt it obvious has been growing use the centuries about this just that here in this country people get a bit a bit sensitive. I would prefer drawing the female rather than me myself to see. That thats. Not nice to see a nude man life in front of you was. My children. When they go to school. I know what school you know but he needs a good look at you know about going to come home and with me. Because im going. To learn an. Alternate view. And i still go all the stuff exposing them to the little things. Talk to them. By you know to. About susan. And especially about. Not being afraid to explore. Not to be afraid of other cultures religions. But still be a man of the world. The sense to keep religions apart. In traffic it separates catholic and Muslim Children in the schoolyard. Even though over two decades have passed since the war ended in bosniaherzegovina how deeply did the divisions run in the hearts of the. No love in a hostile climate to divide. In thirty minutes on t w. Film and this is the entire show the entire scheme to jurors or dealing with any unit that they killed many civilians to mean i should come including my father one thing such as i was a student we call me i wanted to build a life for myself like this totally for suddenly life became alledge kind sob. Providing insights global news that matters d. W. Made for mines. Oh dropping bombs on civilians. Fortunately the situation escalates theres no longer an for scruples. Ruthless calculation military leaders or toby extent of the past. Technological progress to come to grisham said mr gerson struck him becoming a good Church Starting february third on t w. This is d w news live from but cheney is on edge as it marks the seventh anniversary of the arab spring the w. s funny franchise in china says fresh protests get underway get cut people anything to that shape up to come up take up. To continue to take to the streets to call for an economic problems on their off days the situation could escalate as the north african nation struggles with deep rooted echo