“WHEN I was growing up, I wanted to be a rock star and a painter!” declares Johan Ishak impassionedly. What does rock star art really look like, I wonder.
David Bowie painted people with smudged-out faces. The subjects in Patti Smith’s drawings include the 19th-century French poet Arthur Rimbaud. Marilyn Manson’s watercolours offered a family of demonic toddlers and ghoulish adults.
Rolling Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood’s muses include — who else — Mick Jagger. Then there’s also Bob Dylan and his imageries of race, politics and the blues.
“Well I’m no rock star!” he protests when he hears my musings. Then again, I learn that he can cut a mean tune on his rhythm guitar.
There are videos floating in the Internet space of him twanging his Gibson Les Paul that I’m aware of. Rock star, much? But the Media Prima Television Networks (MPTN) chief executive officer blithely waves my question away, insisting that his interest has taken a backseat to other more important pursuits at hand.
“Like running a TV station?” I ask. “Like running a TV station,” he repeats with a grin, nodding.
Childhood ambitions were thwarted, he confides, thanks to his father’s practicality. “My father told me ‘don’t be ridiculouslah! Go be a doctor, engineer or accountant!’’ he recalls. So he became a chartered accountant.
Soon, corporate world beckoned, art took a backseat (as with being a rock star) and real life took over for many years. But childhood passions, he confides, run deep in his veins. “It’s in my blood,” he says, shrugging his shoulders.
Caricreatures is Johan’s second solo show. Showcasing 80 pieces depicting digital drawings of animal characters, it marks a departure from his usual style which he describes as “new expressionism and contemporary”.
The animals are varied — ranging from insects to larger animals like tiger, tapir and the elephant — and have a quirky, whimsical style that hints at his immense talent despite the fact that he used the stylus of his Samsung Note 4 to create most of the artworks displayed. “It had its limitations but it was still a very satisfying venture,” he admits, chuckling.
A talent is born
Ironically, it was his father who unwittingly helped spark his passion in art. “My father brought me to his friend ‘Uncle’ Ibrahim’s art show at the National Art Gallery,” he recalls, adding: “I was only 8 at that time.” ‘Uncle’ Ibrahim was none other than the late Datuk Ibrahim Hussein, one of the nation’s most successful and iconic artists, whose abstract work was described by one international critic as “...futuristic and it’s through a distinctive ordering of lines that he expresses differing complexities of form and dimensions.”
Says Johan: “I remember telling him, ‘Uncle buat lines, I also can do lines! And the amused artist responded: ‘Really? Why don’t you try?’” So he did. “...with magic inklah! Then I realised how damned difficult it was!” he adds, laughing heartily. And that intrigued him. How did the artist do this? How did he create such beautiful imageries with lines? “That was the starting point in my interest in art.”
And over the years, the interest grew. “I started following Datuk Ibrahim’s works avidly, and soon other Malaysian greats followed, like Syed Ahmad Jamal, Latiff Mohiddin and Ismail Latiff,” he says effusively.
His love for art notwithstanding, Johan still picked accountancy as his major. “My idol at that time was Tan Sri Azman Hashim, the chairman of Ambank. My father pointed him out to me, saying, ‘That’s Azman, he’s the owner of a bank, he has a Ferrari and he’s a chartered accountant!’” recalls Johan, quipping: “So I became a chartered accountant. As it turns out, I don’t own a bank and I still don’t have a Ferrari!”
It was when he started MyCreative Ventures, a government investment arm that was created to help finance companies involved in the creative industry, that his passion in art was rekindled. “I saw how the art community worked out of their passion, and for me, my passion was art. It was somehow rather inspiring and so I decided to do something about it,” he says.
One could argue how studying art is necessary for artists to learn the technicality of their craft. But here too things are changing, as Johan observes. “Today, you can learn almost anything yourself if you have the patience for it,” says the self-taught artist. “I never studied fine art but I got curious and started learning on my own. I bought my set of oil paints, canvas and painted.”
“So no background in art,” I repeat incredulously. “Financial art, yes lah! The art of counting money!” he jokes. He started painting on a whim but to his surprise, his work soon gained popularity from social media. “I was actually quite ignorant and didn’t realise anyone would notice. Facebook was just a place to put my paintings,” he says, with another shrug of his shoulders.
He began with painting Islamic contemporary art. “I realised through my travels that Islamic art is a lot more creative than what it’s perceived to be here in Malaysia,” he explains, adding that travelling to Art Dubai, a leading international art fair that showcases art from the Middle East and North Africa, opened his eyes to the beauty of Islamic contemporary art. “Islamic art in Malaysia was slowly dying because it hadn’t evolved very much from the time when I was 8. What I saw in Dubai was breathtaking and so beautiful that even non-Muslims would buy these pieces!” he recalls.
His first series Ikhlas: 20 was born. It was the interpretation of the many facets of the one true God, as Muslims believe. “People were keen to purchase a piece because it was different from the usual copper tooling that Islamic art was famous for,” he recalls, adding that the series was sold out. “Orders were pouring in for me to paint this genre, but eventually I grew weary because of the demand. Once it stopped coming from the heart, I had to stop. It was time for me to evolve again.” Ikhlas: 20 was exhibited at the main lobby of the New Straits Times building back in 2016. That was Johan’s first solo exhibition.
His second joint exhibition with Prof. Dr Abdul Jalil Othman was at Galeri Prima’s inaugural opening in 2016 entitled Buana (World). “It was basically to showcase the relationship between man, earth and the stewardship entrusted to us by God to take care of this earthly home we live in.” It was an evolvement of sorts, he explains. “I didn’t steer too far from the Islamic contemporary art I started off with. But I went on to include everything — a little bit of Islamic influence, animals, humans and everything else that inspired me. That’s the beauty of contemporary art. It offers no limitations and sets no parameters. You can do whatever you want in complete freedom.”
Birth of Caricreatures
It’s only fitting that Johan eventually moved to the animal kingdom. After all, God, earth and now the creatures that roam on earth seem the perfect continuation for the artist who’s not afraid of experimenting. “It’s actually a combination of two words you know. Caricatures and creatures,” he explains, looking earnest. I nod. Not exactly rocket science, I say. And he laughs.
“Actually, it all started when I was back in school,” he shares. Tired of studying, Johan took a break from burying his nose in the book for his Form 5 examinations and started drawing caricatures of his batchmates. Your father would’ve been livid, I muse. “Why would he? He didn’t know! I was in boarding school!” is his unabashed response.
In the nostalgic bygone era of signing autographs to remember friends, Johan went the extra mile of drawing his friends (“All 126 of them!”) based on the nicknames that were given to them and got them to sign off against their own pictures. “Back then, you knowlah... how young Malay boys would be given nicknames like lembu, kambing, badak that stuck on throughout school. So I drew them as animals!” he recalls, grinning.
Fast forward years later, animal caricatures came up again, he tells me, once his third child was born. “I used to spend long hours in my studio painting. I’d stay on right up to the wee hours of the morning painting, even if I had a meeting just hours later. I’d find myself sleeping in the car as I’m driven to work!” he admits sheepishly, adding that his wife insisted that he spend more time at home helping to care for his newborn, by telling him sternly: “No, you’re not going to the studio because I need your help. You’re going to help change diapers and bancuh susu!” So the devoted husband and father-of-three stayed away from his studio for about year.
The stylus and his Samsung Note came in handy during that period. “I never stopped drawing,” he confesses. At home, at the hospital and even at airport terminals in between flights, Johan would while away the time sketching his animal caricatures. Later, he’d transfer them to his computer where he’d edit and colour the images. “I put them up on Facebook and people wanted to buy them too!” he says, before adding in amusement: “I sold a few!”
When the idea of the exhibition came about, Johan dug up his old schooldays artwork, transferred them to digital format, reedited and coloured them to give them a new lease of life. “So what you see in this exhibition is a combination of my ode to my schoolmates and my latest animal caricatures,” he explains, smiling.
The interview is halted as he’s eager to take me around the gallery. Pointing out to a couple of his older works, Johan regales me with stories of his schooldays and of some of his friends who are forever immortalised in his works. There’s a spring in his step and a certain joie de vivre that exudes from the 43-year-old as he talks about art.
If you’re successful in one field, you’re probably wisest leaving it at that. It’s not a given that creative talent will cross over from having a successful career to putting brush to canvas — but Johan seems to have done it all. “I love art,” he says simply.
“To express individuality as an artist is very personal,” he confides again, as he looks at his displays. “Art is more powerful, a more personal statement. And if you’re lucky enough, you’re able to share it with people who appreciate it,” he concludes, smiling.
Caricreatures by Johan Ishak
Where Galeri Prima, Balai Berita, 31 Jalan Riong, KL
When Until August 18, 10 am to 6 pm daily
Call 03-27248300
Admission is free