After ten years in advertising, Quddin, 37, has become what he's always wanted to be - an artist. "I used to follow my (artist) friends around to their openings," he says. "Deep inside I felt I wanna paint, I wanna paint, I wanna paint!" In July 2004, Quddin left Leo Burnett, one of Malaysia's top advertising agencies, for a profession associated with words like "struggling" and waiting on tables and fame that often only comes after you're long gone. "Finances can be difficult," Quddin agrees. "But if I don't succeed, (I) can quickly run back to advertising," he explains.

Playing with POP

It's been almost two years and it doesn't look like Quddin is running anywhere close to 'back'. His first solo debut was at the National Art Gallery CafE. And his second solo effort, "Quddin Playing with POP" is currently on exhibit at new private gallery, Gema Rimba in Bukit Tunku.

Playing with POP is about Quddin using icons of popular culture to express himself.

"I'm new in the art scene so I'm playing and experimenting with pop culture," he explains. The pieces, a mixture of silkscreen and acrylic paintings feature a mix of modern symbols such as a scooter or a robot, juxtaposed against traditional icons such as a wayang kulit or Hang Tuah. Each painting delivers a different message, says Quddin, the interpretation of which is left up to the viewer.

One of the paintings for instance, features a gun-bearing Transformer and a wayang kulit warrior. The piece is simply entitled, "Warrior". But " ...which is the warrior?" asks Quddin. The answer lies with the viewer. Most of Quddin's paintings have this conflict or contrast of East and West, old and new. Is this his style? "I don't really have a style yet," says Quddin. Style is your "drawing stroke" or the "material you use". Some of his friends have pointed out that they have already started to see a sort of Quddin style, who likes to use strong black outlines in a lot of his work. Quddin, however, says he is "still searching for his style."

One thing that clearly sets Quddin apart from other artists is his solid background in advertising. "The discipline I got from advertising helps me with deadlines and projects," he says - a highly important attribute in a field where work can easily go on forever. Quddin sets his own deadlines. One small piece can take a day, sometimes three days but nothing more. Sometimes a painting can be totally redone when he feels the composition or something about it is just not right. But he limits this sort of reworking to twice. Playing with POP took him three months to complete.

Another influence from advertising is the way he approaches the work. "I'm very single-minded," he says. Each painting is like a print ad which poses a single message. The layout and composition is similar to his advertising print work strong visuals and the title of the painting, almost like a tagline, such as the mentioned "Warrior".

In the cloisters of Gema Rimba, Quddin's pieces hang like a montage of Warhol on Jalan TAR with blue Vespas, shadowy puppets and black bunga raya motifs weaving in and out all over the place. I ask which is his favourite. He points out a simple black and white piece "Gusti Putri Retno Dumilah", done after he watched Putri Gunung Ledang. The piece features a brave-looking wayang kulit warrior walking away from a throne, which is what the character in the movie did to follow his dream, says Quddin. "Something I can relate to," he says with a smile.

The art collectors

According to Husni, curator and owner of Gema Rimba, Malaysia has a small but growing group of art collectors. The gallery, though only seven months old, has been attracting an increasing number of visitors, mostly through word of mouth and private invitation.

Customers are a mixture of corporate clients and interior designers or young executives purchasing for their own use. The latter group is usually in their late 20s or early 30s, many of whom are learning to appreciate art. Gema Rimba is a good place to get a feel of what's new and what's good and paintings are deemed affordable for the new collector with price tags ranging from below RM1,000 to RM5,000.

Apart from its unique location surrounded by lush, green hills, Gema Rimba tries to create a different environment from other art galleries in the city. "We want to create a sense of belonging for the paintings," says Husni. "You rasa macam (feel like) it belongs there, macam like it's your house." In fact, Gema Rimba is a a third floor flat in posh Bukit Tunku.

As for future plans, Gema Rimba wants to expand the market expose people to fine art. KL has a small group of serious art collectors (people who are willing to pay as much as RM20,000 a piece) but there are many who have never bought a painting in their lives. This is changing, though, as "people start to appreciate the finer things in life," says Quddin.

He refers to a younger group of people, maybe 20 to 40 years old, who will pay double for special edition Adidas shoes or hire ID guys to decorate their homes. Fifty years ago, consumer decisions were very price-driven. Now, aesthetics, fashion and trends are taking a lead, influencing how people choose everything from their washing machines to their sports shoes.

The industry

In a country that places professions such as doctors and lawyers and IT experts in high regard, few people aspire to be artists. Husni, however, feels very strongly about the importance of young artists to Malaysia. "They'll be the ones who'll be painting the history of our country," he argues. "It's their life and experiences. In 100 or 200 years from now, if these artists don't exist, nobody will know about us."

Are our schools and educational institutions supporting this sort of creativity? Today's professionals grew up in art classes telling them to do posters saying "Jauhi Dari Dadah!", draw this potato or that vase. There was a lot of emphasis on what was right and what was wrong, very little on art as a subject. "What is missing is the fundamentals of why art is important," says Husni.

Art in secondary school tended to be overshadowed by subjects like Science and Maths and was somewhat relegated to the ranks of subjects like P.E.or Pendidikan Moral. An ex-KBSM student Husni recalls how teachers were usually unspecialized. It would not be uncommon for a History or English teacher to double up as an art teacher. Like most developing countries, Art has taken a backseat to subjects like law and medicine. "People don't place enough importance on art," says Husni. "Not knowing that by studying art and knowing about it you can become a better lawyer or doctor."

Quddin, himself, professes to be a self taught artist. Coming from a sekolah agama - religious school, there were no art classes in his school so he took Art in SPM from another school. His rise up the artistic path has been one based on pure desire, determination and a sense of talent he always knew he had. So now that he's had his second solo exhibition what else can we expect from him? "I'm trying to exhibit in other countries," he says. "Maybe London."

It's a strategy other artists and film makers have used in the past.

He cites Yasmin Ahmad as an example, whose film, "Rabun", received a lot of local publicity after it won some awards overseas. For his next series of work, Quddin plans to play with different mediums. "Industrial mediums," he says, which means painting on non-conventional material such as stainless steel or cement, or using colours made from organic material like leaves.

Quddin is not the first artist who's made the move from agency to gallery. Over the last couple of years, the Malaysian ad industry has produced artists like film maker, Yasmin Ahmad and Creative Director, Kit Ong, who also experiments with film. "The agency is like a halfway house for wannabee artists," commented one art director. "There's a lot of talent here but nobody can afford to leave." As long as there are bills to pay and mouths to feed, few artists, writers and film makers will make the switch.

Nevertheless, whether it be advertising or fine art, artists cannot run away from the fact that what they do is driven by the economics of business. In advertising, you paint to sell a product. In fine art, "you paint to sell a painting," says Quddin. The job is still to attract the consumer and connect with him or her. The difference for Quddin is that he is now his own Creative Director and the messages he portrays are completely his own.

Quddin: Playing with POP

Runs from 4 February to 4 March 2006

Gema Rimba Private Gallery

B-8, Taman Tunku, Jalan Langgak Tunku,

Bukit Tunku, 50480 Kuala Lumpur.

Website: www.gemarimba.com

Free Entrance

Gallery hours: Tuesday-Sunday

11.30am to 8.00pm

Tel: 603 6201 3505