Meet the Sarawakian who makes EPIC drawings using Kilometrico pens

So we stumbled across this Sarawakian guy who makes art out of the unlikeliest piece of stationery. Kilometrico pens! Yes, ini punya:

Whoaa! Who knew this humble lil’ 80 sen ballpoint pen (ink sometimes tak keluar properly) could make ART??! But it’s prolly very ugly raite? What can you expect out of a freaking ballpoint pen? It probably looks like:

Then we looked through his collection of artwork and they look like this:

Errm yeah…pretty sure that his schoolteachers never tolak markah for bad handwriting.

Anyways we got in touch with the guy, his name is Syahbandi Samat.

So who is this Master of Kilometrico pen moves???

We know we said Syahbandi is Sarawakian, but actually he grew up a Bangsar boy. He was just born in Kuching on 20 Apr 1992. So that would make him 23 years old this year.

In secondary school, he experimented around with other mediums before he settling on ballpoint pens. 

“I’ve tried many other mediums such as acrylic, oil, and watercolours, but they didn’t really suit my style. But it doesn’t always have to be Kilometrico. There are other brands like Faber Castell. It’s just that most stores out there sell Kilometrico.” – Syahbandi

So just to explain things to the non-art understanders (like CILISOS flers), his type of artwork is called a drawing. Any artwork using DRY medium is considered drawing, he explained to us. Not many artists in Malaysia use ballpoint pens to make art, that’s also one of the reasons he went for it. Plus, pens are available just about EVERYWHERE.

Usually, it takes Syahbandi around 2 weeks to complete a medium-sized drawing. A lot of it depends of the size, subject and detail of the work…

“I usually draw subjects on fairytales, folklore, quotes, mythology or people’s beliefs. Subjects that even the general public who don’t understand art can relate to. For example, Sleeping Beauty and Pinocchio. I use Malay, Chinese and Indian proverbs and idioms, as well.” – Syahbandi

Click HERE to view and buy his artwork.

One thing we’ve noticed in his drawings are these little 4-leaf clovers. Almost every piece, they make a cameo appearance. Syahbandi told us that was his trademark and that it represented good luck for those carrying it.

After finishing school, Syahbandi jumped right into art. He told us his teachers used to yell at him for the drawings he did on the last pages of his school books. But they’re all proud of him today!  🙂

Coming from a family background that’s not art-related, he had challenges. He never went for art classes or university, and didn’t have anyone to guide him. But he really had a passion (as cliche as we sound) so he pursued it. Finally, all that hard work paid off when he was selected as one of the winners for the Malaysian Emerging Artist Award (MEAA). Yayyy!

But tho he hasn’t had any professional training or whatever, Syahbandi heard of this FREE retreat program called the sembilan art residency through a friend. We’ll talk about it in a bit. So he applied for a spot and was selected. By the end of the 3-month program, he hopes to draw 6 or 7 new pieces!

“I’m extremely excited staying in Seremban, doing the residency with my art partner Anahita Ghazanfari from Iran. It’s gonna be a new theme series of mine. So stay tuned for the show!”  😀 – Syahbandi

A free retreat for artists to make art? Sign ME up!

CILISOS contacted sembilan boss James Yip. James, 32, is the Founder & Director of Elias Project, a project management consultancy, which is the main business, and sembilan is like a CSR project branch-out. We’ll introduce the basics first:

What is it: sembilan is a non-profit company that gives unknown local artists a chance to show and sell their work. It’s all for FREE!

How it works: They select 2 young artists (1 guy, 1 girl) each season, give them a hotel room each to stay in, and 2,000 sqft studio to work in, just a 5-min walk away from the hotel. Think of it as an artist work retreat! At the end the season, they’ll exhibit whatever the artists have come up with in a cool venue somewhere. Now they’re at Season 4 (Nov 2015-Feb 2016).

So far, sembilan is running out of their own pockets. They get accommodation sponsorship by Sun Lun Yik Hotel in Seremban – 2 rooms free throughout the entire year, to house the artists! Super generous offer wei, but the hotel also has a passion to support local artists. Plus, they work with Chalk and Raddy (an online art magazine) that handles the arty side of things, like selecting the applicants, documenting their work and stuff.

Art doesn’t have to be for ‘atas’ people la…

So how did it all start? Well, James and his wife used to work overseas in many countries and they’d collect art from Asian countries like Thailand, Korea, etc. BUTTT they almost never could find art from Malaysia. That’s when they learned that art in Malaysia has always sorta ‘belonged’ to the upper class.

“All the Datuk-Datuk will buy artworks from already famous artists. However there are a lot of young, talented artists with nowhere to go. So we started sembilan to let them know they have us.” – James told CILISOS over the phone

To bring art to the non-atas, ordinary people, they pick the most unusual venues…unusual for an exhibition, yet common to the rest of us. Like at the Alliance Francaise de Kuala Lumpur (for Season 1), Aku Cafe in the heart of Chinatown (Season 2), and Awesome Canteen (Season 3). James said these venues allowed them to exhibit there for free and he hopes to work with more unconventional places. Like maybe a carpark. Wouldn’t that be cool tho? It won’t make people feel awkward coz it’s not an atas art gallery!

So in doing this, sembilan has created a friendly art community, where all these young artists can meet each other and share stuff. Altogether, they have 8 artists now and they’ve grown to become a super close-knit group. They keep in touch through a WhatsApp group to lepak and makan together sometimes.

If you’re a local artist who’s interested to apply, all you have to do is apply HERE. After that, Chalk and Raddy will interview the applicants and choose them. They’re looking out for serious artists…people who want to pursue art as a full-time job.

But more than selling their art pieces, sembilan’s artists-in-residence can look forward to seeing their work on someone’s chest!! Coz James has an idea of working with a clothing manufacturer, like Padini or something, to print art on their clothing or packaging. Wahh, literally like free branding for them. And then the commission they earn from that will be split between them. Which will also help to sustain sembilan from day to day.

“Art is starting to become more relevant than ever. Restaurants and businesses call me to ask how they can incorporate art into their products. One day we hope to apply for funding from the private sector.” – James

At the end of the day, without consumers also no business can survive. Ehh Malaysians, start supporting local artists larr. If we don’t, how will the industry grow? Imagine a Malaysia with NO art!? So lifeless. 🙁

Besides, Malaysian artists all one-of-a-kind punya. Their art got local elements, like Syahbandi’s Malay, Chinese and Indian proverbs…we’ve also seen local streets, scenery and skylines in paintings. In 50 years when everything in our country looks so different, we’re gonna wish we had collected these artworks, just so we can look at them and dream.