Chaotic life: The work of street artist Donald Abraham

Malaysian street artist Donald Abraham's art is an "unreal and dream-like world covered in our distorted reality".

PETALING JAYA: The art studio stretches long and high. Every wall is covered almost to the rafters with canvas paintings, set above shelves filled with stacks of sketchbooks.

On one shelf sits a circle of multicoloured Vans sneakers, interlocked to form a sort of wheel with their laces woven into a lattice.

“That one has no name yet. I’m still working on it, I still have to paint them,” says the man next to me. Nearby, his daughter sleeps soundly; we speak softly so as not to wake her up.

This place, a shoplot converted into an art studio-cum-apartment, belongs to Malaysian street artist Donald Abraham.

His wife and daughter stay here with him; a section of the spacious lot has been blocked off and turned into a bedroom.

The floor is mottled with colours and paintbrushes litter the floor.

FMT is here to talk about his life’s work as well as his collaboration with Subang Jaya-based band Son Of A Policeman (SOAP) for their work in the Tiger Jams competition.

Tiger Jams is a regional music competition organised by Asian beer label Tiger Beer that will see three Malaysian bands working together with acclaimed bands and artists from Malaysia, Singapore and Hong Kong to produce musical and visual collaborations.

“You can look through my sketchbooks and see what you like,” Abraham tells SOAP frontman Joshua Jarrett Ganesan, who is also there to discuss his work.

He pulls out a box full of his watercolour pieces. “Here, you can look at these, too.”

Now in his 30s, Abraham has been drawing since he was five, “before I learned how to read”, he says.

“I learned to read quite late — when I was in primary school, I think — but I was already drawing before that.”

Despite only beginning his professional career in art in 2007, he has been sketching for years, using whatever time he had while juggling jobs in construction as a welder and fitter.

Abraham’s claim to the street art scene lies mainly in his personal affinity for skateboarding, having skated since his teenage years.

His manoeuvres at the time took the form of painting skateboard decks for friends. He moved to canvas and sculptures after a skateboarding injury.

“Are you involved in the KL graffiti scene?” I had asked Abraham earlier at his studio in Ara Damansara.

He was raving animatedly about an American photographer who he admired for her photographs of graffiti all over the world.

“No,” he said. “I personally think it’s a little bit of a waste of money.

“Spray paint is expensive. Besides, I don’t want to show off all my art. Some of it is personal, I’d rather keep it for myself. But I did give it a try last time.

“I’d like to explore 4D art,” Abraham added with a smile.