From punk to NFTs: This artist is a Singapore pioneer in the digital marketplace

TALK TO ME ABOUT WHAT INSPIRES YOUR WORK. WHERE DO YOU DRAW YOUR INSPIRATION?

This is such a cliche but I’m really inspired by daily life, to be honest. Sometimes my work is informed by a single word and how it looks, or it could be inspired by a smell that reminds me of a memory. I try to draw all of this, if I can. I have a drawing app installed on my phone just so I can record it in the form of a sketch if and when inspiration hits. And since my work is mostly in black and white, it makes the process simpler, in a way. More immediate.

A LOT OF YOUR WORK LOOKS AT ISSUES OF ETHNICITY. HOW MUCH OF THAT HAS BEEN BASED IN UNDERSTANDING YOUR OWN CULTURAL IDENTITY?

There was a point in my art practice when I thought the best way to understand my cultural identity was to read books about it, before realising that all I really have to do is to just live my life. Because reading about it is not as good as just being present. And I’m just trying to be more aware of what’s going on and how it makes me feel. My cultural identity is not just about being a Malay of Baweanese descent. My identity is also made up of many other things, from the clothes I’m wearing to the music I listen to and to the things I read. And it’s all connected. So I trust the gut a lot more than the head when I create.

DO YOU THINK MOST NON-MALAY SINGAPOREANS ARE A LITTLE IGNORANT OF WHAT REALLY IS MALAY CULTURE?

Ignorant I think is a too strong a word. I mean, since culture can be deemed a social construct, everyone’s relationship with it is different; it’s very personal. And we could be of the same race but have different relationships with what informs our race, you know? So, we know what we know and I’m okay with that. But of course, it would be good to know more about one another. Being aware of our differences and similarities only enhances the human experience.

TELL ME ABOUT YOUR ENDEAVOURS INTO THE WORLDS OF NFTS. WHEN DID YOU FIRST DISCOVER NFTS AND WHAT DID YOU THINK?

I first heard the term I think around two days before the “big Beeple bang”, as I would like to call it. I’m always interested in finding new ways to show my art and I initially thought that NFT was kind of like Instagram. I found out very quickly that it’s not at all like that. It is essentially a marketplace, with items being bought and sold using crypto currency. And when I found out, I was a little intimidated. I knew there was going to be a learning curve that I had to get over, and I wasn’t too sure if I could do it. But it was interesting enough for me to make that decision to learn, so I did. It took me about three to four days of deep-diving to gain a basic understanding of what it was before I finally decided to mint something on the block chain.

HOW HARD WAS IT TO START MAKING YOUR OWN AND SELLING THEM?

Besides the learning curve, it’s actually not that hard. I mean making the work is relatively easy, since I pretty much draw every day, but I was extremely lucky to have sold my first NFT a day after minting. And I think it has a lot do with the timing. I was one of the early adopters in that sense, although NFTs had been around way before. But the space wasn’t as crowded as it is now and I think that helped tremendously.