KUALA LUMPUR, May 31 — While more and more people venture into the arts and try to make a go of it as a career... the image of the starving artist is still pretty real.
Nizam Abdullah of Nizamsculpture Studio, however, is one of the successful ones who turned his passion into a business.
If you frequent Publika, chances are you have seen his work: the playground sculpture, Outdated’s signage and a commissioned sculpture for Bxie Blonde, among others.
In the art and design world, Nizam Abdullah is famous for his metal sculptures. “I love art in all mediums. Besides metal, I also use wood and fibreglass,” said Nizam.
Nizam’s work is not limited to just sculptures though; he also does interior design for bars and cafes, furniture (which is sold at DESIGNation) and even metal trophies.
He graduated from Limkokwing University in 2004 as a fine arts student majoring in metal sculptures with a minor in painting. “I chose to do metal sculptures as my career because I love the 3D look and feel of sculptures,” he said.
Shortly after his graduation, he was asked to lecture at his alma mater on Life Drawing. Nizam spent three years teaching before he decided to do something else instead.
He went on to work for a gallery as their South-east Asian Art co-ordinator for a year where he travelled a lot and made friends with artists and other creative people.
Nizamsculpture Studio was established in 2012. While he is not the first metal sculptor in Malaysia, he is the first to make it into a business. “You can call me an entrepreneur-artist,” he said. Although he does not have a formal business background, Nizam said it is all about being street smart.
One of the things Nizam hopes to achieve is to create an appreciation among the public for metal sculptures and other forms of art. “In Malaysia, the perception of art is kraftangan or an artist painting caricatures in Central Market,” he said.
He hopes that in two or three years’ time, he can change that perception. “If anyone has space, I’m willing to give them an art sculpture,” he said.
At Nizamsculpture Studio, he and his team do a lot of custom designs, mainly for commercial clients such as developers. He does have customers who want custom-made pieces for their homes but the demand is not as high compared to commercial clients.
“Sometimes people come to us with an idea and we realise the ideas for them. Then there are times people come to us because they have seen our previous works and would like us to do something. We then give an idea, a budget is proposed and we negotiate and work something out,” said Nizam.
He uses stainless steel for his work and the pricing usually depends on the finishing and complexity of the work. He also uses industrial parts such as washers in his design, e.g. a side table and a mirror.
The first metal sculpture he made that sparked off the idea for the business was his rooster series. “This is my personal artwork that is meant for exhibition and collectors. I made 20 different types of roosters with different finishings for this series. I chose the rooster because it is my Chinese animal zodiac. I’m also a metal rooster hence the use of the material in this sculpture,” said Nizam.
“It took me awhile to get the body flow right because it is difficult to use metal, which is a hard, physical material and turn it into a soft look and flow of an actual rooster body,” he said.
Creating personal artwork like these is even harder than making sculptures for the public, admits Nizam.
“In order to do something well, I cannot be in my comfort zone. To create something, you need to have the mindset to do it. I find it easier to work on my clients’ commissions because if I do something personal, it has to give me 110 per cent satisfaction. Different people will judge your work, and it is not just art but they will see your understanding and development of your art,” said Nizam.
In the beginning, he rented a small workshop and did everything on his own. He invested on machines and learned everything, even through YouTube. “I learned the basics in university but there is more to learn.”
Once he started to get more orders, he hired staff. As an entrepreneur-artist he cannot be working at the workshop all the time either because he has to go out to meet potential clients and run the business side of things.
Nizam hired people who were willing to work and it did not matter if they had prior experience or not because he enjoys teaching.
When Nizam designs a piece of furniture, he changes the character of the material to be a product and he has to be careful of the edges because it is for usage. “The product is a functional sculpture. When a sculpture becomes a product, the price is not as high compared to a piece of art. That is the case when it is in Malaysia. In overseas somehow, it is as valuable or maybe higher,” said Nizam.
“When you create something, you need to learn the character and the flow. For example if you want to create a sculpture based on a horse, you need to know the anatomy of the horse, the shape of the horse and how it moves,” said Nizam.
People know about Nizam through word of mouth. Usually, they will do research about his work before they approach him.
“For me, I don’t think creativity is a natural born talent but it is about how high is your curiosity. You need to find out an object is made from what, how it is made. Curiosity builds passion, then from that passion comes career. It is a learning process,” said Nizam.
He also offers workshops for seven to 14-year-olds where he introduces machines, tools and safety measures while working in a metal sculpture workshop.
It is to give young people the experience of working in a workshop. The children get to draw on metal plates which are then processed by Nizam and team.
The three-hour workshop is by appointment with a minimum of five persons per session.
Nizamsculpture Studio
A-2-5 Jalan PJU 1A/20A
Dataran Ara Damansara
47301 Petaling Jaya
Selangor
Nizam Abdullah
Telephone: +6012-6082250
Email: [email protected]
Instagram: www.instagram.com/nizamsculpture
