Born in Beaufort, raised in Labuan, Sabah and based in Kuala Lumpur for the last 12 years, Donald Gadius Painus Munsih (b1981) or popularly known as Donald Abraham came to a career in art through a most unexpected but not unwelcome circumstance. Acknowledged by a growing circle of admirers as one of the country’s most promising contemporary artist working in the low brow art approach today, Donald who did not received any formal art training confesses that his initial ambition was to be a professional skateboarder. 

 

Slightly different from the recollections that many others shared of being moved by the works of this artist or that which led to them choosing art as a profession or ‘calling’, Donald’s earliest exposure to anything remotely considered ‘art’ were cartoons in the Gila-Gila magazines (local humour magazine inspired by Mad Magazine) bought by his mother Cecilia Piong who got a tad worried that her son who was in primary 3 at that time still could not read. Excited by the cartoon characters drawn by these now legendary cartoonists Hassan, Rejabhab, Zainial Buang Hussien as well as Aza and curious about the stories behind the images, Donald finally learnt to read just so he could understand the dialogues or jokes written in the dialogue box or thought balloons of the characters in the magazine. Though he did enjoy imitating the cartoon drawings of his favourite cartoonists and cutting the images to paste on walls, Donald’s true passion was skate boarding. He had been interested in the sport since the age of 16 and had upon leaving high school, devoted himself to it for a few years, even securing a sponsorship to compete and coming up 21st place in the overall skate boarding category for Asia in the first Asian X Games that was held in Phuket Island in 1998. 

 

However, upon returning to Labuan to a slowly dwindling skate boarding scene and with his skating buddies moving on to more mundane pursuits, Donald decided to leave for Kuala Lumpur in 2001, hoping to hone his skills and grow as a professional skateboarder with the more vibrant scene there. He had already been exposed to skate board graphics and art via the magazines Thrasher and Tran World Sports in Labuan, his love for the sport also led to his interest in graffiti, which he was actively engaged in when he relocated to KL, and a chance meeting with the painter and promoter of naive and informal style of painting, Yusuf Gajah.

 

Having recently left his job as production leader in an advertising company where he first came across the works of graffiti artists through the company’s resource centre, Donald began doing graffiti in addition to his skateboarding activities around the city when he got a call from friends to spray paint the walls of the (now sanctioned by KL’s Municipal Counsel) Klang riverbanks in the heart of KL. It was here that he chanced upon the modest gallery of the abovementioned painter called ‘Gajah-gajah’ when he wandered off to the Annexe, Central Market for the first time and was instantly taken in by the bold, unsophisticated and colourful works on display. Yusuf Gajah who happened to be working on a series of small paintings inside started a conversation with the young man and was delighted to discover that Donald is a friend of his son, Jojo who is also doing art. On learning of his interest in art, Yusuf proceed to offer the young man some art materials, a space to paint and sell his works, in return Donald could help look after his gallery. It was an arrangement that worked well for Donald as he was waiting for the return calls from his job interviews. Finally, when he did receive the call from a well-established multinational company to report for work; Donald had already decided hours later to opt for the ‘insufferable’ life of an artist instead of joining the corporate rat race when 6 of his paintings were snapped up by a buyer.            

 

Though Donald had cited a handful of artists as having decisive impact on his artistry namely Ed Templeton, Mark Gonzales, Reg Mombassa and the Indonesian artist Eddie Hara, he had gotten some practical but invaluable pointers from Yusuf as well, especially in choosing a subject matter of his choice, to understanding the personalities of his potential clients from their colour preferences and the need to be consistent in producing works for sale. Following the advice of Yusuf Gajah in choosing an animal as one’s avatar or favourite subject matter, mostly for commercial purposes, Donald chose to paint dogs. Besides finding the usual qualities that we associate with the four-legged furry creatures agreeable to his personality, he also adopted it as a symbol of defiance in a culture that regards canines as filthier than swine (growing up by the seaside, Donald had the cruel misfortune of witnessing his friends bludgeoned to death a bundle of puppies huddled together in the sand under such assumption). The dog icon till today has made numerous appearances, playing both pivotal and marginal roles in the very crowded world of his canvases.   

 

At first glance, it is easy to see the influences of the abovementioned artists, however upon closer inspection and prodding, Donald slowly reveals the many droll observations, idiosyncratic reactions and sheds much light on some of the seemingly illogical situations wonderfully portrayed through his various styles of drawing and painting. Though it may appear to be daunting a task to decipher the meanings and to absorb all at once the cacophony of images in his works, there are simple reasons and real-life stories (with moral messages even!) behind each one of them, and such gems can be discovered just by talking to the artist. His creative output contains qualities and narratives that were shaped but not limited by local outlooks and experiences. And that is exactly what sets him apart from others whose visual approaches shares similar trajectories. 

 

His amazing ability to arrive at an image (or a series of connected images) randomly and intuitively is very much due to his confidence and openness to the creative impulse while letting his hand materialize those cartoon-like forms and shapes in the low brow art idiom.  He gathers these experiences and observations and creates a fantastic world populated by robots and ultra cute, bizarre andromorphic characters, sometimes or rather most of the time, preoccupied with ridiculously pointless activities. They are but projections of the multiplicities of personalities which are made more pronounced by the awkward and absurd situations in which they find themselves or while operating or engaging with Donald’s inventively odd contraptions and appliances, most having illogical and even diabolical functions with equally befuddling outcomes.  

 

The element of surprise and unexpectedness is to be expected when confronted by Donald’s array of works.

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