Metro

Tuesday May 15, 2007

Artist expresses feelings on clothes

Story and photos by GEETHA KRISHNAN

geetha@thestar.com.my

AN artist can express himself in many ways including conveying his feelings and emotions on cloth.

But Aby Huraira Othman, 32, is not a painter. His work, focused on graphics and animation, has wound up on limited edition T-shirts, accessible only to select groups.

The MTDC Multimedia Academy lecturer in 3D animation and multimedia graphics started by designing T-shirts and CD covers for a few underground music groups in Malaysia. The groups, to name a few, are Cassandra, Second Combat and Restraint.

Making a statement: Aby with some of his T-shirts.
When demand grew beyond expectation, he launched his line of T-shirts called SuicidalArtShirt. The T-shirts are worn by the bands when they perform.

Underground bands from Singapore, Thailand, Japan, Hong Kong and Europe are also now on his client list, thanks to a common website that permitted Aby to display his work and share his passion for music.

“I am a fan of punk and hardcore music myself but I believe in a positive lifestyle. The music may be hardcore but it’s also all about clean living and I convey this through my range of T-shirts,” he said during a recent interview.

More than 20 SuicidalArtShirt T-shirts are on display for the Aby Huraira: Art To Wear exhibition at the gallery of the MTDC Multimedia Academy at the UPM-MTDC Technology Centre in Serdang till May 26.

Sinister: Ken Revenge is another of Aby’s animation characters.
“Given the unique label, people are bound to associate my work with skulls, blood, gore and violence,” Aby said, adding that his work was different and that there were only subtle references to pain and despair.

Animation characters like “Psycho Anna'' and “Ken Revenge'' were created to embody a disgruntled state of mind while works like “Second Combat Straight Edge'' and “Loyal to the Grave'' were signs of protest against war and violence.

“Before She Dies'' and ''Suicidal'' relate to calls for help and attempting to beat depression.

There are other messages too, mostly related to Aby’s emotions and personal experiences, especially when he was down and out.

Angelic façade: One of Aby’s animation characters called Psycho Anna.
Most of Aby’s work is based on vector art against a variety of backgrounds like black, maroon or grey.

The T-shirts are available in five sizes with only a limited number printed for a specific design.

“The market consisting of teenagers and young adults is becoming large but I don’t have enough capital to venture into this effort on a large scale. Maybe later,” said Aby.

For more details, call 03-8941 4626.

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