Artistic trio: (From left) Nik Mohd Shahfiz, Nik Mohd Shazmie and big brother Nik Mohd Hazri in front of several of their paintings.
TO SAY that art comes naturally to the Nik brothers is an understatement.
Coming from a family of art teachers, their art skills were nurtured from a young age.
The middle child, Nik Mohd Shazmie, 24, said he used to join a lot of art competitions since he was in kindergarten at the encouragement of their father.
“I used to just doodle cartoons including Doraemon for fun at first,” he said when met with his two brothers, Nik Mohd Hazri, 27, and Nik Mohd Shahfiz, 22, at the G13 Gallery at Kelana Square where their upcoming exhibition titled “Art Trio: The Nik Brothers” will be showing their paintings.
Hazri said he was actively painting in secondary school and even painted murals.
Shazmie, who is the most talkative of the lot, said their mother used to say that if they want to be successful in art, to do it together as brothers.
“She was referring to a popular all-brothers local group called KRU, which also comprised three brothers.
“It is rare to have all three brothers with the same interest.
“So, she hopes we succeed by supporting one another,” he said.
Hence, he said, their collaboration was a dream come true for their family.
“This collaboration is more than a show to us.
“It is a start to a great future as full-time artists and entrepreneurs in the art scene,” said the Kelantanese artist.
Although they look alike, the resemblance ends there.
Their artworks were worlds apart from one another and one could tell their pieces were a depiction of their own respective personalities.
Shazmie took the humorous approach in five of his artworks, which reflected his witty and mischievous character well.
His favourite was “Allergy”, which will leave you in stitches once you hear his story behind the piece.
“It depicts my seafood allergy. My lips would swell up and my airways would be slightly blocked.
“Despite the risk of me experiencing this every time I reach for a crab or prawn, I still eat them because I love them. I can’t help myself.
“So I keep my medication with me whenever I have them, just in case,” he said while grinning at his masterpiece.
He said the heart shapes on the clothes he is wearing in the artwork is to show his undying love for seafood and his fingers showing the peace sign is to show that he is still alright despite his allergy.
Two of the artworks of his older brother, Hazri, are solemn and reflects on an incident that has a special place in the heart of every Malaysian; MH370.
Titled “My Little Sister Looking Out The Window”, the girl in the painting is the brothers’ only sister, Nik Shazleen Putri, 15, who is also the youngest.
“The painting depicts hope as no one knows what exactly happened to the plane and its passengers.
“I decided to paint my sister to represent the family members of those who lost their loved ones,” he said.
He added the feathers to represent the plane as well as to show how fragile life is.
The youngest, Shahfiz, took the opportunity to display his fascination for psychological thrillers by painting characters from famous television series and movies such as Hannibal and Edward Scissorhands.
He picked “Mikkelsen in Blue” as his favourite piece, which is a painting of Mads Mikkelsen, who plays Dr Hannibal Lecter, in TV’s Hannibal.
“The blue paint is to show the calmness and seeming harmlessness of the character while the spirals represent the scheming ideas in his mind,” he said.
Their artworks will be displayed from today until May 2 at G13 Gallery, GL 13, Ground Floor, Block B, Kelana Square, Jalan SS7/26, 47301 Kelana Jaya, Selangor.
The opening will be held at 8pm today.
For details, visit www.g13gallery.com or call 03-7880 0991.
