Felines immortalised on canvas

WHILE many budding artists are waiting in line to learn from naive art maestro Yusof Gajah, 27-year-old Jaja has had free lessons from him all her life.

Jaja Yusof, whose real name is Nur Yusniza Mohd Yusof, said she was blessed to be the daughter of such a prominent artist.

“My father is my biggest idol and my sifu (master). I grew up helping him out in his exhibitions so I have been exposed to art since I was young,” said Jaja, who is having her first solo exhibition titled ‘Meowland’ at the Metro Fine Art gallery.

However, she did not naturally pick painting as a career path.

“I did try it when I was younger but it was not until someone bought my painting when I was about 14 years old that I became more interested in painting.”

She only started concentrating seriously on painting about four years ago.

She followed in her father’s footsteps in painting naive art and she was also looking for something that people could identify her with, like her father’s association with elephants.

“I started painting butterflies and flowers but then I realised that I really loved cats so why not use it as my identity?” said Jaja, who has three cats at home.

Her solo exhibition features a mixture of some earlier works and some that were done recently.

Using the cat as the main motif, she draws inspiration from everyday experiences for her artworks.

“Sometimes I’ll be reading and if there is a pantun (poem) that I really like, I would incorporate it into my works,” she said.

Some of her paintings were also self-portraits, reflecting on her own life experiences, like a piece with two adult cats holding a baby.

“I just gave birth recently so I would use these moments in my paintings,” she said.

Using bright, happy colours, her pieces evoked a cheerful outlook and all the cats she drew had smiling faces.

“I am now very comfortable with using the cat as my identity. There are not many women artists in Malaysia, let alone those who have a trademark to call their own,” said Jaja.

Metro Fine Art is located at Ground Floor, Legend Hotel, 100 Jalan Putra, 50350 Kuala Lumpur. Tel: [phone]. Opening hours: Mondays to Fridays 11.30am to 5pm, Saturdays 11am to 4pm. Closed on Sundays and public holidays.