PUTRAJAYA, June 4 — Endless possibilities await a child who is allowed to explore their full creative potential.

Such is the case with Marc Fernandez, an abstract expressionist artist who already has a full-fledged exhibition to his name at the tender age of six.

The Dialects of the Soul exhibition showcases 46 pieces of art by Marc and his dad Malcolm Fernandez, with the father-son collaboration making the exhibition the first of its kind in Malaysia in recent times.

Malcolm, a lawyer by profession, is a strong believer in encouraging parents to let children explore their natural talents.

"The whole goal of this exhibition is to show that you can bring out the best in a child if you encourage them.

"Marc has been watching me paint ever since he could crawl. I used to let him paint with me and get his hands dirty.

"Sooner or later, when I felt when he was ready, that’s when he created his first painting, ‘The Wiper’,” Malcolm told Malay Mail.

Marc showing off his paintings titled ‘The Wall’ (left) and ‘Dancing With Ribbons’.

Visitors are often surprised to see Marc in person alongside his vibrant acrylic paintings that burst with colour, motion, and a maturity that one wouldn’t typically expect from a child artist.

The cheeky six-year-old loves running around the gallery and introducing visitors to his creations, right before dashing off to play with his friends.

"I think visitors expected someone wearing a suit standing around very pompously but Marc is just a regular kid who’s sometimes more interested in the playground behind the gallery.

"A lot of the parents were shocked at the kind of paintings he did because they expected drawings with crayons and colour pencils instead,” said Malcolm.

He hopes that the exhibition can inspire parents to nurture their child’s individual interests, whether it be in art, sports, music, or other fields.

The difference it can make to a young person’s personality and outlook can be life-changing.

Marc adjusts his ‘Fluid Art’ painting at the Sireh Pinang Art Colony.

"The whole goal of this exhibition is to show that you can bring out the best in a child if you encourage them.

"When Marc started to get better at art, his level of confidence grew. He’s very ambitious and passionate about it.

"Not many children get to have that, and hopefully parents can come to this exhibition and be moved to nurture their kids.”

While Marc might have inherited a love for art from his dad, both father and son have distinctly different art styles from one another.

The younger Fernandez favours acrylic paints and mixed media in his work while Malcolm uses spray paint to create vistas of nature and outer space.

Malcolm said that the title of the exhibition, Dialects of the Soul, is befitting of the close bond he has with his only child.

"My relationship with him started when I first saw his ultrasound picture. I used to speak to him every day when he was still in his mother’s belly.

"We don’t behave like father and son, we are more like friends.”

The use of spray paint in Malcolm’s work creates a unique three-dimensional effect to his pieces.

The exhibition’s curator Sarah NH Vogeler said that while she wouldn’t necessarily label Marc as a prodigy, the level of artistic finesse he has displayed is staggering for a child.

"His abstracts depict a boy who is not a boy. His works are ageless.

"He makes genuinely moving art. It is a narration of his life, a kind of ‘revolutionary declaration’ on the world he lives in.

"Marc and Malcolm have distinctive styles, but what strikes me most is that each work contains a part of their souls,” said Vogeler.

Dialects of the Soul is on display until June 20 at the Sireh Pinang Art Colony at Antara Residence in Putrajaya.

Sireh Pinang Art Colony is in collaboration with Nadi Cergas which supports art projects as part of their corporate social responsibility programme.

For more information, check out the Sireh Pinang Art Colony Facebook page