GEORGE TOWN, Nov 30 — They are a group of friends with one common interest — art. A few months back, they decided to form a collective called 4Some for their joint activities.

All four of them – Donald Abraham, Fauzan Fuad, Black (who also goes by the name Fritilldea) and Jojo Yusof ­— are based in Kuala Lumpur but they were in Penang recently to participate in the Urban Exchange: Crossing Over 2014 art festival here.

Despite their different styles, the four artists worked together to create artwork which includes two murals in George Town and mixed media work being exhibited at the Hin Bus Depot Art Centre now under the Urban Exchange project.

They also have one other thing in common: they studied under the same veteran artist — Yusof Ismail (also known as Yusof Gajah).

The 4Some are scheduled to have their first joint exhibition at an art gallery in Damansara Heights in January.

Here, two of the 4Some — Fauzan and Black — share their thoughts on street art and how they made four different styles work together to create joint masterpieces.

In their own words:

  • Black: There’s four of us. Fauzan and Donald, they are very serious artists. At that time, me and Jojo... we are like playing around. That’s why we both had full-time jobs. Fauzan and Donald really concentrated on art.
  • Jojo just quit his job about two months ago. He was working in a telco company. I’m 30, Fauzan is the youngest one, 27, Jojo is 30 and Donald is 31.
  • The four of us, we can get along because our strokes and lines are almost the same. Fauzan is good in writing. Donald, he has his own character... everyone will know it’s his painting. Donald has been in the art scene for quite long. Jojo also has his own kind of strokes. Me, I draw mostly lines. Mostly all of our artwork is spontaneous. Even on the wall.
  • Fauzan: Four of us studied art with Yusof Gajah who is Jojo’s father. The four of us are his students. Another thing we have in common, we are all the same, we are self-taught artists. We didn’t study art or anything. Before this, we did our art separately. We each have our own set of clients. One day, we met up and decided to form this group. This project… it is good that they get us local artists to join this. We get exposure from outside, exchange our work with international artists. We get contacts, we get connections to other countries. It’s the best opportunity for us.
  • Black: We are street artists, we do exhibitions, street art, commissioned works for clients before we formed this group. This (Urban Exchange) has done a lot to highlight our names and 4Some. We formed the group for a joint art exhibition in January next year. Suddenly, Urban Exchange contacted Donald to join in the festival, so we were excited to be invited for such an event and we joined it as a way to highlight the group through this event.
  • Fauzan: I started becoming a full-time artist after studying with Yusof Gajah. I’ve been doing this for four years already. Before this, I did broadcasting, videography, freelance photography, freelance video. After that, I met Donald, talked to him and told him I wanted to paint. I cut everything off, started full-time painting. Started studying with Yusof Gajah, be his assistant in UM Gallery. I studied one year with him.
  • Black: I started in 2000 but I have this full-time job. I started getting serious only this month. I started street art back in 2005 or 2004. This month I just quit my job. I was selling cars previously. I know, other artists will get shocked when they find out that I’m a car salesman.
  • Fauzan: It’s a good thing that he is a car salesman because he can sell the work here, like a promoter you know, the exhibition here, he can sell many works here, all of our works here.
  • Black: Ya, all of us have different characters but I’m good at talking so on the night of the exhibition launch, I become like an art promoter. I promote my friends’ works. So now I’m selling art and not selling cars.
  • Fauzan: We are doing something different for the art scene in Malaysia now. Otherwise it’s always repeated. Now, it’s like a revolution. For us, art is everything. It can be anything, be a part of the world. We want to try to get street art exposed to the public. It’s a good thing. Before this, people judge street art like vandalism. We really want the government give us some walls to do street art, maybe free space for anyone to paint, to decorate the free space. This will be good for street artists.
  • Black: We try to be different from others. You know normally, when people see street art, in their mind they see graffiti. We try to do something different, a huge character, some abstract on the wall. People outside (of Malaysia), they don’t realise we have good street art. When they come here, they can see we have a lot of street art, a lot of murals are everywhere. They are also a bit surprised at what we can do. Like what they say, maybe we can go further. We like the questions, the questioning when people see our work…they’d ask,“What is this, what is that?” Usually when people see something on the wall, they just pass by. We want people to stop and stare, to question what is this, why is he doing this and then others would come by and say, this colour is nice.
  • Fauzan: I’m thinking of going to New York. I have already applied for an art residency in New York. Four of us, 4Some, also received an offer from an international gallery because of this event. The 4Some will have our show in January next year, it will be mostly art on canvas. After that, hopefully we will go international.