Many would describe him as a pretty shy bloke upon meeting him for the first time, and maybe a tad mysterious bordering scary at times. Who could blame them for feeling that way about him. Skinny, somewhat tall, long dark hair accompanied with the occasional dark circles around his eyes (A necessity for all artist/designer), all that physique coupled with a somewhat brooding look on his face. But, after breaking a lil bit of ice, he is actually just another nice average Joe next door who is very much into regular average things like sneakers, toys, drums, cars, nasi lemak, teh o’ ais and unicorns. Oh yeah, not forgetting “Back To The Future” too.
But, that’s not really what we sat down with Najib “Art:Tech” to talk about. We had a “Borak-Borak” session to actually ‘berborak’ about what we think he is pretty ABOVE AVERAGE at.
How about you give us a brief summary of what you do?
My name is Najib, 29 years old, my passion is making art and playing the drums. I play drums in a band called “The 84” and I do motion graphic, graphic designing and illustration for a living, usually for advertising agencies that deals with TV and print ads.
How long have you been making art?
Since I started my own collective called “The 84 Cube Collective” back in 2003. So it’s been 10 years.
We’ve heard that you have done some pretty rad collaborations over the year, can you fill us in on that?
The latest one would be my collab with Mickey Mouse.
And not too long ago I did a piece with Nooka Nooka watches. And before that was the Nike Bearbrick and the Shambala Head which is now over in Taiwan. 
Can you tell us what do you think about the Art scene in Malaysia?
Since 2003 till now, I see it growing, I see a lot more new talents now, a lot more people are into art and there is a lot more exposure thanks to the internet. The only problem here in Malaysia for the art scene is that there isn’t enough buyers or should I say the appreciation for the type of art that the new generation makes is very low. As a comparison, when I was in Singapore for an exhibition, an artist can sell out all his or her’s artwork within just a day of the exhibition, whereas in Malaysia, just to sell ONE print would be a challenge.
I think the main problem here is that there is very low appreciation for the new brand of art.
Any sort of explanation why the scene is like this?
I don’t really know how to explain it. Maybe art here isn’t “HYPED” yet. I mean there is a big market here for art, but not the type of art that me and my peers make, which is i think might be something like lowbrow, pop surrealism art, urban art or digital art. Most of the art in our current art scene is dominated by (no offense) more traditional kinda art, like the portrait, abstract, scenery, oil painting, fine art etc etc. But I can see a very small trend starting already, but it is still at a very infant stage. And that is maybe due to some of the dudes that have caught on the art craze from the States and Europe over the years.
The younger generation that are into the newer kind of art and not the typical fine art kinda stuff, will eventually grow older, and start to work, and when they can afford to buy art with their own money, they will start buying their type of art that they deem cool and nice. I think it is a matter of time before the scene gets bigger.
What do you think should change?
Back when I first started out, I notice that there were a lot of art events and exhibitions, and there were a lot of active venues that were responsible for churning out this events and exhibitions. All of a sudden, it all went silent. After many years, we see it slowly reemerging again. Places like Publika is a good venue that is very encouraging for the scene. There are also a few more spots that host regular events and exhibitions.
The only problem is that this places are mostly owned by old-timers who exhibit fine art that cater to the older, more mature market. What I think should change is the mindset of us Malaysians. The older generation should embrace the younger generation if not there will not be continuity in the art scene. And the younger generation should not sit around and wait for things to happen, but instead get out there and make a scene for themselves if there isn’t any.
