Razak Abdullah is a prominent artist in Malaysia who started painting seriously when he was in Form Ill. Secondary School. He enrolled in Institut Teknologi MARA’s School of Applied Arts to take up Graphic Design. Razak entered the advertising industry upon completing his studies and formed his own company Razak Grafik two years later. In 1980, Razak left advertising to establish a trading business which was highly successful. However, he abandoned this business in 1995 to fully devote himself to his lifelong interest in art. He began with painting in the impressionism style, influenced by his academic training in graphic design and six years in the industry after graduation. He sold his first painting in 2003 for a grand sum of RM5,000 eight years after he turned into a full-time artist.

It was definitely eight years of struggle, and he managed to survive only through his wife’s staunch support and belief in his vocation. But the hard years taught him many things in life: to appreciate his surroundings, his very existence and the things that are most dear to him. Perhaps, these lessons are vital to the development of an artist’s soul and creative energy. His frequent travels abroad during his fifteen years in business also exposed him to the famous works and museums of art in Europe, USA, West Asia and Asia. He found the “House and Gardens of Monet” in Giverny, France to be his favourite place for meditation and inspiration.

Razak Abdullah’s early works from 1995 reflect these experiences and feelings in his Impressionist style paintings. His works attracted much interest from the local art scene and some of them have been acquired and displayed in various private and institutional galleries, among them, being the Bank Negara Malaysia Museum and Art Gallery, the National Art Gallery, Petronas Art Gallery, Permodalan Nasional Berhad’s Galeri Tun Ismail Mohamed Ali, to mention a few.

Only until three years ago, he began to dabble into abstract expressionism, a style which he found allows him to give full vent to his emotions without restrictions of shape, form, and accuracy. He also discovered that this style frees him from the chains of conventions and norms expected by society. His newfound freedom allows him to comment on injustice, disorder, and discontent then pervasive in his beloved nation without fear of persecution due to penned words that could be construed as slanderous or anywise unlawful.

Bbollog, a local Terengganu Malay slang that can mean “topsy turvy” or “chaotic” is the latest series in his paintings in the abstract expressionism school. What makes Bbollog important, interesting and pertinent is that this spectrum of 24 paintings marks the time of the “New Malaysia’. It captures the turmoil, hopes, and aspirations of Malaysians in the moments before and after the 14th General Elections held on May 9th, 2018 that saw a new government voted into power by a people that wish to see change for the better from a government regime who had held power for the last 61 years.