By Professor Madya Jalaini Abu Hassan, 2014

“Saorang petani kerdil menumpang dicelah bumi kecil.
Berkais, berkias,
Berlapis, berhias,
mencari hati dalam diri.
Saorang seniman celik,
belakar diatas kertas carik,
Berguris, berkikis,
Berupa, bergaris
mencari isi dalam sepi.
Bentuk-bentuk kata
digubah beramah tamah, Cerita-cerita lara
menyapa usia mengubat luka.”

Jai
February 2014

Boi is a farmer. An artist, working infinitely on his piece of land, plowing, seeding, composting, and cultivating. His narrative is replete with details of new produces of seeds, sprouts, and growths. His life and art, transpired from the tales of the soil, feed each other. And the earth offers much more than he can bargain for. The rich stimulation of tactile marks, so irregular, and so varied without any set of orientation. Incidentally marked by the physicality of surfaces, they can never congregate into merely an abstract landscape. It is artistically inventive. This fascinates him courageously that he cannot separate the two, between making art and living. The ground is undoubtedly his sacred terrain and whatever comes out of it breathes life. Tracing and re-enacting a personal journey is not the sole purpose of Boi’s work rather an entire field of spiritual and empirical knowledge, embedded with symbols worth digging for. Boi is an artist. Toiling a small piece of land, he has a big story to tell.