Fadzlan Rizan Johani transformed the Indah UPC six-storey building along Jalan Klang Lama into a mural masterpiece. He deserves all the credits as the creative mind behind the massive mural did it all by himself in 10 months period. Armed with 250 litres of paint and a rented boom lift, he managed to make the old building a “breath of fresh air”.
The largest mural was appointed by MRCB as a CSR initiative for the neighbourhood
According to Fadzlan, the mural project was assigned by Malaysian Resources Corporation Berhad (MRCB) as a corporate social responsibility (CSR) for the neighbourhood to complement its nearby development.
MRCB wanted something to do with nature, as it’s fitted the look of the Klang River, the newest development and the site. The mural portrayed the development being surrounded by nature.
A Penang boy who had worked as a design architect in Manchester
Fadzlan Rizan Johari is a Penang Boy – borned in Permatang Pauh. However, he has been based in Shah Alam, Selangor for the past decade. He has been working since 2003 as an architect and designer. In 2006, Fadzlan went to the UK where he worked as a design architect in Manchester in 2010 until 2011.
However, as they moved back from the UK, he took a break and has been working as a freelance architect since 2014. Since then, he started doing mural painting and has been joining a few mural and landscaping design competition – and one of it is Shah Alam City Council (MBSA) competition in 2014 to beautify Laman Seni 7.
The project wasn’t easy as he’s doing it all by himself
Fadzlan shared that the mural was an “all day, all night” project where he quite often slept, eat and even sometimes showered at the site. It has become his daily routine for 10 months to leave his home at 4 o’clock in the morning to beat the KL morning traffic. Besides, leaving early means he can put in more hours of work before it got too hot at noon.
It wasn’t an easy task and he said he almost gave up and thought of hiring others. Thanks to the support of family and friends where his sons sometimes helped him, he was finally able to finish the mural painting.
The 1,1950 square meter mural painting is said to be the largest mural in M’sia ever created by an individual painter!
The mural painting began in April in 2019 and was completed in January 2020. He considered the success as a personal achievement and very thankful that he did not encounter any major problems. This achievement is a sign that local talents are able to do such tasks as well.
Fadzlan is no strangers to murals and had painted a few before
Fadzlan is a freelance design architect by profession and teaches part-time at UITM’s school of architecture. He has done several murals and the first project was Tree Of Life which was completed in 2014, followed by Tree of Knowledge and Tree of Culture. He also painted a mural in the Academy of Malay Studies at Universiti Malaya.
Check out his Facebook page to view more photos of his projects.
