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Poodien graduated with a Diploma in Fine Art from UITM, Perak and is a multidisciplinary artist working in painting, drawing, performance art, video as well as installation art. Diverse in both choices of media and interests, this eccentric artist takes his influences from Malaysiakini to Slavoj Zizek and postmodernism to the writings of Farish A. Noor. Confrontational in style, Poodien’s work engages audiences with ideas of individual freedom and emphatic opinions of truth along with amalgamations of culture, identity and space. He puts to test and questions the power of art and artists in everyday predicaments and social environments, exposing the realities and absurdities of contemporary circumstances.

Poodien’s work has been shown at various galleries in Malaysia: ‘Al Kesah/Once Upon a Time in Malaysia’ at MAP, Publika, ‘1xSuitcase: Memory.Travel.In.Transit’ at Annexe Gallery as well as the ‘Kuala Lumpur Film Festival and Art Exhibition’ at Central Market, all in 2009. Other notable exhibitions include ‘Merapi Eruption’ at House of Matahati and ‘3 Young Contemporaries’ at Valentine Wille Fine Art as well as a solo exhibition at Galeri Chandan entitled ‘All the Cliches Art True’, all in 2010. In 2009, he received the Malaysian Emerging Artist Award (MEAA). He has been commissioned to create works on art spools on display at MAP, Publika in Kuala Lumpur as well as for Revolusi Merah - Portret Sejarah Kiri Pustaka Kiri for Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) both in 2010. Known also for his performance art, Poodien is part of a performance art collective called Buka Kolektif.

This piece is a work made in connection with previous performances. During the performance, the artist painted a portrait of his own body and invited audiences to draw and write over his work. The figure in the painting is of his own body depicted as Michelangelo’s David holding a dismembered arm up to his face while his visage gazes into the distance. Here, Poodien’s body becomes the canvas and the boundaries between the personal and public are made indefinite and vague. The provocative words in Long Live Death: Zero Point are a collaboration between the artist’s own verbal consciousness along with words and thoughts written by audience members. The work paints a bleak picture, as the artist’s disconnection with current affairs - politics, racism etcetera and is mainly concerned with the topic of death. Unconventional, shocking, eye-catching and thought provoking, this dramatic piece is a condensation of Poodien’s multidisciplinary practices.