Determined to truly push himself further, this ambitious sportsman trained for an entire year to partake in the Selangor Junior in 1980, in which he placed 4th! Truly a commendable accomplishment we must admit. And this, was only just the beginning for him. Later in 1982, Hasnee proudly represented Malaysia for the 10th Asian Cycling Championship that took place in Bangkok, Thailand. He added saying that he was a part of the 4000 meter pursuit team.
Amongst many others, Hasnee was also selected for the World Junior Cycling Championship in Italy. He has completed four full marathons till date. In the “Olympic Art and Sports” competition that was held during the 2004 Athens Olympic Games, he placed 7th out of the 40 countries that took part. For someone to have accomplished all of these in the shortest span of time, it’s no wonder Hasnee constantly focuses on sports as his main source of inspiration in his paintings.
WHEN PASSION BECOMES PROFESSION
In his repertoire of paintings, one would find a vast selection of acrylic paintings on canvas, each one of different sports like cycling, swimming, tennis, squash and athletics. From what we’ve noticed thus far, Hasnee uses a lot of vibrant colours in his work, aiming at bringing out the dynamic energy and power of sports. Some of the sports personalities that he’s drawn so far include the likes of Nicol David, Tiger Woods and Rafael Nadal.
His sports paintings, quite unsurprisingly, is also amongst the permanent collection of the Olympic Museum in Lausanne, Switzerland. When asked about how achieving such an accolade feels, he replied with a wide smile on his face saying that it’s definitely a good feeling, but that’s just it. He was going to have to push himself further, to achieve much bigger things in life.
So really, did something that started out as passion turn into a full-fledged profession? “For me, painting is more of a lifestyle choice, and has hardly anything to do with painting itself. One is able to take control of their own time, with absolutely no one telling you what should be done. I must however add that it’s never an easy life when you decide to be your own boss, because hurdles present themselves in so many different forms. But ultimately, you’re fighting your own fight.”
One of his biggest challenges however is that many don’t appreciate and recognise raw talent as it truly is. One might fall in love with the details seen on the paintings, but they hardly notice the work that goes into creating such a fine piece, which really is disappointing to an extent. He then adds saying that it’s a part of the job to deal with such things. What’s most important however is how one faces such a situation. It’s important that one never indulges too much in such negativity, but instead use that to propel them further into a better place. Certainly something to ponder about, don’t you think?
Alas, as with all else, everything that has a beginning, has an ending too. We knew that as the afternoon sun dipped, and the light in the studio faded, time had come for us to big our goodbye’s. And much later, as we commuted back, we were somewhat stumped as to how we were to capture this admirable individual in simple words. Yes, he’s lively, charming, erudite, and magnanimous. But most unusually and disarmingly, he answers questions with candour and such honesty. And if that isn’t admirable, then we don’t know what else is.
