Jalaini Abu Hassan or “Jai” (b. 1963, Selangor) is a contemporary Malaysian artist whose works are inspired by current events, expressed in local and familiar imagery and focused through his personal lens of nostalgia and history.

He received his bachelor’s degree from the MARA Institute of Technology (UiTM) in 1985. Following that, he received scholarships to pursue further studies at the prestigious institutions of the Slade School of Fine Art in London (1988) and the Pratt Institute in New York (1994), where he obtained his master’s degree and master of fine art respectively.

A process painter, Jai is interested in the exploration of the act of creating a work, the exploration of materials and mediums, and the marks that form a drawing. He is always pushing boundaries in search of new processes and methods of presenting a Malaysian visual vernacular which would accurately capture his identity and culture.

Acclaimed at home and internationally, Jai has held solo exhibitions in Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, and the US. Recent exhibitions of note include Landskap Daerah Samar at Segaris Art Center, Kuala Lumpur (2021); Cerpan-Cerpen at OUR ArtProjects, Kuala Lumpur (2018); Painting Industry at Equator Art Projects, Gilman Barracks, Singapore (2015); and Bangsawan Kebangsaan at Tyler Rollins Fine Art, New York (2011). In recent years, he has been pursuing possibilities of cross-industry art collaborations, of which Carbon Organika is the latest, following from Barang2 Jai with Kasa Suasa in 2021 and Ghost with Bell & Ross Asia at The Godown in 2019.

Jai’s works are in the collections of the National Art Gallery of Malaysia, PETRONAS Gallery, the National Gallery of Victoria, the Cultural Center of the Philippines, and other  private, corporate, and institutional collections around the world.