Ismail Baba, is a naïve artist who is far from naïve.  Yes, he paints with eyes like a child, in wonderment of the environment around him. Ismail's palette is colourful, raw & strong. This stamps from his early years as a display artist leading to working as a visualizer and then running his own advertising company, till his retirement a few years ago.
 
Life, he says is complicated enough. Through his art, he hopes to transport viewers away from their daily humdrum, into a world of bewilderment, merriment & innocence. One cannot help but to be happy viewing scenes of Malaysians' everyday life in the city and countryside portrayed in a playful manner. His subjects range from portraying the joys of shopping during festive seasons in the busy, bustling shopping haven of Jalan TAR in Kuala Lumpur to the laid-back countryside where birds fly freely, and buffaloes and people work to till the land, from dawn to dusk.