The Star Online: Lifestyle: Arts & Fashion
The Star Online: Lifestyle: Arts & Fashion |
- A journey through Tew Nai Tong's work and life
- Fadli Yusoff pushes the boundaries
- Winged Victory to be restored
| A journey through Tew Nai Tong's work and life Posted: 27 Jan 2013 06:06 AM PST Tew Nai Tong's latest exhibition is a veritable journey through the veteran artist's work and life. THE Glories exhibition is a cursory timeline of Tew Nai Tong's art, craft and life, taking up the story nearly 35 years into his career after his first art studies at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts in Singapore (Nafa, 1957-58). Maybe not so much by design, the 28 works offer glimpses of his different periods and at different places, while he varies on his trademark "Nanyang-and-Post" repertoire in terms of nuanced changes in technique, style and subject. Starting from 1991 (Sisters And Free Land), the works do show, as a capsule, how he breaks convention in terms of colour, spacing, perspective, depth, form and surface painting (brushstrokes and palette knife). His latest, Morning Market (2012) and Childhood Happy Life (2012), also leave a "negative" corner space of drawings to reveal the incipient strokes as well as for strategic contrast with the heavy impastoes. Significantly, the "starting point" in this show was a time when Tew began painting in oil (1990) after working mostly in watercolours. It was also when he went truly full-time (1992) following a 23-year teaching career at three local art institutions. Now 77, the Klang (Selangor)-born Tew is regarded as one of the very last "Nanyang" (Southern Seas) Style matinee heroes (his living contemporaries in Paris, Tan Tong and Long Thien Shih, are not Nafa-trained). He has remained faithful to the subject of the charms of the old Malaya with its frontier unexplored land and sparse, harsh vegetation. But there are subtle developments resulting in a style that has been more noticeable over the last three decades and a half, with his remodelled Figures. Yes, the "Nanyang Style" wannabe who started at Nafa and then followed up with tutelage in Paris (Ecole Nationale Superieure des Beaux-Arts, 1967-68) is now a master in his own right. Some may compare his early works to those of the Singapore art pioneer Cheong Soo-pieng (who, incidentally, never taught him at Nafa), though he was not into Cheong's exaggerated forms and gestures like elongated limbs and distended torsos. His figures are imbued with the spirit of the bygone age – a willingness to work, carefree, a bit naive perhaps, serene and contented, uncomplicated and most of all, free! Women are the favoured sex in Tew's figurations with their cheeks sometimes ruddy and sometimes pale like in a Le Pho painting. At times, the figure appears androgynous. Men or women, on Tew's canvas, they are all born with "squinty eyes" or "phoenix eyes", an attribute redolent of the refined figure stereotypes of the Tang and Sung dynasty arts in China. If you look carefully, both sexes are coined in the visage of the artist himself, squinty eyes et al. The Amber Chia lips are different though, to suggest a pout – of coyness as well as for a touch of humour. Also, his figures are, in line with the times, clothed and not half-naked or even clad in brassieres, for modesty and a certain decency. If at all, his figures are more akin to Modigliani's, with the graceful "pulled" lines and slightly rouged faces. On a deeper bonding level, there is the mother-and-child theme – a perennial favourite of artists West or East. Tew likes to subvert the time-honoured colour wheel using colours as emotive projection and even decoration, sometimes off-tangent of one another, and not as naturally prescribed. This is most obvious in his technicolour cows that come in purple, red, green, orange.... His palette has also changed from the duller ochres couched in the sombre in the pre-1990s to interesting, much brighter hues in keeping with the tropical milieu. He uses outlines to demarcate and register the various forms and spaces, with coloured geometric patches as backdrops. His trademark technique also includes the vertical pole – tree or stave – that cleaves the composition into two, even three – something that is a disaster in the hands of a novice. His works are down-to-earth and people-orientated, pushing the ground-level horizontal line upwards, compressing the sky. Even the landscapes are as they are – backdrops. The Figure is The Thing. Various techniques and elements are often brewed in his painting pot like in Charming Girl (2007 – the Year of his Retrospective at the then-National Art Gallery), which combines figures, still-life (flowers in transparent cylindrical vase) and a painting-within-a-painting format. Balinese Dancers (1998) notches a de rigueur interpretation as is wont of artists in the region, making pilgrimages to the mythical island of dance and rituals. There is one concession to urban life, Leisure (2001) – of Parisian kids roller-skating in thick clothing in the streets under a cloak of grey autumnal backdrop. Done in his last revisit to Paris, it followed an annual pilgrimage from 1999 – the first after a lapse of nearly 30 years. Tew's works remain true to the old ways of life – its serenity and simplicity and also dignity, reflecting fleetingly on the relationship between man and nature, man and animals. It also dwells on culture and tradition. There is also the notion of plentiful – with the abundance of fruits, and where the fowls, cattle and goats are treated more like pets than a protein sustenance on the dinner table. There are two large works in the show – Tew's new fascination with the panorama, especially in the Festival Series celebrating the multi-cultural spectrums (not shown here). The bigger works reflect more his greater sense of freedom and also in terms of the expression of movement. One, Precious Moments (2012), a diptych measuring 2 x 148.6cm x 119.4cm, shows a bevy of rubber tappers seemingly as "tall" as the trees shouldering poles with big buckets of tapped latex on each end. The other, Glories (2012), stretching 138cm x 242.6cm, packs a repertoire of the villagers' pastimes – kite-flying, fighting cockerel, top-spinning and bird-rearing. Just like his Chagall-like nudes hovering in the air in dreamscapes like a human dirigible as in Life Of Freedom, it registers a transient spirit looking for permanence, pleasure and peace, like the refugees of life in search of a better place and a better tomorrow. It resonates with the artist's inner cry for his own freedom, whatever it is. > Glories, a solo art exhibition by Tew Nai Tong, is on display at Pinkguy Malaysia Art & Frame in Jalan Pinang, Kuala Lumpur, until Feb 2. For details, call 03-2166 2166. |
| Fadli Yusoff pushes the boundaries Posted: 27 Jan 2013 06:05 AM PST An artist who has shunned painting human figures for over a decade returns to the subject with gusto. THERE is a contemplative stillness in the painting depicting a man deep in prayer, even as ribbons of text dance around him and colours swirl. There Is No God But Allah, Prophet Muhammad The Messenger Of Allah is one of approximately 30 figurative artworks to emerge from artist Fadli Yusoff's studio in time for his first solo exhibition, simply entitled Md Fadli Yusoff 2007-2012. The exhibition at Solaris Dutamas, Kuala Lumpur, is a collaboration with 12, an experimental and conceptual art group with gallery space in Setapak, KL, that is managed by Shooshie Sulaiman and Fatina Alfis. The works in the exhibition were made over a five-year period, from the end of 2007 to 2012, and are the result of Fadli's first real foray into the world of figures; prior to that, he had not touched figurative works since an art class in university taught by artist and part-time lecturer Amron Omar in 1995. "I had even planned to draw my grandfather at work in the village for my final year project. But when a friend told me about a book by the United Ulama Council of South Africa stating that it is haram (prohibited) to do figurative art, I read it and decided that I couldn't go on with it," says Fadli, a Fine Arts graduate of Institut Teknologi Mara (now Universiti Teknologi Mara). Determined to start afresh, the young Fadli took his thick sketchbook with his work thus far and tore the pages out. "I burned them one at a time under a single lamp in the dark of the night. It was hard. Tears were rolling down my cheeks. But if figurative art is something I am not supposed to do, then how can I do it? At least, those were my thoughts at that time," the 38-year-old Kelantanese relates during a chat at 12 in Setapak recently. Fadli threw himself into landscapes and still life for the next 11 years in his career as an artist. And then it all came to a standstill. "What happens when you do the same thing over and over again for a long time? You find that you reach a point where you are unable to progress any further," he confides. The artist felt there were no more avenues within the confines of this subject matter left to explore. "Landscape painting no longer posed any challenge to me and I wasn't able to grow and develop as an artist," he says, pointing out that there is a religious teaching that encourages the faithful to attain knowledge. And therein lay the conflict. "On the one hand, I had thought for such a long time that I wasn't supposed to do figurative art. But on the other hand, I felt that figurative art was the direction I now had to move towards if I intended to expand my exploration as an artist and be the best I can be. It is an aspect of art that is important for my growth as an artist. These two things seemed to contradict each other," he says. He was directed to another book that touches upon matters concerning figurative art in more detail. After reading it, Fadli then realised that the issue revolving around the depiction of figures were not as set in stone as he had initially thought. "Instead, there are guidelines to follow and there are different levels of things I can do, should not do, and what I am not allowed to do. And every action has its consequences. I felt that I had to truly understand this issue because I am an artist and this affects me and my job," he says. After a lot of soul searching, he proceeded with figurative works in 2007 and stuck with it. The result is humanity captured on jute and canvas in a variety of poses and moods, all acrylic, with the exception of a batik on satin work of Myanmar's Aung San Syu Kyi. But don't expect to see nudes or sculptures at this exhibition; Fadli draws the line at these in accordance with his beliefs. And despite making the decision five years ago to do figurative art, that's not to say that he didn't have any doubts while preparing for the exhibition. "Many a day I would be troubled by thoughts of whether what I was doing was right. But I pushed for a deeper understanding of the issue and in doing so, in the last five years, I think I have grown as an artist as well as a person. At the end of the day, what matters to me is that I have a clear conscience," he says. As much as the works in this exhibition are intertwined with his religious convictions, he does not label his work as Islamic art. "What makes something Islamic art? I don't say that what I create is Islamic art, that's up to the viewer to decide. I won't judge either way. But I try to be a good Muslim and a good person, and my art is very much a part of me, so there are inevitably Islamic elements in them," he says. As to where he will go from here, Fadli is still uncertain. Plans are underway to have an exhibition in Brussels this summer, co-organised by the Malaysian ambassador in Belgium and the 12 art group. In a type of artist-in-residence programme, Fadli will stay in Brussels for at least two months to produce his artworks. After that, he might cast his net even further or perhaps head in another direction altogether. But whatever the next step is, it will always be something close to his heart. "I simply express my reaction to things that happen around me and my works will always be something straight from my heart," he concludes. > Md Fadli Yusoff 2007-2012 will run from Wednesday to Feb 8 at the White Box, MAP@Publika, Solaris Dutamas, Kuala Lumpur. Admission to the exhibition is free. There will be a conversation and workshop with the artist at 2pm on Feb 5. Visit 12as12.com or call 03-4023 4128 for more information. |
| Posted: 27 Jan 2013 03:06 AM PST THE Louvre is to restore one of its most iconic works, the Winged Victory Of Samothrace statue (pic) depicting the Greek goddess Nike, in September, the museum announced on Monday. A team of experts will oversee the 3mil (RM12mil) restoration of the ancient Greek marble statue – one of the Paris art museum's three best-known pieces, along with the Mona Lisa and the Venus De Milo. Repair work on the headless statue, which dates from between 220BC and 185BC, is expected to take over a year, though the work should be back on show in spring 2014. Previously restored in 1934, this second touch-up entails cleaning up the statue and resolving a number of structural problems that were not addressed the first time, the museum said. According to the Louvre, over seven million museum-goers visit the statue every year. – AFP |
| You are subscribed to email updates from The Star Online: Lifestyle: Arts & Fashion To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
| Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610 | |
0 ulasan:
Catat Ulasan