Flower-and-bird painting has a long history and profound practice in China, Japan and South Korea. One of the vital factors of the significant development in their artistic accomplishments in flower-and-bird painting is that these areas own distinct landscapes over the four seasons; plum blossoms in the winter and peonies in the spring. Artists can express their emotions through certain seasonal flowers (medium). Nevertheless, the mediums traditionally applied in flower-and-bird paintings - plums, peonies, wisterias- cannot be observed here in tropical regions of Malaysia. Despite the great techniques one has, the artistic conception of flowers would not be perfect without watching the real thing. Therefore, besides practising traditional flower-and-bird, I have always hoped to create subjects related to or originated in our place, "Nanyang".
Located at the equator, Malaysia has always been immersed in the lush evergreen trees and bushes; the flowers of various species also exist year-round. But, only a few flower-and-bird painters would paint them; it was difficult for me to find masterpieces of the flowers of our nation. So instead of relying on traditional genres, I tried to be independent in painting the gorgeous local flowers with many observations. In correspondence to the 'spirit of representativeness', I think local flowers represent fortitude and strength, the blooming after defeating the climate challenges; this is precisely the spirit I would like to share.
Hibiscus, bluebellvine, bougainvillaea, and allamanda; are the colours derived from the Bendera Malaysia. I hope to contribute to and inspire you about the new subjects, promoting the biodiverse geographical environment of Malaysia by introducing the postures of local flowers through my painting skills learned from flower-and-bird art.
2022 46cmx46xm Ink on rice paper - The Splendour Colours of Malaysia
Cultural Economy Development Agency
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