Still Life

78% CHANCE OF RAIN (2023) [Oil on canvas 61cm x 61cm] This painting captures the moments before the heavens open, when the wind picks up and threatens to snap the last remnants of the summer blooms. The musty whiff of rain wafts through the air and the first droplets start raining on the parade of the gorgeous flowers. Alas, summer is almost over!

detail of 78% CHANCE OF RAIN (2023)

KEDAI RUNCIT CHOP HOE AIK, 16 LEBUH PRESGRAVE (GEORGE TOWN, PENANG) (2023) [Oil on canvas 60cm x 50cm] This painting was acquired by the custodians of global art assets at Aspen Insurance Group. It will be hung in Aspen's London office from 2024. George Town in Penang, Malaysia, was established as an entrepôt by Francis Light, a British Royal Navy Captain in 1786. It was the first British settlement in Southeast Asia. In 2008, it was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Although it is now a popular tourist destination, urban life in George Town is unfazed by the throngs of visitors. At the quintessentially rustic grocery shop Kedai Runcit Chop Hoe Aik on Lebuh Presgrave, the elderly sole proprietor is comfortably ensconced amongst his goods: a mountain of rice noodles, cooking oil, Ajinomoto, Guinness beer, mineral water, eggs, hell money, incense sticks, cigarettes, mouse traps etc. all stacked in an organised mess. The only hints of modernity are the Covid face masks, hand sanitising gel and the Bas Persiaran (tourist bus) whizzing by outside.

detail of KEDAI RUNCIT CHOP HOE AIK, 16 LEBUH PRESGRAVE (GEORGE TOWN, PENANG) (2023)

SABOTAGE (2022) [Oil on canvas 34cm x 92cm] This painting speaks of the beauty that was unfolding in the artist’s life, only for it to be curtailed prematurely. The artist could visualise the promising picture that was emerging with each successive layer. Yet the canvas has been savagely torn before the pigments have had a chance to leave their marks. Will there be a next chapter?

detail of SABOTAGE (2022)

ENTROPY (2022) [Oil on canvas 76cm x 76cm] This image encapsulates the artist’s sense of acute loneliness whilst grappling with the abrupt end to a relationship. She finds solace in a childhood friend who is an anchor in a sea of turbulent emotions. The artist ruminates the events leading to the interweaving of two contrapuntal yet complementary personalities who gravitated towards each other. The ghosts of beautiful memories haunt the artist. Tiny gems of the moments they shared are as vivid as if they happened yesterday. Regrettably, the melodious partnership ended - the intelligible colours, shapes and forms soon disintegrate into a cacophony of chaos. Against this backdrop of disequilibrium, she is slowly rebuilding the structure in her life in an attempt to restore a sense of order. In this painting, the artist experiments with symbolism. Her deliberate choice of colour and flower represents the heritages of both persons; whilst the juxtaposition between order and fluidity represents the contrasting personalities of the couple.

detail of ENTROPY (2022)

ORCHIDS (2022) [Oil on canvas 31cm x 41cm] This painting was acquired by a private collector in Somerset.

NINETY-NINE (2022) [Oil on canvas 60cm x 50cm] This is a tribute to my grandmother who passed away at the end of 2021. I chose to execute this in a style that reflects the aesthetics of Chinese ink paintings, i.e. my cultural and artistic roots. The gold ring ties three flowers together. It symbolises my grandmother, my mother and me. The ancient poem says: Ninety plus nine; as eternal as the moon; Like the rising sun; As lasting as the Southern Mountains; No yielding no crumbling; As abundant as the alpines; To be continued by the next generations; Goodbye Popo Foo See Mui; Respectfully Pau Ling

detail of NINETY-NINE (2022)

NOT FOR YOU (2021) [Oil on canvas 61cm x 92cm] This is as much an experiment of combining text and painting, as a plea to myself to give up on certain things in life and focus on things where return on investment is more certain.

TEDDY BEAR AND TULA COPPER (2021) [Oil on canvas 51cm x 51cm; This painting was acquired by a private collector in London] [This painting won the People's Choice Award in the 2021 Lloyd's Art Group Winter Exhibition] Some pairings do not work on paper, but when they come together, you realise they are meant to be.

detail of TEDDY BEAR AND TULA COPPER (2021)

FIORITURA (2020) [Oil on canvas 30cm diameter] I wanted to capture my orchid’s beauty during this stage of its blossoming. This is the past, present and future simultaneously. Perhaps, I should learn to appreciate beauty in each stage of life’s journey and worry less about the future. Maybe beauty can be found in the here and now, regardless of the outcome.

Left side of FIORITURA (2020)

Right side of FIORITURA (2020)

EVANESCE (2019) [Oil on canvas 110cm x 84cm] The artist explores the transient nature of beauty and love. It is deeply personal and was created during a period of turbulence in her life when she was coming to terms with the idea that happiness live mostly as faded memories of the past.

SOY SAUCE (2018) [Oil on canvas 41cm x 51cm]

MARMALADE AND SPOON (2017) [Oil on board 28cm x 36cm]

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