Trengganu - The art exhibition features the vivid and colourful works of Chang Fee Ming, a Terengganu-born artist who is best known for capturing scenes of village life.
Chang has also painted the colour and ceremony of Bali, Indonesia as well as Myanmar`s splendid pagodas.
“Mekong: Exploring The Source” is his revisiting of Indochina, and is a sequel to his “Mekong Series” launched four years ago.
Taking art lovers to more unfamiliar and difficult territory, “Mekong: Exploring The Source” is an invaluable document of communities whose survival may be threatened by the forces of change and development.
It contains 16 watercolour portraits, sketches and studies made from Chang`s travels to the Tibetan region around the source of the great river that runs through China, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam.
Described by Chang as an honest exploration complete with narratives embedded in the life and landscape of a beautiful but troubled area, “Mekong: Exploring The Source” will also visit Vanessa Art Link in Beijing, China in May and Singapore in July.
Born in Kuala Terengganu in 1959, Chang is a self-taught artist. He began his career more than two decades ago after winning the Malaysian Watercolour Society Award in 1984.
Since then he has gained many accolades both locally and internationally, and became a signature member of The National Watercolour Society of the United States in 1994.
Chang has exhibited widely in the Southeast Asian region, with solo shows in Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta and Bali. He has also participated in numerous major exhibitions in Malaysia, Australia, Taiwan, South Korea, Thailand, China, Indonesia, the United States, Canada, Hong Kong, Britain, Sweden and Brazil.
His works have also appeared at auction at Christie`s and Sotheby`s over the past seven years.
In 1995, he published The World of Chang Fee Ming which showcased some of his early works. This was followed in 2000 by The Visible Trail of Chang Fee Ming.
Chang believes in a continual exploration of the possibilities of watercolour to capture the light and temperature, the drama and detail of Southeast Asian life.
He is also a consummate narrator, and so his work does not merely document and celebrate. It is also sensitive to the poignancy and the painful ironies of an older Southeast Asian world in transition, and above all testifies to the resilience of the human spirit and of cultural tradition in the face of change.
Source: www.nst.com.my (12 Maret 2008)
