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Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Colour his world

Today, Monday, August 1, 2011, Arts, Page 2 & 3
From http://imcmsimages.mediacorp.sg/CMSFileserver/documents/006/PDF/20110801/0108ATP044.pdf
Source Website: http://www.todayonline.com/Entertainment/Arts/EDC110801-0000005/Colour-his-world
By Mayo Martin, 04:45 AM Aug 01, 2011

PHOTO: Souri
Copyright © MediaCorp Press Ltd
http://www.todayonline.com/Entertainment/Arts/EDC110801-0000005/Colour-his-world

A retrospective on Liu Kang sheds light on the Nanyang pioneer artist

PHOTO: Liu Kang borrows traditional Chinese ink landscape styles but fills it with colour for Life By The River

"In terms of sheer colour, he is the boldest painter in the country; no one else tries, and gets away with, such flaring contrasts of red and blue as Liu Kang does."

That bold statement was uttered back in 1957 by the Singapore-based Australian art critic Frank Sullivan, and more than 50 years later, these words still resonate distinctly.

PHOTO: A Girl Sitting On Verandah/ My Young Wife
Copyright © MediaCorp Press Ltd
http://www.todayonline.com/Entertainment/Arts/EDC110801-0000005/Colour-his-world

While there are many delightful aspects to pick out and mull over in Liu Kang: A Centennial Celebration, the ongoing survey show at the Singapore Art Museum, none stands out more than the late Nanyang pioneer's lust for life through his sheer passion for colour.

PHOTO: Liu Kang's Offerings.
Copyright © MediaCorp Press Ltd
http://www.todayonline.com/Entertainment/Arts/EDC110801-0000005/Colour-his-world

This is the fourth extensive exhibition on Singapore's pioneer artists by the National Art Gallery, Singapore, after Anthony Poon, Yeh Chi Wei and Cheong Soo Pieng; and over the course of 100 paintings, sketches and artefacts, audiences can immerse themselves in the world of an artist who had once described his life as colourful as his paintings.

The travelling man and his art

Like many of his contemporaries who would eventually emerge as the cornerstones of the country's fledgling art scene, Liu shuffled from place to place before settling in Singapore. Born in Fujian Province in China in 1911, he found himself in the Malaysian town of Muar, where his father worked as a rubber merchant. He later studied in Paris in the late 1920s, returning as the youngest lecturer in Shanghai Academy Of Fine Art.

PHOTO: New Year Celebration In A Long House
Copyright © MediaCorp Press Ltd
http://www.todayonline.com/Entertainment/Arts/EDC110801-0000005/Colour-his-world

With the onset of Sino-Japanese war in 1937, he relocated his family to Muar and then to Singapore. He would shuffle back and forth yet again before settling for good in Singapore after World War II, where he stayed until his death in 2004 at the age of 93.

The artist's wandering ways enabled him to soak in and combine influences from Asia and Europe. The touch of post-Impressionism is very obvious in works that proudly wear their badge of allegiance to Matisse, Picasso, Gauguin and - as in one obvious exercise in unabashed homage, a sunflower painting - Van Gogh.

PHOTO: Liu Kang borrows traditional Chinese ink landscape styles but fills it with colour for Life By The River

According to curator Ong Zhen Min, Liu never turned his back on his roots - the meticulous and studied use of lines in his paintings and drawings were drawn from the tradition of Chinese ink painting. In the famous piece, Life By The River, for example, Liu transports a kampong scene within a composition reminiscent of Chinese ink landscapes and renders it as an oil painting.

In Liu Kang: A Centennial Celebration, the exhibition itself eschews (avoid) the more linear, chronological approach to track down Liu's artistic journey - mostly because the Nanyang artist doesn't seem to lend himself to that.

PHOTO: National Day
Copyright © MediaCorp Press Ltd
http://www.todayonline.com/Entertainment/Arts/EDC110801-0000005/Colour-his-world

"He moves back and forth styles," said Ong with a wry smile.

Even the curators' tactics to divide the show into four thematic (relating) sections - early works, artistic practices (line works, sketches),subject matter (works from his travels and motifs), and a "documentation" of Singapore and Malaya's landscapes - seem tenuous (not substantial) at times.

Depending on your disposition (inherent qualities of mind and character), it could either be frustrating or liberating. Or both.

PHOTO: Souri
Copyright © MediaCorp Press Ltd
http://www.todayonline.com/Entertainment/Arts/EDC110801-0000005/Colour-his-world

However, freed from the weight of chronologically witnessing an artist developing his craft, one can see Liu Kang as a man of many dispositions. At times, he comes across as an artist who really seemed to love doing nudes or portraits, or, as the case may be, portraits of artists doing portraits or landscapes. Ong said that as an artist, Liu considered portraiture as a more solid foundation for an artist than still life.

PHOTO: Siesta
Copyright © MediaCorp Press Ltd
http://www.todayonline.com/Entertainment/Arts/EDC110801-0000005/Colour-his-world

At other times, in the subtlest of ways, the artist is a guy with a sense of humour. How else can you explain The Padang, with its image of a man with a lawnmower set in the middle of, well, the most recognisable field in the city? Or maybe he's simply one who is at once restless and playful in his attempts to jump from various styles.

While some observers may look at Liu as a one-dimensional artist - or at the very least, not as versatile or conceptually innovative as his fellow contemporary Cheong Soo Pieng, for example - his dedication and approach to the use of colour comes across as a satisfyingly unifying element in the show.

PHOTO: Liu Haisu's Tenth Trip To Mount Huangshan
Copyright © MediaCorp Press Ltd
http://www.todayonline.com/Entertainment/Arts/EDC110801-0000005/Colour-his-world

How colour shaped Liu Kang's world

The use of colour had been something that was hinted early on in Liu's career, but seemed to have exploded after the now-historically seminal Bali trip in 1952 with the likes of fellow artists Cheong, Chen Wen Hsi and Chen Chong Swee.

PHOTO: Liu Kang's Indian Musicians.
Copyright © MediaCorp Press Ltd
http://www.todayonline.com/Entertainment/Arts/EDC110801-0000005/Colour-his-world

The emergence of more vibrant colours in his works - arguably even more so than the rest of his contemporaries - was brought about by the efforts to capture his tropical surroundings, said Ong. But it wasn't only the environment that burst with colours. Liu was also entranced by batik patterns, which he wove into to works like Women Drying Sarongs.

But it wasn't just colour that oozed from his works post-Bali. More importantly, Liu began to actively articulate what was integral in this so-called Nanyang style of art, with its mix of East and West in a tropical blender.

PHOTO: Artist And Model
Copyright © MediaCorp Press Ltd
http://www.todayonline.com/Entertainment/Arts/EDC110801-0000005/Colour-his-world

From the 1950s, Liu became a vocal advocate (publicly supports or recommends) of Nanyang art, said co-curator Grace Tng. He presided over the Singapore Art Society for a decade in the late 1960s and, while his contemporaries were seemingly focused on simply making art, Liu also dabbled in writing about art. His writings can be seen in Liu Kang:

Essays On Art And Culture, a compilation of his articles that has been translated from Chinese into English to coincide with this retrospective (looking back on) exhibition.

PHOTO: The National Art Gallery, Singapore, will be commemorating the centennial birth of Liu Kang (1911 – 2011).

http://www.mhisham.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/416px-LiuKangBackView.jpg
http://www.mhisham.org/?p=1743

From articles about fellow artists like Chen Wen His and Georgette Chen, to his musings on music, medical science - and even French ballet; to his travel observations on India and Bali, to problematising Singapore's own art scene, and even pushing, way ahead of its time, the idea for a South-east Asian arts centre, Liu was more than an artist - he was an intellectual. And that, really is what makes him stand out.

PHOTO: The National Art Gallery, Singapore, will be commemorating the centennial birth of Liu Kang (1911 – 2011).
http://www.mhisham.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/481px-LiuKangRecollection.jpg
http://www.mhisham.org/?p=1743

Liu Kang: A Centennial Celebration runs until Oct 16 at the Singapore Art Museum, 71 Bras Basah Road.

For details visit www.nationalartgallery.sg. Liu Kang: Essays On Art And Culture is available at S$28.88 from Museum Shop, Kinokuniya and Select Books.

Reference

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Stepping to the Peranakan bead

Today on Sunday, Sunday, July 31, 2011, Page 8, MY LIFESTYLE, faceinthecrowd
From http://imcmsimages.mediacorp.sg/CMSFileserver/documents/006/PDF/20110731/3107FFW008.pdf
Source Website: http://www.todayonline.com/Sunday/FaceintheCrowd/EDC110731-0000001/Stepping-to-the-Peranakan-bead
By Phylicia Lee, todayonsunday@mediacorp.com.sg, 04:45 AM Jul 31, 2011

PHOTO: Ms Bebe Seet beading slippers at Rumah Bebe, Peranakan House. Photo by Syafiqah Hamid, Copyright © MediaCorp Press Ltd Today on Sunday, Sunday, July 31, 2011, Page 8, MY LIFESTYLE, faceinthecrowd

Now owner of a heritage house, this Nyonya’s journey to revive her traditional culture began with a pair of beaded slippers

There are some experts who believe the Peranakan culture will be extinct in a hundred years. Not, however, if Bebe Seet can help it.

PHOTO: The shophouse is chock-full of Peranakan collectibles.
Photos by Syafiqah Hamid, Copyright © MediaCorp Press Ltd
http://www.todayonline.com/Sunday/FaceintheCrowd/EDC110731-0000001/Stepping-to-the-Peranakan-bead
Today on Sunday, Sunday, July 31, 2011, Page 8, MY LIFESTYLE, faceinthecrowd

At Rumah Bebe, her bright turquoise Katong shophouse built in 1928, visitors are transported back to the golden era of Peranakan life. The scent of bunga rampei potpourri pervades the traditional home layout, while ethnic Karonchong music plays in the background and displays of Peranakan antiques invite closer examination of the delicate handworked filigree, beadwork and embroidery.

PHOTO: Delicate handworked beadwork
Photos by Syafiqah Hamid, Copyright © MediaCorp Press Ltd
http://www.todayonline.com/Sunday/FaceintheCrowd/EDC110731-0000001/Stepping-to-the-Peranakan-bead

The heritage house materialised in 1999 as a result of Bebe's beadwork hobby. Her handmade beaded shoes and kebayas grabbed people's attention and she started getting requests. "People liked what I wore and asked me to make it for them, so it slowly led to a business," said the youthful-looking 61-year-old.

PHOTO: Ms Bebe Seet beading slippers at Rumah Bebe, Peranakan House.
Photo by Syafiqah Hamid, Copyright © MediaCorp Press Ltd
http://www.todayonline.com/Sunday/FaceintheCrowd/EDC110731-0000001/Stepping-to-the-Peranakan-bead

A fourth-generation Peranakan, she didn't start off as a traditional Nyonya. It was only in 1991, after she had got married and had two children, that she immersed herself in the culture. A pair of beaded slippers she saw in an antique shop in Malacca sparked her fancy. "Frankly, before I became interested in the beaded work, I wasn't even interested in wearing the kebaya," she said, chuckling.

She began by trying to learn beading on her own. "I thought it would be easy because I did handicraft ... but it just didn't turn out the way the beaded shoes looked." So she searched for someone who could instruct her in the techniques but it "was hard because no one was teaching". She finally met a 70-year-old Nyonya who taught her the basics. But the woman died five months later - so Bebe was back to experimenting on her own, unpicking old slippers and trying to replicate the design.

PHOTO: Beaded slippers
Photos by Syafiqah Hamid, Copyright © MediaCorp Press Ltd
http://www.todayonline.com/Sunday/FaceintheCrowd/EDC110731-0000001/Stepping-to-the-Peranakan-bead

The work is painstaking. It takes her about a month, sewing for five hours a day, to complete a single pair of slippers. The beads, imported from Japan or the Czech Republic, are sewn on a canvas and then mounted on a frame. On occasion, she uses rare faceted antique beads and such a pair of slippers can fetch up to S$1,500.

THINGS OF THE PAST

While Bebe did not grow up in an ultra-traditional home, she was still taught the Peranakan language, Baba Malay, which is a combination of Malay and Hokkien. This is something that is lost now among the younger Peranakans, she feels. Her own two children were not taught Baba Malay.

PHOTO: Peranakan collectibles - Latern
Copyright © MediaCorp Press Ltd
http://www.todayonline.com/Sunday/FaceintheCrowd/EDC110731-0000001/Stepping-to-the-Peranakan-bead
Today on Sunday, Sunday, July 31, 2011, Page 8, MY LIFESTYLE, faceinthecrowd

"I'm guilty. I wanted them to speak English but it is something I should have done. If their grandmother was still around, then they would be forced to learn because they would need to communicate with her ... But my parents didn't live with me. That's mostly the case with a lot of Peranakans now," she admitted.

PHOTO: Peranakan collectibles - Souvenir
Copyright © MediaCorp Press Ltd
http://www.todayonline.com/Sunday/FaceintheCrowd/EDC110731-0000001/Stepping-to-the-Peranakan-bead
Today on Sunday, Sunday, July 31, 2011, Page 8, MY LIFESTYLE, faceinthecrowd

Other aspects of the culture which she feels are becoming lost includes the respect for elders. "As Peranakans, we are ancestral worshippers, so we had high respect for our parents and grandparents."

The tradition of the young to "sohja" - kneel and pay respects - to the elders during Chinese New Year is no longer observed, she noted.

PHOTO: Peranakan collectibles - Tea pot and cups
Copyright © MediaCorp Press Ltd
http://www.todayonline.com/Sunday/FaceintheCrowd/EDC110731-0000001/Stepping-to-the-Peranakan-bead
Today on Sunday, Sunday, July 31, 2011, Page 8, MY LIFESTYLE, faceinthecrowd

Simple rituals, such as addressing one's elders before one eats as well as marriage ceremonies that traditionally go on for 12 days, are also becoming a thing of the past, she says.

As with many Peranakans, Bebe is very particular about how food is prepared. "I don't believe in using powder and preserved tamarind as spices when you can get fresh ones ... In Peranakan cooking, I also use a lot of oil and I would stir-fry my dishes until the fragrance comes out."

PHOTO: Harvest of the Sea dinner buffet, complete with lobsters, crabs and sashimi!
http://sparklette.net/archives/1024/assam-prawn.jpg
http://sparklette.net/food/concorde-hotel-lunch-buffet/

However, in an era where time is money, she finds it more convenient to use the blender to make rempah (spice paste). "Times have changed. I think if the Nyonyas had grinders in the past, they would use it."

PHOTO: Fried oyster omelette, garnished with spring onions and coriander
http://sparklette.net/archives/1024/oyster-omelette.jpg

http://sparklette.net/food/concorde-hotel-lunch-buffet/

When asked about the common misconceptions people have about Peranakans, Bebe said: "We do not like to be categorised as Malays! Not that we have anything against Malays but we are Peranakans. We are not Malay nor Chinese," she laughed.

PHOTO: Peranakan collectibles - Souvenir
Copyright © MediaCorp Press Ltd
http://www.todayonline.com/Sunday/FaceintheCrowd/EDC110731-0000001/Stepping-to-the-Peranakan-bead

In spite of the gradual dissipation of the culture in Singapore, of late, there have also been signs of a revival of popular interest. The Channel 8 series The Little Nyonya, which reflected the life of Peranakans in the 1930s, became a huge hit. Then there was the opening of the Peranakan Museum in 2008, and Stella Kon's much-loved play Emily of Emerald Hill returned to the local stage earlier this year.

PHOTO: Sarong kebaya
http://behance.vo.llnwd.net/profiles3/216418/projects/923122/dd1aeead7c9bbf9f52cd39f07e9cf71a.jpg
http://bitsistemi.it/admin/peranakan-costumes&page=3

Bebe, as a committee member of the Peranakan Association, has also done her part in promoting the culture. For instance, she has modernised the sarong kebaya by using softer fabrics such as silk and cotton voile ("they can tie it, which gives it a more versatile look"), and introducing more vibrant colours - moving away from the traditional soft cotton and earthy tones.

PHOTO: Ms Bebe Seet beading slippers at Rumah Bebe, Peranakan House
Photo by Syafiqah Hamid, Copyright © MediaCorp Press Ltd
http://www.todayonline.com/Sunday/FaceintheCrowd/EDC110731-0000001/Stepping-to-the-Peranakan-bead

Services that Rumah Bebe offer include in-house tours, shoe-beading classes and demonstrations, and rental of traditional wedding costumes. On how she intends to keep promoting the Peranakan culture, Bebe said: "It's very hard. For us Peranakans to really do our part to spread the culture even among ourselves is tough because it's not being followed any more. Even my daughter is not interested in the culture."

Reference