Bathers at Cheling Print

I am an artist from Malaysia, residing in Kuala Lumpur. I grew up in the Portuguese enclave in Malacca, where iconic images and music from church choir would contribute to my early sense of aesthetics. Later, after moving to Japan, I would draw inspiration from the Japanese aesthetic concepts of wabi, sabi and yugen. I am also attracted to the use of colour in Japanese Hanga prints and Sumi-e ink paintings, ranging from flat colour applications to stormy monochromatic tones. While I have undeniably been captivated by a broader range of artistic expression from different cultures, my Portuguese Malaysian roots indelibly imbued my sensibilities with qualities inherent in iconographic imagery and also reverent hymnal timbres. I am affected by the haunting simplicity of plainchant and the inflections of modern poetry. These sources of inspiration, together with my involvement in music as a singer songwriter, continue to drive me as an artist. I work in various media: pastels, acrylics, graphite, charcoal, and oil. My pieces are primarily two dimensional and figurative, a celebration of the human form, presenting as lithe and gender ambiguous personages, in surreal and liminal states.