Childhood recollections are timeless treasures that heat the center.
Just ask 2021 Spotlight Art Competition winner Choong Guey Syuen whose fondest recollections embrace the carefree moments spent at her grandmother’s former house in Penang.
The state-sponsored competitors, organised by Penang Art District (PAD), seeks out new expertise in Penang’s modern arts and tradition scene.
Through her artwork, you see how Choong, 24, is fascinated by the cultural heritage of her house state and family stories.
With rustic buildings, sandy environment and even an outhouse, she remembers her grandmother’s property in Bayan Lepas, which was distinctly old-world and belonged to a bygone period.
‘Dreaming Encircled By Isolation’ – the piece that received Choong the 2021 Spotlight Art Competition. Photo: The Star/Jeremy Tan
While the family moved to a contemporary housing improvement in Bukit Mertajam in her teenage years, these early recollections dwell on and have an enormous affect on her artwork.
“Old and vintage things were a key part of my life growing up and continue to touch me on a deeper level,” says Choong, who additionally teaches artwork.
This was evident in the 24 works featured in her debut solo exhibition, which was titled Instant Charms and held at The Art Gallery Penang lately.
They have been accomplished in quite a lot of kinds and mediums, and cut up into six sequence – Personal Portraits, Scenery, Sculpture, Bride, Past Of Beauty Pageants and Past Of Golden Flowers.
Choong’s ‘Vintage Bride #1’ relies on her grandmother’s outdated bridal portrait. Photo: The Star/Jeremy Tan
Choong’s ardour for the picturesque previous was evident in items like Grocery Shop Of George Town and Tea Time At The Carpentry. The former depicts an outdated sundry store alongside her every day commute, whereas the latter is a scene from a wooden workshop belonging to her father’s buddy.
“With Penang being as developed as it is today, these old scenes are intriguing. They make me curious. I want to know more about their stories.
“Take the old sundry shops. There is stuff everywhere. Most people would consider it messy, but as an artist, it gives me a lot of detail that I can capture in my works.
“Art is my way of transforming memories into something tangible. I hope it allows viewers to reminisce too,” shares Choong, a high quality arts graduate from a school in George Town.
‘Signboard Roaring’ depicts an outdated constructing in George Town, Penang. Photo: The Star/Jeremy Tan
Other items like Signboard Roaring captures the weathered facade of an outdated constructing in George Town. Meanwhile, Beauty Of The Wall and Wild Garden illustrate the younger artist’s capability to search out magnificence in the mundane – in this case from crops rising out of outdated partitions.
Continuing the classic theme is her Ballerina On The Furniture sculpture which she made from a discarded cupboard discovered by the roadside.
In the Vintage Bride work, Choong re-imagined outdated bridal portraits of her 84-year-old grandmother Cheah Gaik Hai, whom she stays very near.
“My mum often asks me to do portraits of family members. One day, she gave me an old photo of my grandma in her wedding dress and I just experimented,” the artist explains.
‘Ballerina’, certainly one of Choong’s self-portraits, tells of her love of dancing. Photo: The Star/Jeremy Tan
Several different work depict scenes from marriage ceremony ceremonies and spoke of Choong’s curiosity in direction of traditions practised by ladies in the previous and the way a few of these persevered to trendy occasions.
Reunion Of The Flowers Of Gold contains a group of friends making small speak in regards to the bride, one thing which nonetheless occurs at just about each nuptial going down at this time.
Choong’s Personal Portraits affords a glimpse of her different inventive pursuits past artwork, with Ballerina encapsulating her love for dancing.
Uneasy Lockdown highlighted the totally different feelings she felt in the course of the Covid-19 pandemic. Notably, it was made with family supplies because the closure of companies prevented her from getting artwork provides.
Choong used a discarded cupboard to create ‘Ballerina On The Furniture’. Photo: The Star/Jeremy Tan
In a wierd roundabout approach, the pandemic was what led to Choong’s success in Spotlight 2021. Her successful piece Dreaming Encircled By Isolation got here on account of the lockdown.
A intelligent reinterpretation of English artist Henry Wallis’ 1865 oil portray The Death Of Chatterton, it depicts the Penang artist falling asleep in a darkish room whereas life prospers simply exterior a window.
Her piece was the choose of 80 entries for Spotlight that 12 months. The latest solo exhibition was certainly one of her prizes for successful, alongside a money prize and a mentorship programme.
The annual competitors is organised by PAD to present aspiring and rising artists aged 30 or beneath a platform to shine.
