untold mountain 2007
60'' x 52''
mix media on canvas





self-made man 2007
60'' x 52''
mix media on canvas

Sin Chew Daily , 12 July 2007

UTUSAN MALAYSIA ,ISNIN 23 Julai 2007

Painting & Drawing Makna di sebalik warna

SEBAGAIMANA karya-karya seni verbal, seni tampak juga merupakan sebuah catatan untuk menyatakan apa sahaja. Daripada gejolak dalaman pelukisnya hingga ke elemen-elemen sosial di sekitarnya.

Warna, sapuan berus dan tekstural merupakan sebahagian daripada medium untuk seseorang pelukis bersuara dan berkomunikasi dengan khalayak.

sesebuah karya tampak itu sendiri merupakan rakaman ruang dan waktu tertentu. Apa yang diketengahkan pada kanvas atau apa sahaja medium adalah catatan masa dan peristiwa.

Gambar-gambar pramoden dihasilkan oleh cara berpikir masyarakat zaman itu yang menggunakan sudut pandang kosmos dan mikrokosmos.

Manusia/pelukis moden pula jauh berubah. Mereka cenderung menggambar manusia dalam ruang, sedangkan manusia pramoden lebih menggambar waktu dunia manusia.

Pameran solo pelukis, E.H Chee, Painting & Drawing di Suria Stonar Show Gallery hingga 30 Julai ini merupakan sebahagian daripada makna-makna tersebut antara ruang dan waktu.

Melalui warna, Chee cuba mengisi ruang dan waktu pada kanvas. Karya yang tanpa bentuk dan imejan tetapi sarat dengan makna itu dikongsi dengan khalayak.

Tetapi beliau meletakkan persoalan ruang dan waktu itu pada tempat yang paling peribadi. Apa yang dituangkan pada kanvas adalah sebuah ekspresi antara diri dan pemikiran.

Ia lahir daripada pemahamannya dalam menilai keindahan yang berada di sekelilingnya. Elemen-elemen itu kemudiannya ditafsirkan dengan cermat tetapi dalam perspektif yang berbeza-warna dan berus.

Sebagai pelukis abstrak ekspresionisme, beliau tidak mengutamakan imej tetapi kekuatan warna, sapuan berus dan stroke untuk menonjolkan ruang dan waktu pada kanvas itu bergerak.

Sama seperti proses pemikiran dan gerakan naluri dalam menilai, mentafsir dan memahami tema yang diangkat ke kanvas. Seringkali dengan gaya sapuan yang lembut dan memukau. Namun, tidak jarang dengan gaya spontan, kasar dan `menyeramkan’.

Sebagai pelukis abstrak yang berpusat pada emosi, apa yang tergambar pada karya-karyanya adalah pergolakan emosi atau ketenangan ketika mengisi ruang dan waktu.

Beberapa karya Chee seperti Sahut (2003), Flower of Youth (2007), Prayer (2007) dan Wujud (2003) misalnya menampilkan gaya sapuan kasar, spontan dan tebal. Namun, beberapa karya lain seperti Lovers (2005), Blue Element (2007) menonjolkan unsur-unsur harmoni.

Dalam pengkaryaannya, Chee sebenarnya sedikit terpengaruh dengan seni lukis Nusantara yang tidak memperlihatkan kecenderungan realis-naturalis. Sebaliknya, ia selalu memperlihatkan abstrak.

Masyarakat Timur memang tidak mengenal representasi dalam keseniannya kecuali simbol dan perlambangan. Faktanya, manusia Timur lebih akrab dengan dekoratif, ornamen, simbolisme, bentuk-bentuk stilasi sebagai ekspresi kesenian mereka.

Oleh itu karya-karya Chee meletakkan dirinya sebagai titik pada ruang dan waktu. Keresahan, gejolak dan rasa dalam diri ketika itulah yang dilontar kepada khalayak menerusi kanvas.

Pergeseran semiotik, baik makna mahupun mesej ketika khalayak mengintepretasi setiap karyanya ekspresionismenya hingga memunculkan wacana baru tidak penting kepadanya.

Intepretasi makna lain oleh khalayak akan terjadi pengujian kembali makna awal atau malahan atau memberi makna baru hingga karya-karya Chee seperti umumnya lukisan abstrak dapat diberi 1001 pengertian.

Chee dan khalayak tidak lagi perlu bertanya, ada apa dengan makna jika setiap titik dan ruang yang dicipta pada permukaan kanvas telah mewujudkan sebuah wacana semiotik budaya visual yang boleh ditafsirkan oleh sesiapa sahaja.

Pada karya-karya di pameran solo keempatnya itu juga, Chee juga cuba bereksperimen pada permukaan kanvas. Bahawa setiap ruang yang dipaparkan adalah bersifat heterogen dan mempunyai nilai tidak sama.

Dalam erti kata lain, beliau meletakkan setiap ruang itu mempunyai makna yang tidak sama. Ruang sebelah kanan berbeza ertinya dengan ruang kiri. Begitu juga atas dan bawah atau depan dan belakang.

Ia seolah-olah mengingatkan kita pada teori relativiti oleh Albert Einstein bahawa ruang dan waktu itu pasangan kembar yang tidak dapat dipisahkan.

source: :


Monday July 9, 2007

Chee finds his calling in art

By VIVIENNE PAL
Photos courtesy of THE ART COMMUNE

Sombre: The colours in Royal Ease, like many of Chee’s pieces inspire an emotional reaction.

ASK E.H. Chee about a defining moment in his life and he would probably say at the turn of the 21st century.

“I decided to be true to myself, to be a fine artist,” he said, adding that it was not a spurious decision based on a whim rather, it was what he felt was right.

“I was supposed to go full swing into film production but something held me back – my desire to paint,” said the new-but-not-so-new-kid on the art block.

With only three solo exhibitions since 2004, Chee, 43, could well be dismissed as a rookie in the fine art scene but his 25 years of experience as a commercial artist in the film industry makes him an authority in his own right.

To pursue his dream, Chee did the unthinkable in 2000 – he sold his house to finance his Fine Art studies at the MSC College “for the second time”, rented a 1,212 sq m studio as well as buying materials such as canvases, paints, books and brushes, and also travelled – all in the pursuit of art.

Hypnotic: Gombak Gemilangis one of Chee’s series of paintings on the rooster. Note the vivacity radiated by the colours and brush strokes.

His approach was almost extravagant for someone who was trying to discover his own style in an industry permeated with artists with enough experience and fresh graduates from renowned art institutes in the country.

“I treated my canvases like they were pieces of A4 paper, ordering in rolls and splashing on the colour – experimenting all the way without being calculative on the cost of material,” he said.

Chee discovered his “groove” two years later in a fusion of technology and understanding of colour gained from years as a commercial artist, and a fresh perspective with an academic twist garnered from his theoretical stint at the MSC College.

With confidence gained from establishing his own style, Chee embarked on his first solo exhibition themed Birth of The Flow in 2004, with his second solo show simply titled Paintings & Drawings last year.

At a glance, Chee’s work displayed a certain maturity, his strokes exuberant and decisive with accidental effects – both natural and contrived – that gave that extra edge to what was a masterly interplay of colours, texture, and abstract shapes and figurative which engaged the viewer into contemplation.

His works seemed somewhat “familiar” colour-wise, however, the emotional intensity that he has somehow managed to impart through a circuitous route from his heart, to his eyes, hand and brush, is unique.

Chee does not stick to a tried-and- tested medium but allows himself a freedom of expression through oil (his favourite) mixed with charcoal, acrylic, pigment and polymer, all delivered through dips and splashes of the brush, smears and direct pouring of paint.

This latest exhibition documents his growth from 2002 until the present and Chee is clearly proud of the distance he has “travelled” so far.

Attention-grabbing: Chee takes the bull by its horns in this piece entitled Cow.

The true test, however, is whether he remains relevant in the coming years – a matter he has pondered deep and long, and perhaps has a solution to it.

“Much as my focus is on fine art. I won't quit commercial art. I have laboured long to arrive at where I am today, having taken into consideration the possibility that I may someday reach a plateau where impressing the art-appreciative public is concerned, which is why it took so long before I finally decided that this style of mine would have enough impact,” Chee said.

“My first show was a dipstick test to gauge public reception of my work and I am happy with the response so far. Ultimately, there is always a strategy, a back-up plan for everything and that is how I have thought things through. Besides creativity, artists must be able to manage their careers in every aspect,” he said.

E.H. Chee Paintings & Drawings can be viewed at Suria Stonor, 16, Persiaran Stonor, Kuala Lumpur from 11am to 5pm daily until July 30.

For more details, call 019-3368 928.

8 July 2007

pohon, jubah dan balung, sacred cow

Pohon2004 6'x4' mixed media on canvas

Pohon - Chee Eng Hong created many tree paintings and drawings that called it "pohon"This has became an extension of his "Sahut" painting.It came as though the process allowed the landscape to move, to developed and evolve not to the extent of dominating the who process, The progression is very subtle not intervene, just like accumulation of property as a whole or organically growth.It has now worked on a larger scale and begins to exploit the expressive power not only of the image itself but also rather metaphorically, it's defied by employing the conventional approach.

In his work for this image, notably in his favorites mixed media and oil on canvas's painting and drawing the medium he's most comfortable with, in which, allowed him to the greatest freedom to create and recreate. This is not merely painterly version of an ordinary tree; it has arrived at a new theme; a leafless, solidify, and lump, the tree characterized by a linear tangle of a gnarled, aged branches, textured bark and sturdy of trunk. The age and the shape of the trees begins to narrative, left evidence, either sad or angst, giving the picture a heavy desolation but does not eliminate the quietness and calmness. Yet, post potential amount of destruction.

One of the trees called "Pohon" which was painted in 2004, and"Flames 2005" exploits to different effect, with expressive potential of the tree's explosion and eruption forms, and exhibited in 2006 in his one man show in Alpha Utara Gallery in Penang.

Hot, fiery, and burning as oppose to common terminology given to describe tree were pressing out from the artist colors tube, like no alternative given, the selections and choice are limited. From this limitation it throws one to the vast atmosphere, non-restricted zone and as if, prepared for shortcoming.

It is also unmistakably for a repercussion of massive nuclear explosion.Akin to an atomic explosion's mushroom clouds, full forms that dominate the canvas's shallow field, pressing out from the ground, almost pull us into the space.

The dedication in the title "Pohon" or "Tree" is also indirectly tell his affection to the subject tree, although after years he began making the trees, he did not want to stop there.
He laments " after all, even the origin of "sejarah" (Malay language for history) derives from Arabs word "syajaratun" which means tree and which means ancestry. genealogy, legend, biography, descent, origin".

Many states, towns, and roads have name after trees, which is very common.

The interaction between the power of the image itself, tree, must be from his root that connected him to Taiping town where the landscape is graced with many trees and he regularly cycle past them.




Jubah 2005 mixed media on canvas 8'x68"

Jubah - (robe) was frantically rendered with wide, strong and urgent brush stroke. The translation of solid and fluid interchangeability is distinct. As if, there is a magic transformation when a person wore one,This gigantic, intimidating image is not for the faint-hearted, nevertheless this is not intended but had to it as impressive as if the distortion of the Omnipotent newly obtained were giving tall order, and we who allowed the entrusted with immense power to realize its purposes through them. Now they have the tendency to reinforce and ready to conquer with the anticipation of a serious battle, be it to defense or to attack or simply just to satisfy beyond the so-called human ego. When steps back, viewers can discern an exiting and a cognitive visual,it's resonate the tensions of society under the stamp of aristocracy.

"Jubah" becomes the perfect mould, to the formation of the "jasad"(physical body). This is most vividly expressed through abstraction combine figuration, is a technical virtuosity that recalls the artist interest in the physical and metaphorical properties.



Balung (comb)2007 mixed media on canvas 52"x38"

Balung (comb) - It begins when the colors in the palette turns red, glowing, heated and is red-hot energy...marked by much heat. so intense, it seems easily ignited.

It may seem to look like our friendly domestic fowl or the rooster in the 12-years cycle of animals which appear in the Chinese zodiac.

Yet, It's mysterious, fiery, fierce and may easily excites. Balung, very interesting to look at, its organic form easily attracts like a sexual allure, only when the "balung" is prominently displayed, it announces sheer arrogance, proud. vanity, egocentric, high and mighty authority strut! The comb may be the crest and the symbol of our today's pretentious behavior, beware as we have been forewarned and take caution, as we have been told "Gombak gemilang kutu banyak, bibir hitam gigi kotor" (An old Malay proverb for "glorious crest plenty of fleas. black lips dirty teeth"- one may have a decent and honourable outlook but is a vicious and heartless person.)

Sacred cow 2006 mixed media on canvas 52"x72"

Sacred cow - an icon for many, cow and bull have always been given that strong and powerful images and fixing the viewer with a rather provocative glare. It dominates the canvas...a true resilient survivor...The triumph over struggles...

Sacred cow, figuratively, anything that is beyond criticism, cannot be tempered with or criticized for fear of public outcry. Some authorities considered themselves exempt from criticism or even questioning for their unreasonably action. It has come to almost inaccessible. Cow is a symbolic display, which upon pedestal is above the law!

The message; as art is part of social dialogue, now come with a strong presence of impulsive emotional response.It does not merely settle as a beautiful and decorative piece but with the absence of social-political issues, deprivation shows, incompleteness revealed, like a unsettled issues of mad cow social-political issues...suppressed, oppressed!