AN artist in which many, both peers and supporters, regard as having gone too soon, Kok Yew Puah’s belief in the potential and importance of the huge variety of art and artmaking is one that should be celebrated.
Currently exhibiting at Ilham Gallery until April, ‘Kok Yew Puah: Portrait of a Malaysian Artist’ brings together over 60 artworks that the artist produced over nearly three decades.
A revered artist
Puah’s paintings invite us to examine our ways of seeing each other, and to create our own meanings and stories around the Malaysian subject.
At the start of his artistic expressions, Puah was among the many artists in the early 70s to explore the fray of competing ‘isms’ in search of an identity.
He was known as a bold hard-edge printmaker using silk screen – after returning from the Victorian College of the Arts, Melbourne, Australia (1966 to 1972) – before being avowed as a figurative painter.
In between the transition of styles, he ran his family's business, but could not suppress his passion. Eventually, Puah returned to his creative calling that seemed like a gift that documented the social and cultural development of his country.
The works he produced between the late 80s and throughout the 90s highlighted some of the most honest, human, and subjective representations of the country’s visual landscape of the time.
Puah was acutely aware of developments in global, regional, and local ideas about art and culture throughout his life. He had actively sought community and conversations with other artists through running his own space, local art associations, and lecturing/mentoring students.
The Malaysian artist eventually passed away in 1999, at the age of 51.
‘Kok Yew Puah: Portrait of a Malaysian Artist’
The exhibition attempts a portrait of the artist, tracing the development of his practice and ideas through his works, essays, interviews, articles, and conversations with those who knew him, about his personal history, character, and interests.
Puah’s own self-portraits, often humorous and made in different ‘postures’, present some interesting ideas of what his ‘artist identity’ might look like. Through the perspectives of others, he is seen in turn as a visionary, an artist, a husband, a father, a friend, and a teacher.
The exhibition also presents a portrait of Malaysians. In his paintings, Puah mostly chose to use himself, his wife and two children, and their friends, as models for his human portraits.
They are identified as Malaysians using familiar visual cues in the landscape, architecture, dress and ‘props’ they appear with. Indeed, they are part of a larger, personal portrait of Malaysia, captured through the immediate experience of the artist’s life in his hometown Klang as it transformed into an industrial hub.
The portraits speak of anxieties over environmental damage, and the impact of rapid development particularly on younger generations, and their growing disconnect from history and culture. – The Vibes, January 23, 2022
*Follow the discourse on artist Kok Yew Puah and his art further as discussed among those who have enjoyed or closely influenced by his work.
‘Kok Yew Puah: Portrait of a Malaysian Artist’ is curated by Beverly Yong and Rahel Joseph. Artworks are displayed at the modern and contemporary public art gallery, Ilham Gallery, until April 3, 2022. Visitors can witness a myriad of the artist’s works, from self-portraits to paintings of his family and friends. Visit the exhibition virtually here.
