#: locale=en ## Tour ### Description ### Title tour.name = Kok Yew Puah ## Skin ### Tooltip IconButton_91026CB0_8594_8A98_41B1_3F7B8CC5DFED.toolTip = full screen IconButton_91026CB0_8594_8A98_41B1_3F7B8CC5DFED_mobile.toolTip = full screen ## Media ### Description album_8129CC1E_9B7B_BD03_41E0_D1B9BDB2AECE_0.description = Works on paper from Kok Yew Puah’s studio, Kerja atas kertas dari studio Kok Yew Puah, Collection of artist’s family album_8129CC1E_9B7B_BD03_41E0_D1B9BDB2AECE_1.description = Works on paper from Kok Yew Puah’s studio, Kerja atas kertas dari studio Kok Yew Puah, Collection of artist’s family album_8129CC1E_9B7B_BD03_41E0_D1B9BDB2AECE_2.description = Works on paper from Kok Yew Puah’s studio, Kerja atas kertas dari studio Kok Yew Puah, Collection of artist’s family album_8129CC1E_9B7B_BD03_41E0_D1B9BDB2AECE_3.description = Works on paper from Kok Yew Puah’s studio, Kerja atas kertas dari studio Kok Yew Puah, Collection of artist’s family album_8129CC1E_9B7B_BD03_41E0_D1B9BDB2AECE_4.description = Works on paper from Kok Yew Puah’s studio, Kerja atas kertas dari studio Kok Yew Puah, Collection of artist’s family album_8129CC1E_9B7B_BD03_41E0_D1B9BDB2AECE_5.description = Works on paper from Kok Yew Puah’s studio, Kerja atas kertas dari studio Kok Yew Puah, Collection of artist’s family album_8129CC1E_9B7B_BD03_41E0_D1B9BDB2AECE_6.description = Works on paper from Kok Yew Puah’s studio, Kerja atas kertas dari studio Kok Yew Puah, Collection of artist’s family album_8129CC1E_9B7B_BD03_41E0_D1B9BDB2AECE_7.description = Works on paper from Kok Yew Puah’s studio, Kerja atas kertas dari studio Kok Yew Puah, Collection of artist’s family album_8129CC1E_9B7B_BD03_41E0_D1B9BDB2AECE_8.description = Works on paper from Kok Yew Puah’s studio, Kerja atas kertas dari studio Kok Yew Puah, Collection of artist’s family album_83CCCB31_9B7A_DB01_41C5_DDD363388654_0.description = Works on paper from Kok Yew Puah’s studio, Kerja atas kertas dari studio Kok Yew Puah, Collection of artist’s family album_83CCCB31_9B7A_DB01_41C5_DDD363388654_1.description = Works on paper from Kok Yew Puah’s studio, Kerja atas kertas dari studio Kok Yew Puah, Collection of artist’s family album_83CCCB31_9B7A_DB01_41C5_DDD363388654_2.description = Works on paper from Kok Yew Puah’s studio, Kerja atas kertas dari studio Kok Yew Puah, Collection of artist’s family album_83CCCB31_9B7A_DB01_41C5_DDD363388654_3.description = Works on paper from Kok Yew Puah’s studio, Kerja atas kertas dari studio Kok Yew Puah, Collection of artist’s family album_83CCCB31_9B7A_DB01_41C5_DDD363388654_4.description = Works on paper from Kok Yew Puah’s studio, Kerja atas kertas dari studio Kok Yew Puah, Collection of artist’s family album_83CCCB31_9B7A_DB01_41C5_DDD363388654_5.description = Works on paper from Kok Yew Puah’s studio, Kerja atas kertas dari studio Kok Yew Puah, Collection of artist’s family album_83CCCB31_9B7A_DB01_41C5_DDD363388654_6.description = Works on paper from Kok Yew Puah’s studio, Kerja atas kertas dari studio Kok Yew Puah, Collection of artist’s family album_83CCCB31_9B7A_DB01_41C5_DDD363388654_7.description = Works on paper from Kok Yew Puah’s studio, Kerja atas kertas dari studio Kok Yew Puah, Collection of artist’s family album_83CCCB31_9B7A_DB01_41C5_DDD363388654_8.description = Works on paper from Kok Yew Puah’s studio, Kerja atas kertas dari studio Kok Yew Puah, Collection of artist’s family album_84E5C62B_9D6F_62BA_41CD_8298F51A320A_0.description = Photographic materials from Kok Yew Puah’s studio \ Collection of artist’s family album_84E5C62B_9D6F_62BA_41CD_8298F51A320A_1.description = Photographic materials from Kok Yew Puah’s studio \ Collection of artist’s family album_84E5C62B_9D6F_62BA_41CD_8298F51A320A_2.description = Photographic materials from Kok Yew Puah’s studio \ Collection of artist’s family album_84E5C62B_9D6F_62BA_41CD_8298F51A320A_3.description = Photographic materials from Kok Yew Puah’s studio \ Collection of artist’s family album_84E5C62B_9D6F_62BA_41CD_8298F51A320A_4.description = Photographic materials from Kok Yew Puah’s studio \ Collection of artist’s family album_8778C9F2_9D13_21AA_41E2_F264B9308990_0.description = Untitled, Undated, Watercolour on paper, Collection of artist’s family album_8778C9F2_9D13_21AA_41E2_F264B9308990_1.description = Untitled, \ c. 1990s,, \ Watercolour on paper, \ Collection of artist’s family album_8778C9F2_9D13_21AA_41E2_F264B9308990_2.description = Untitled, \ 1993, \ Colour pencil on paper, \ Collection of artist’s family album_886565DF_9D1F_219A_41CE_244B2D3029F6_0.description = At exhibition openings in the 1990s
 album_886565DF_9D1F_219A_41CE_244B2D3029F6_1.description = At exhibition openings in the 1990s
 album_886565DF_9D1F_219A_41CE_244B2D3029F6_10.description = Sallyanne’s family at Klang Yacht Club
 album_886565DF_9D1F_219A_41CE_244B2D3029F6_11.description = At Studio 22
 album_886565DF_9D1F_219A_41CE_244B2D3029F6_12.description = At Studio 22
 album_886565DF_9D1F_219A_41CE_244B2D3029F6_13.description = At Studio 22
 album_886565DF_9D1F_219A_41CE_244B2D3029F6_14.description = With parents and siblings
 album_886565DF_9D1F_219A_41CE_244B2D3029F6_15.description = At Wah Khiu (later Pin Hwa) High School album_886565DF_9D1F_219A_41CE_244B2D3029F6_16.description = At Wah Khiu (later Pin Hwa) High School album_886565DF_9D1F_219A_41CE_244B2D3029F6_17.description = At Wah Khiu (later Pin Hwa) High School album_886565DF_9D1F_219A_41CE_244B2D3029F6_18.description = At Wah Khiu (later Pin Hwa) High School album_886565DF_9D1F_219A_41CE_244B2D3029F6_19.description = At Wah Khiu (later Pin Hwa) High School album_886565DF_9D1F_219A_41CE_244B2D3029F6_2.description = In his studio
 album_886565DF_9D1F_219A_41CE_244B2D3029F6_20.description = At Wah Khiu (later Pin Hwa) High School album_886565DF_9D1F_219A_41CE_244B2D3029F6_3.description = In his studio
 album_886565DF_9D1F_219A_41CE_244B2D3029F6_4.description = In his studio
 album_886565DF_9D1F_219A_41CE_244B2D3029F6_5.description = At Klang Yacht Club album_886565DF_9D1F_219A_41CE_244B2D3029F6_6.description = With his wife Sallyanne, and children, Ser Hon and Sze Ning album_886565DF_9D1F_219A_41CE_244B2D3029F6_7.description = With his wife Sallyanne, and children, Ser Hon and Sze Ning album_886565DF_9D1F_219A_41CE_244B2D3029F6_8.description = At the Life Sauce factory album_886565DF_9D1F_219A_41CE_244B2D3029F6_9.description = At the Life Sauce factory album_8908E3F6_9D73_21AA_41DC_23E3F521B52A_0.description = ‘Prints for Asia’, Hemisphere Magazine, 1971 album_8908E3F6_9D73_21AA_41DC_23E3F521B52A_1.description = ‘Prints for Asia’, Hemisphere Magazine, 1971 album_8908E3F6_9D73_21AA_41DC_23E3F521B52A_2.description = Kok Yew Puah: Paintings 1985–1993, Creative Centre. http://www.ilhamgallery.com/data/ uploads/research/kyp-cat.pdf album_8908E3F6_9D73_21AA_41DC_23E3F521B52A_3.description = ‘Philip Morris Malaysian Art Awards’ by Redza Piyadasa, New Straits Times, 22 October 1994 \ ‘Contemporary Watercolour, Contemporary Taste’, Nanyang Weekly, 31 July 1994 album_8908E3F6_9D73_21AA_41DC_23E3F521B52A_4.description = Kok Yew Puah: Klang and Beyond, Valentine Willie Fine Art, 11–31 August 1997, exhibition catalogue album_8908E3F6_9D73_21AA_41DC_23E3F521B52A_5.description = ‘Art...is Life!’ by Wu Yahong
 Nanyang Siang Pau, 15 November 1995 \ \ ‘Kok Yew paints a changing world’ by Ooi Kok Chuen, New Straits Times, 23 August 1997 album_A2D06255_9F15_22EE_41E2_D5DD783A954C_0.description = Poster for The Field, National Gallery of Victoria, 21 August – 25 September 1968. An influential exhibition of Australia-based artists working in new abstraction. Source: www.ngv.vic.gov.au album_A2D06255_9F15_22EE_41E2_D5DD783A954C_1.description = Selected pages from Seven Printmakers, Tasmanian School of Art Gallery, 11–22 September 1978. An exhibition including the works of Kok Yew Puah’s lecturers Alun Leach-Jones and Bea Maddock, and fellow graduate and friend Alberr Shomaly. Source: utas.edu.au album_A2D06255_9F15_22EE_41E2_D5DD783A954C_10.description = Kok Yew Puah, Gallery 1 Eleven, Brisbane, 1971, exhibition catalogue. Source: Fryer Library, University of Queensland album_A2D06255_9F15_22EE_41E2_D5DD783A954C_11.description = ‘Artist son’s work on show another triumph for Puah’, Sunday Times, 18 April 1971 \ ‘Ismail takes closer looks at work by Australian artist’, The Malay Mail, 17 April 1971 album_A2D06255_9F15_22EE_41E2_D5DD783A954C_12.description = ‘Kok Yew, the perfect stand-in for teachers’, The Straits Times, 18 February 1972 album_A2D06255_9F15_22EE_41E2_D5DD783A954C_13.description = At the opening of Alun Leach-Jones’ exhibition at Samat Art Gallery officiated by J. R. Rowland, the Australian High Commissioner to Malaysia, 18 February 1972, courtesy Puah Family album_A2D06255_9F15_22EE_41E2_D5DD783A954C_14.description = Kok Yew Puah and Lee Kian Seng with Frank Sullivan, ca 1972, courtesy Puah Family album_A2D06255_9F15_22EE_41E2_D5DD783A954C_15.description = Kok Yew Puah Dari Kelang, Malaysia – First Solo Exhibition, Samat Art Gallery, 19 March 1972 (opening), invitation card album_A2D06255_9F15_22EE_41E2_D5DD783A954C_16.description = Kok Yew Puah Dari Kelang, Malaysia – First Solo Exhibition, Samat Art Gallery, 19 March 1972 (opening), invitation card album_A2D06255_9F15_22EE_41E2_D5DD783A954C_17.description = At Lee Kian Seng’s place in Klang, 1970s, courtesy Lee Kian Seng and Puah family album_A2D06255_9F15_22EE_41E2_D5DD783A954C_18.description = At Lee Kian Seng’s place in Klang, 1970s, courtesy Lee Kian Seng and Puah family album_A2D06255_9F15_22EE_41E2_D5DD783A954C_19.description = At Lee Kian Seng’s place in Klang, 1970s, courtesy Lee Kian Seng and Puah family album_A2D06255_9F15_22EE_41E2_D5DD783A954C_2.description = Selected pages from Seven Printmakers, Tasmanian School of Art Gallery, 11–22 September 1978. An exhibition including the works of Kok Yew Puah’s lecturers Alun Leach-Jones and Bea Maddock, and fellow graduate and friend Alberr Shomaly. Source: utas.edu.au album_A2D06255_9F15_22EE_41E2_D5DD783A954C_4.description = Selected pages from Seven Printmakers, Tasmanian School of Art Gallery, 11–22 September 1978. An exhibition including the works of Kok Yew Puah’s lecturers Alun Leach-Jones and Bea Maddock, and fellow graduate and friend Alberr Shomaly. Source: utas.edu.au album_A2D06255_9F15_22EE_41E2_D5DD783A954C_5.description = Reproduction of Ho Yan Tim’s drawing of the house where he and Kok Yew Puah stayed in Carlton, Melbourne, courtesy Ho Yan Tim album_A2D06255_9F15_22EE_41E2_D5DD783A954C_6.description = Kok Yew Puah in Melbourne, 1969, courtesy Puah Family album_A2D06255_9F15_22EE_41E2_D5DD783A954C_7.description = Kok Yew Puah in Melbourne, 1969, courtesy Puah Family album_A2D06255_9F15_22EE_41E2_D5DD783A954C_8.description = Kok Yew Puah in Melbourne, 1969, courtesy Puah Family album_A2D06255_9F15_22EE_41E2_D5DD783A954C_9.description = Kok Yew Puah, Gallery 1 Eleven, Brisbane, 1971, exhibition catalogue. Source: Fryer Library, University of Queensland album_D400318F_E7F3_F811_41D4_3B8BFDF022AB_1.description = Untitled (Two Men & A Racing Car), 1996, Mixed media on paper, 79 × 108.5 cm, Collection of Charles Lok album_D759E11A_E7F2_7833_41CE_C36CAFD32BB0_0.description = Artist in Landscape, 1993, Watercolour on paper, 55 × 75 cm, Collection of Yayasan ILHAM album_D759E11A_E7F2_7833_41CE_C36CAFD32BB0_1.description = Camera View of Figures (Series One), 1994, Watercolour on paper, 56.5 × 76 cm, Collection of Charles Lok album_D759E11A_E7F2_7833_41CE_C36CAFD32BB0_2.description = Untitled (Portrait in Three Postures), 1994, Watercolour on paper, 56.5 × 76 cm, Collection of Charles Lok album_D759E11A_E7F2_7833_41CE_C36CAFD32BB0_3.description = Untitled (Two Abandoned Cars), 1995, Watercolor on paper, 54.5 × 74 cm, Collection of Bank Negara Malaysia album_D7BD6C2A_E7FD_E813_41DA_0EC20CDDD246_0.description = Study for Untitled (Driving Past), 1998, Charcoal on paper, 77.5 × 91 cm, Collection of Charles Lok album_F298B918_E56D_E83F_41D2_056DA1EB7EF4_0.description = Works on paper from Kok Yew Puah’s studio
 \ Kerja atas kertas dari studio Kok Yew Puah \ Collection of artist’s family album_F298C918_E56D_E83F_41E0_F8B795E03171_1.description = Works on paper from Kok Yew Puah’s studio \ \ Kerja atas kertas dari studio Kok Yew Puah \ Collection of artist’s family album_F298D919_E56D_E831_41D4_0433C498C414_2.description = Works on paper from Kok Yew Puah’s studio
 \ Kerja atas kertas dari studio Kok Yew Puah \ Collection of artist’s family album_F298E919_E56D_E831_41E8_8AE06731CC63_3.description = Works on paper from Kok Yew Puah’s studio
 \ Kerja atas kertas dari studio Kok Yew Puah \ Collection of artist’s family album_F298F919_E56D_E831_41EB_5051B97B3CD2_4.description = Works on paper from Kok Yew Puah’s studio
 \ Kerja atas kertas dari studio Kok Yew Puah \ Collection of artist’s family album_F299191A_E56D_E833_41EB_B90FE4AFBBA2_5.description = Works on paper from Kok Yew Puah’s studio
 \ Kerja atas kertas dari studio Kok Yew Puah \ Collection of artist’s family album_F299491A_E56D_E833_41E0_65777CB5BAFF_6.description = Works on paper from Kok Yew Puah’s studio
 \ Kerja atas kertas dari studio Kok Yew Puah \ Collection of artist’s family album_F299591A_E56D_E833_41AF_5A0706FE2F51_7.description = Works on paper from Kok Yew Puah’s studio
 \ Kerja atas kertas dari studio Kok Yew Puah \ Collection of artist’s family album_F299691A_E56D_E833_41D2_2F49DB36581A_8.description = Works on paper from Kok Yew Puah’s studio
 \ Kerja atas kertas dari studio Kok Yew Puah \ Collection of artist’s family album_F2C1E2CA_E56D_D813_41DF_B3597CFD988C_0.description = Works on paper from Kok Yew Puah’s studio
 \ Kerja atas kertas dari studio Kok Yew Puah \ Collection of artist’s family album_F2C252CA_E56D_D813_41EC_63A5AA797CDE_1.description = Works on paper from Kok Yew Puah’s studio \ \ Kerja atas kertas dari studio Kok Yew Puah \ Collection of artist’s family album_F2C272CB_E56D_D811_41E5_E290523C3CA4_2.description = Works on paper from Kok Yew Puah’s studio
 \ Kerja atas kertas dari studio Kok Yew Puah \ Collection of artist’s family album_F2C282CB_E56D_D811_41DB_B42267F7ADE0_3.description = Works on paper from Kok Yew Puah’s studio
 \ Kerja atas kertas dari studio Kok Yew Puah \ Collection of artist’s family album_F2C292CB_E56D_D811_41E0_7E01BC236001_4.description = Works on paper from Kok Yew Puah’s studio
 \ Kerja atas kertas dari studio Kok Yew Puah \ Collection of artist’s family album_F2C2A2CC_E56D_D817_41CA_B8C532C2321E_5.description = Works on paper from Kok Yew Puah’s studio
 \ Kerja atas kertas dari studio Kok Yew Puah \ Collection of artist’s family album_F2C2C2CC_E56D_D817_41E9_1F9267ACA474_6.description = Works on paper from Kok Yew Puah’s studio
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 \ Kerja atas kertas dari studio Kok Yew Puah \ Collection of artist’s family album_F2C302CD_E56D_D811_41D0_15E33FCDF970_8.description = Works on paper from Kok Yew Puah’s studio
 \ Kerja atas kertas dari studio Kok Yew Puah \ Collection of artist’s family album_FD45C879_E56D_E8F1_41DE_66F553B5BC2B_1.description = Works on paper from Kok Yew Puah’s studio \ \ Kerja atas kertas dari studio Kok Yew Puah \ Collection of artist’s family album_FD45D879_E56D_E8F1_41E4_0A221BCF7C0E_0.description = Works on paper from Kok Yew Puah’s studio
 \ Kerja atas kertas dari studio Kok Yew Puah \ Collection of artist’s family album_FD46087B_E56D_E8F1_41DF_92A49E4677A1_4.description = Works on paper from Kok Yew Puah’s studio
 \ Kerja atas kertas dari studio Kok Yew Puah \ Collection of artist’s family album_FD46187A_E56D_E8F3_41BF_891A593E6256_3.description = Works on paper from Kok Yew Puah’s studio
 \ Kerja atas kertas dari studio Kok Yew Puah \ Collection of artist’s family album_FD46387B_E56D_E8F1_41DA_772F03BE2226_5.description = Works on paper from Kok Yew Puah’s studio
 \ Kerja atas kertas dari studio Kok Yew Puah \ Collection of artist’s family album_FD46587B_E56D_E8F1_41DE_B9817CB15C49_6.description = Works on paper from Kok Yew Puah’s studio
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 \ Kerja atas kertas dari studio Kok Yew Puah \ Collection of artist’s family album_FD544729_E56D_F811_41E7_036E4048C79E_0.description = Works on paper from Kok Yew Puah’s studio
 \ Kerja atas kertas dari studio Kok Yew Puah \ Collection of artist’s family album_FD54772A_E56D_F813_41E7_B1B6785F4205_1.description = Works on paper from Kok Yew Puah’s studio \ \ Kerja atas kertas dari studio Kok Yew Puah \ Collection of artist’s family album_FD54872A_E56D_F813_41E1_7D2F772D13F9_3.description = Works on paper from Kok Yew Puah’s studio
 \ Kerja atas kertas dari studio Kok Yew Puah \ Collection of artist’s family album_FD54B72B_E56D_F811_41A9_D835DD867275_4.description = Works on paper from Kok Yew Puah’s studio
 \ Kerja atas kertas dari studio Kok Yew Puah \ Collection of artist’s family album_FD54D72B_E56D_F811_41BC_EEF5601284C5_5.description = Works on paper from Kok Yew Puah’s studio
 \ Kerja atas kertas dari studio Kok Yew Puah \ Collection of artist’s family album_FD54F72C_E56D_F817_41C1_81BEECCBC70E_6.description = Works on paper from Kok Yew Puah’s studio
 \ Kerja atas kertas dari studio Kok Yew Puah \ Collection of artist’s family album_FD55072C_E56D_F817_41C6_4ACD19B69768_8.description = Works on paper from Kok Yew Puah’s studio
 \ Kerja atas kertas dari studio Kok Yew Puah \ Collection of artist’s family album_FD55172C_E56D_F817_41E1_15BD4EB7E423_7.description = Works on paper from Kok Yew Puah’s studio
 \ Kerja atas kertas dari studio Kok Yew Puah \ Collection of artist’s family album_FD7E6389_E56D_F811_41E5_AA207FFB6949_0.description = Works on paper from Kok Yew Puah’s studio
 \ Kerja atas kertas dari studio Kok Yew Puah \ Collection of artist’s family album_FD7E8389_E56D_F811_41D3_25889BA4E9F0_1.description = Works on paper from Kok Yew Puah’s studio \ \ Kerja atas kertas dari studio Kok Yew Puah \ Collection of artist’s family album_FD7EA38A_E56D_F813_41D7_D02DAA97E5A0_3.description = Works on paper from Kok Yew Puah’s studio
 \ Kerja atas kertas dari studio Kok Yew Puah \ Collection of artist’s family album_FD7EC38B_E56D_F811_41E2_02E91AB29370_5.description = Works on paper from Kok Yew Puah’s studio
 \ Kerja atas kertas dari studio Kok Yew Puah \ Collection of artist’s family album_FD7ED38A_E56D_F813_41EB_20E59DAEF08E_4.description = Works on paper from Kok Yew Puah’s studio
 \ Kerja atas kertas dari studio Kok Yew Puah \ Collection of artist’s family album_FD7EE38B_E56D_F811_41C0_4D475AA2C262_6.description = Works on paper from Kok Yew Puah’s studio
 \ Kerja atas kertas dari studio Kok Yew Puah \ Collection of artist’s family album_FD7F238C_E56D_F817_41E5_81A71EAF25EA_8.description = Works on paper from Kok Yew Puah’s studio
 \ Kerja atas kertas dari studio Kok Yew Puah \ Collection of artist’s family album_FD7F338C_E56D_F817_41AA_14CB23903FE6_7.description = Works on paper from Kok Yew Puah’s studio
 \ Kerja atas kertas dari studio Kok Yew Puah \ Collection of artist’s family photo_C95312CA_E7FE_3813_41D6_EBE8140C66A7.description = Untitled (Study for Two Friends), 1998, Charcoal on paper, 81 × 101 cm, Collection of Charles Lok photo_C95312CA_E7FE_3813_41D6_EBE8140C66A7.description = Untitled (Study for Two Friends), 1998, Charcoal on paper, 81 × 101 cm, Collection of Charles Lok photo_C953A9FC_E7FE_2BF7_41E8_E3A6EAE5A48A.description = Untitled (Study for Musicians), 1998, Pencil and charcoal on paper, 87 × 80 cm, Collection of Bank Negara Malaysia photo_C953A9FC_E7FE_2BF7_41E8_E3A6EAE5A48A.description = Untitled (Study for Musicians), 1998, Pencil and charcoal on paper, 87 × 80 cm, Collection of Bank Negara Malaysia photo_D4828410_E7F2_580F_41E1_4AFE8121ACEA.description = Untitled (Nightscape), 1996, Watercolour on paper, 77 × 92 cm, Collection of artist’s family photo_D4828410_E7F2_580F_41E1_4AFE8121ACEA.description = Untitled (Nightscape), 1996, Watercolour on paper, 77 × 92 cm, Collection of artist’s family photo_D67B8666_E7FE_5813_41E7_D404AE8F6336.description = A Study of a Group of Teenagers at an Indian Temple, 1997, Charcoal on paper, 70 × 109 cm, Collection of Rosemary & Dr Steve Wong photo_D67B8666_E7FE_5813_41E7_D404AE8F6336.description = A Study of a Group of Teenagers at an Indian Temple, 1997, Charcoal on paper, 70 × 109 cm, Collection of Rosemary & Dr Steve Wong ### Title album_8129CC1E_9B7B_BD03_41E0_D1B9BDB2AECE.label = Photo Album Drawings01 album_8129CC1E_9B7B_BD03_41E0_D1B9BDB2AECE_0.label = Drawings01 album_8129CC1E_9B7B_BD03_41E0_D1B9BDB2AECE_1.label = Drawings02 album_8129CC1E_9B7B_BD03_41E0_D1B9BDB2AECE_2.label = Drawings03 album_8129CC1E_9B7B_BD03_41E0_D1B9BDB2AECE_3.label = Drawings04 album_8129CC1E_9B7B_BD03_41E0_D1B9BDB2AECE_4.label = Drawings05 album_8129CC1E_9B7B_BD03_41E0_D1B9BDB2AECE_5.label = Drawings06 album_8129CC1E_9B7B_BD03_41E0_D1B9BDB2AECE_6.label = Drawings07 album_8129CC1E_9B7B_BD03_41E0_D1B9BDB2AECE_7.label = 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Kok Yew Puah consistently refers to photography, an interest perhaps stimulated in earlier years as a printmaker, when Bea Maddock and also Alberr Shomaly started developing work using photo-etching and he experimented with photo-silkscreen. As a painter in the 1990s, he used the idea of taking photographs as a way of thinking about how we look at paintings.
His paintings, like photo studio portraits of old and the selfies of today, “try out” his subjects posing against different backdrops. Certain props or configurations reappear across different works. Pairs of works may share the same subject or the same background, and are interesting to read together. Puah also introduces camera film negatives, colour bars and viewfinders as framing devices, putting the viewer behind the camera, making
us complicit in the framing of these images.
These multiple ways of looking, through multiple lenses, make the viewer also complicit in the act of looking. Every image, whether a photograph or painting,
Puah reminds us, represents a way of seeing. Our eyes are connected to a heart and a brain — we choose what to see; what we see, subjectively, is always related to who we are or what we are interested in.
Puah tekal merujuk kepada fotografi, suatu minat yang mungkin didorong oleh pengalamannya dahulu dengan seni cetak, bila Bea Maddock dan juga Alberr Shomaly mula bekerja mengguna gurisan foto dan dia juga telah bereksperimen dengan photo-silkscreen. Sebagai seorang pelukis cat pada tahun 1990-an, dia mengguna idea mengambil gambar foto sebagai suatu cara memikir tentang bagaimana kita melihat lukisan.
Lukisan-lukisan Puah, seperti gambar potret studio zaman dahulu dan selfie zaman sekarang, “mencubakan” subjeknya berlagak di depan berbagai latar. Sesetengah prop atau susunan akan muncul dalam berbagai karya. Pasangan karya boleh berkongsi subjek atau latar belakang, menjadikannya menarik dilihat bersama. Puah juga memasukkan negatif filem, jalur warna dan pemidang tilik sebagai pembingkai gambar, seolah-olah meletakkan pemerhati di belakang kamera, membuatkan kita bersubahat dalam membingkai imej.
Setiap imej, sama ada foto atau catan, Puah mengingatkan kita, merupakan satu cara melihat. Mata kita bersambung kepada jantung dan otak — kita pilih apa yang kita hendak lihat; apa yang kita lihat, secara subjektif, sentiasa berkaitan dengan siapa kita atau apa yang kita minati.
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“I see the young as having their own set of values which is totally different from my generation’s. It’s like the 1960s (counter-culture movement) all over again when the young rebelled against the establishment. Technology has affected them greatly, with most of their information coming from television, radio and the computer. They are not so attuned to Nature.”
“Saya lihat anak muda sekarang memiliki nilai tersendiri yang sangat berlainan dari generasi saya. Seperti tahun 1960-an (gerakan budaya tandingan) berulang kembali dengan orang muda menentang pihak berkuasa. Teknologi kuat mempengaruhi mereka, kebanyakan maklumat datang dari televisyen, radio dan komputer. Mereka janggal dengan Alam.”
Kok Yew Puah
(‘Kok Yew Paints a Changing World’,
Ooi Kok Chuen, New Straits Times,
23 August 1997)
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Issyokemei
1971
Silkscreen on paper
91.5 × 116.7 cm
Collection of artist’s family
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Prem Anand Pillai and Andrew Gomesz speak about growing up in Klang, their friendship with the Puah family, and posing for their friends’ artist father as teenagers in the 90s.
Prem Anand Pillai dan Andrew Gomez berkongsi cerita tentang membesar di Klang, persahabatan mereka bersama keluarga Puah, dan bergaya untuk bapa rakan mereka yang juga seorang artis, sewaktu zaman remaja mereka pada tahun 90-an.
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Tao’s Orbat Series One (ed.4/22)
1970
Silkscreen on paper
76 × 102 cm
Collection of Charles Lok
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Untitled
1970s
Acrylic/silkscreen on board 76 × 54.5 cm
Collection of Yayasan ILHAM
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(Title unknown)
c.1970s
Silkscreen on paper
101.6 × 76.2 cm
Collection of artist’s family
htmlText_846EC7FF_BEF7_7DBF_41E3_1CCBEF632F9C.html =
Issyokemei
1971
Silkscreen on paper
91.5 × 116.7 cm
Collection of artist’s family
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Tao’s Orbat Series One (ed.4/22)
1970
Silkscreen on paper
76 × 102 cm
Collection of Charles Lok
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Tao’s Orbat Series Four (ed.5/10)
1971
Silkscreen on paper
91 × 117 cm
Collection of Charles Lok
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(Title unknown)
c.1970s
Silkscreen on paper
101.6 × 76.2 cm
Collection of artist’s family
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Tao’s Orbat Series Three
Year unknown
Silkscreen on paper
116.7 × 91.5 cm
Collection of artist’s family
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(Title unknown)
c.1970s
Silkscreen on paper
90.8 × 116.7 cm
Collection of artist’s family
htmlText_87484888_BEE8_B241_41B7_F20C478931D7.html =
(Title unknown)
c.1970s
Silkscreen on paper
90.8 × 116.7 cm
Collection of artist’s family
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Two Plus One Series Two
1971
Silkscreen on paper
101.6 × 76.1 cm
Collection of Puah Lake Poh
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Tao’s Orbat Series Three
Year unknown
Silkscreen on paper
116.7 × 91.5 cm
Collection of artist’s family
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This short video by Mahen Bala features a conversation with Kok Yew Puah’s daughter, Sze Ning, as she revisits familiar places around Klang that appear prominently in her father's paintings. Interspersed with glimpses of visual and sonic textures from around the royal city, the visual narrative prompts the question of just how much Klang has changed over the decades, and what it ultimately means to the people who call it home.
Video pendek ini oleh Mahen Bala menampilkan perbualan bersama anak perempuan Kok Yew Puah, Sze Ning, yang melawat kembali tempat-tempat kebiasaan di sekitar Klang yang menonjol dalam lukisan bapanya. Bersilih antara video sekilas dan tekstur sonik sekitar bandar diraja, naratif visualnya menekan pada persoalan sejauh mana perubahan Klang sejak berdekad lalu, dan apakah maknanya kepada mereka yang memanggil tempat ini sebagai kediaman mereka.
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Untitled
1971
Silkscreen on paper
77 × 56 cm
Collection of Charles Lok
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JIRIKI
1970
Silkscreen on paper
90 × 70.5 cm
Collection of Yayasan ILHAM
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JIRIKI
1970
Silkscreen on paper
90 × 70.5 cm
Collection of Yayasan ILHAM
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One Plus One = One Series Four (ed.8/20)
1971
Silkscreen on paper
117 × 91.5 cm
Collection of Charles Lok
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We were introduced to Kok Yew Puah around 1996 or 1997 by another artist from Klang, his neighbour Chen Chau Chen, who brought us to George’s house, that’s how we started to become friends.
We met maybe once or twice a month. He’d invite a few of us to his house — me and my wife, and some of my friends and students. He was very happy for us to be with him — he’d talk about his art concepts, his story. We might arrive in the morning or in the afternoon, but we’d always talk till about midnight.
When we first met him he was still using the viewfinder frame in his paintings, he found it interesting because it created a sense of distance from the subject, like a frame within a frame. But he was starting to move away from that, and working on paintings using the background of Hindu temples and other buildings, featuring portraits of friends. I found his work different, but not inaccessible.
He didn’t talk in detail about why he became an artist but he talked about culture as the soul of our country, and about the gap between generations and ethnicities that he found in his experience, though he wasn’t interested in politics. He felt the works of the Nanyang artists, for example, were irrelevant to current times, and so he made works of life around him.
I’d sometimes go with him to some place he wanted to draw, and he’d ask me to take photographs of details of the location, for example the Hindu temple. We would also photograph the people he wanted to draw, in front of his house — some of my students and I are in the painting of the musicians. When we saw the paintings he made, however, we noticed he had changed some of the images, and put in different people or details from different sources, like magazine photos.
He would go to Hin Hua and Pin Hwa High School art clubs to give art talks, and I would go along and help with the slides and also talk about them. He felt that in Malaysia the level of understanding of art was quite limited and wanted to help change this. Sometimes he would talk about the development of his own work, how he used hard-edge and brought in the camera, other times about art history and concepts. He’d also show slides of artists he liked, for example, Jeffrey Smart, David Hockney, and talk about their work. He did also talk to us about other Malaysian artists and took us to the National Art Gallery at the Majestic Hotel to look at exhibitions, like the Philip Morris Art ASEAN art awards.
After his passing, we met up with Sallyanne, who told us how much he looked forward to our visits, telling her “my students are coming to meet me”.
Before I met Kok Yew Puah, I felt art was pretentious. I was disappointed in artists’ lack of passion. Although I don’t paint, I learnt a lot from George about the process of making an artwork; also ideas from art history, art concepts. And I brought this knowledge to my photographic practice and shared it with my students. His approach taught me that you don’t need to find novelty to make your work interesting. I learnt to be less influenced by others, and be more confident to do things my own way.
The year before he passed away, we met quite often. He had seen a series of black and white photo portraits I had made of artists, and in early 1999, he got me to take a portrait of him. A couple of months later, he passed away. He looks strong in the photos, and we did not know that he was ill.
He had left instructions for my portrait of him facing forward to be used for his wake and funeral. I was just trying to capture his expression, but it was unusual for it to be used in this way because his mouth is covered. The second image, in profile, is more meaningful to me — because of the silver light around his hair. It reminds me of the proverb in the Bible: “Grey hair is a crown of glory; it is gained in a righteous life.”
Excerpts from conversations on 22 December 2020 and 29 May 2021 in Mandarin and English with photographer Yeh Poh Chung, formerly a lecturer at Kuala Lumpur College of Art from 1988 to 2004.
With thanks to Yap Sau Bin, Elroi Yee Ngan Pang, and Chong Chew Ping.
Pada tahun 1996 atau 1997, kami diperkenalkan dengan Kok Yew Puah oleh seorang artis, juga dari Klang, iaitu jirannya Chen Chau Chen, yang membawa kami ke rumah George dan memulakan persahabatan kami.
Sekali atau dua kali sebulan kami akan bertemu. Dia akan mengajak beberapa orang kami ke rumahnya — aku dan isteri, serta beberapa rakan dan pelajar aku. Dia senang hati kami dapat bersamanya – mendengar dia bercakap tentang konsep seninya, kisah dirinya. Kami mungkin tiba pada pagi atau petang, tetapi boleh berbicara hingga larut malam.
Pertama kali kami berjumpa, dia masih mengguna bingkai pemidang tilik dalam lukisannya, tertarik dengan bagaimana ia memberi perasaan jarak dengan subjek, seperti bingkai dalam bingkai. Dalam pada itu dia juga mula meninggalkan cara berkarya begitu, sambil mengusahakan lukisan yang berlatarkan kuil Hindu atau bangunan lain, sambil menonjolkan potret rakan-rakan. Pada aku karyanya berbeza, tetapi masih senang dihayati.
Dia tidak banyak bercerita kenapa dia menjadi seorang artis, hanya berbicara tentang budaya sebagai jiwa negara kita, dan tentang jurang di antara generasi dan kaum etnik yang ditemuinya, walaupun dia sendiri tidak berminat dengan politik. Dia menganggap karya pelukis Nanyang, misalnya, tidak bermakna untuk zaman sekarang, dan oleh itu dia membuat karya berkisarkan kehidupan sekitar dirinya.
Kadang-kadang aku mengikutnya ke mana-mana tempat yang ingin dilukisnya, dan dia akan meminta aku mengambil gambar tertentu di lokasi itu, misalnya kuil Hindu. Kami juga akan ambil gambar sesiapa yang dia ingin lukis, di depan rumahnya — beberapa orang pelajar aku dan aku sendiri ada dalam lukisan yang menggambarkan pemuzik. Namun, bila kami lihat lukisan yang telah siap, kami sedar dia telah membuat perubahan pada beberapa imej, dan memasukkan orang atau unsur lain, seperti foto daripada majalah.
Bila dia pergi berceramah di kelab seni Sekolah Menengah Hin Hua atau Pin Hwa, aku akan ikut untuk membantu dengan penayangan slaid dan menyertai perbincangan. Dia rasa tahap pemahaman seni di Malaysia agak terhad dan dia ingin membantu mengubahnya. Sesekala dia akan bercakap tentang perkembangan karyanya sendiri, bagaimana dia bermain dengan stail hard-edge, mula menggunakan kamera, atau mengenai sejarah dan konsep seni. Dia juga akan menunjukkan slaid berkaitan artis yang diminatinya, seperti Jeffrey Smart dan David Hockney, sambil membincang karya mereka. Dia juga bercakap mengenai artis-artis Malaysia dan membawa kami melawat Balai Seni Lukis Negara di bangunan lama Hotel Majestic untuk melihat pameran, seperti anugerah seni ASEAN Philip Morris.
Selepas pemergiannya, kami diberitahu oleh Sallyanne betapa gembira ianya menunggu lawatan kami, memberitahu “pelajar aku akan datang menemui aku”.
Sebelum aku mengenali Kok Yew Puah, aku menganggap seni sebagai sebuah lagak menunjuk-nunjuk. Aku kecewa dengan kekurangan keseriusan dan keghairahan berkarya di kalangan pelukis. Walaupun aku tidak melukis, banyak yang aku pelajari daripada George mengenai proses pengkaryaan seni; juga idea daripada sejarah dan konsep seni. Pengetahuan ini aku bawa kepada amalan fotografi aku dan dikongsi bersama para pelajar. Pendekatan George mengajar aku bahawa kita tidak perlu mencari pembaharuan untuk membuat karya menarik. Tidak perlu sentiasa bergantung kepada pengaruh orang lain, hanya terus yakin dengan cara dan usaha sendiri.
Setahun sebelum dia meninggal kami sering bertemu. Dia telah melihat siri potret foto artis hitam-putih yang aku buat, dan pada awal tahun 1999, dia meminta aku buat potret dirinya. Beberapa bulan kemudian dia meninggal dunia. Dalam foto dia kelihatan kuat, dan kami tidak menyedari dia sakit.
Dia telah meninggalkan arahan agar potret rupa depan itu digunakan untuk upacara perhimpunan penghormatan dan pengebumiannya. Aku hanya cuba menangkap air mukanya; gambar dengan mulut terlindung begini tidak biasa digunakan untuk upacara berkenaan. Bagi aku gambar kedua, tampang sisi, lebih bermakna — dengan cahaya memutih menyinar rambutnya. Ini mengingatkan aku kepada ungkapan dalam kitab Injil: “Rambut beruban adalah mahkota kemuliaan; datangnya ia daripada kehidupan yang saleh.”
Petikan perbualan pada 22 Disember 2020 dan 29 Mei 2021 dalam Bahasa Mandarin dan Inggeris dengan jurufoto Yeh Poh Chung, bekas pensyarah di Kolej Seni Kuala Lumpur dari tahun 1988 hingga 2004.
Dengan ucapan terima kasih kepada Yap Sau Bin, Elroi Yee Ngan Pang, dan Chong Chew Ping.
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(Title unknown)
1970
Silkscreen on paper
91.5 × 116.5 cm
Collection of the Malaysian Association for Leisure and Socialising (MALAS)
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(Title unknown)
1970
Silkscreen on paper
91.5 × 116.5 cm
Collection of the Malaysian Association for Leisure and Socialising (MALAS)
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Kok Yew Puah: Portrait of a Malaysian Artist reflects on the work of a Malaysian who chose to become an artist twice. Kok Yew Puah (1947–1999) first impressed the local scene when he returned from his studies in Melbourne as a bold hard-edge abstract printmaker in the early 1970s, one among many artists trying to find a direction in the fray of competing isms, ideologies and social politics of the time. After leaving art for several years to run a family business, he forged a new practice as a figurative painter, producing some of the most honest, human and subjective representations of the country’s visual landscape of the late 1980s and 90s. He passed away at the age of 51.
Kok Yew Puah passionately believed in the potential and importance of art-making and artistic exchange. He was acutely aware of developments in global, regional and local ideas about art and culture, throughout his life actively seeking community and conversations with other artists, through running his own space, local art associations, and lecturing and mentoring students. He was also an artist deeply immersed in and concerned about his local environment and the social and cultural development of his country.
On one level, this exhibition attempts a portrait of the artist, tracing the development of his art practice and ideas through his works, essays, interviews, articles, and conversations with those who knew him about his personal history, character and interests. His own self-portraits, often humorous and made in different “postures”, present some interesting ideas of what this “artist” might look like. Through the perspectives of others, he is seen in turns as a visionary, an artist, a husband, a father, a friend, a teacher.
The exhibition also presents a portrait of Malaysians. In his paintings, Kok Yew 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” through the use of familiar visual cues in the landscape, architecture, dress and “props” they appear with. 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.
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. It is a portrait that speaks of anxieties about environmental damage, and the impact of rapid development particularly on younger generations, and their growing disconnection from history and culture.
Twenty-over years since his passing, as we review the works of Kok Yew Puah and what knowledge we can build around his life and times, what picture do we see of Malaysia, Malaysians and this Malaysian artist?
Pameran Kok Yew Puah: Portrait of a Malaysian Artist membayangkan pengkaryaan seorang rakyat Malaysia yang memutus untuk menjadi artis sebanyak dua kali. Pertama kali Kok Yew Puah (1947–1999) menarik perhatian dunia seni tempatan ialah semasa beliau baru pulang dari pengajian di Melbourne sebagai seorang artis cetak abstrak hard-edge ketara pada awal 1970an, di antara beberapa orang artis lain yang sedang mencari arahan dalam kehebohan persaingan isme dan ideologi sosio-politik semasa. Seterusnya, setelah mengenepikan seni selama beberapa tahun untuk mengerjakan perniagaan keluarganya, beliau menempa pengamalan baharu sebagai seorang pelukis figuratif, yang menghasilkan sekumpulan karya yang paling ikhlas, berkemanusiaan dan subjektif dalam menggambarkan suasana landskap tempatan lewat 1980an dan 90an. Beliau meninggal dunia pada umur 51 tahun.
Kok Yew Puah ghairah akan potensi dan pentingnya pengkaryaan dan pertukaran pendapat dalam seni. Beliau amat menyedari perkembangan idea seni dan budaya pada peringkat global, serantau dan tempatan; sentiasa mencari penyatuan serta perbualan dengan artis lain, menerusi mengendalikan ruang seninya sendiri, persatuan seni tempatan, berkuliah dan membimbing para pelajar. Beliau juga artis yang mengambil berat tentang persekitaran tempatan dan perkembangan sosio-budaya di negaranya.
Pada satu tahap, pameran ini berusaha memberi sebuah potret seorang artis, dengan mengesan perkembangan amalan dan fahamannya menerusi karya, esei, wawancara, artikel, dan perbualan dengan mereka yang mengenali sejarah, watak dan minat peribadinya. Lukisan potret dirinya sendiri, ada kalanya lucu dan dalam berbagai lagak, memberi gambaran menarik tentang si artis. Menerusi sudut orang lain, beliau dilihat dalam berbagai watak — seorang yang berwawasan, seorang artis, seorang suami, bapa, sahabat, guru.
Pameran ini juga memberi sebuah potret rakyat Malaysia. Dalam lukisannya, Kok Yew Puah kerap memapar dirinya sendiri, isteri dan anak-anak, dan juga rakan-rakan mereka sebagai model potret manusia. Mereka dikenali “rakyat Malaysia” dari segi penggunaan tanda-tanda visual yang lazim dalam landskap seperti bangunan dan binaan, pakaian dan “prop” atau “alatan pentas” yang mengiringi. Lukisan-lukisan Puah menjemput kita meneliti cara-cara kita melihat satu sama lain, dan membentuk makna-makna serta cerita berkaitan dengan Malaysia.
Ianya sebahagian daripada potret peribadi lebih besar tentang Malaysia, ditangkap menerusi pengalamannya di kampung halaman Klang semasa ianya berubah menjadi pusat industri. Ia sebuah potret yang menyuarakan rasa bimbang tentang pencemaran persekitaran, terutamanya impak pembangunan yang pesat keatas generasi muda, dan penceraian daripada sejarah dan budaya yang semakin meningkat.
Setelah lebih dua puluh tahun beliau meninggalkan kita, sambil kita mengimbas kembali pengkaryaan Kok Yew Puah dan fahaman yang diperolehi daripada riwayat hidup beliau, apakah gambaran yang kita lihat tentang negara Malaysia, rakyat Malaysia dan seorang artis Malaysia?
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Untitled
1970
Silkscreen on paper
100 × 75 cm
Collection of Yayasan ILHAM
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Untitled
1970
Silkscreen on paper
100 × 75 cm
Collection of Yayasan ILHAM
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Untitled
1971
Silkscreen on paper
77 × 56 cm
Collection of Charles Lok
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Art & Life in Klang
Kok Yew Puah had a deep connection with Klang, a small town that emerged as a principal manufacturing centre in the country due to its proximity to Port Swettenham,now Port Klang. It is a connection that goes back nearly a century ago when his father Puah Chen first arrived in the early 1930s from China, eventually establishing a food manufacturing business in Klang. The fourth son in a family of seven, Puah was first introduced to art by his teacher, Chinese ink painter Tan Kim Sar, at Pin Hwa High School, Klang. After art school in Australia,he returned home to Klang, determined to make a mark on the Malaysian art scene. But by the late 70s he gave up artmaking to work at the family’s chilli sauce business located in Klang, and started a family of his own with Sallyanne Quah. However, he would remain active, visiting local art exhibitions, and getting involved with the Klang Artist Society, with other Klang artists including his secondary school teacher Tan Kim Sar. When he eventually left the business to become a full-time artist (and house husband) in the early 90s, he would work from his studio in the family home. He would continue to live in Klang with his family until his passing in 1999.
Kok Yew Puah memang rapat dengan bandar Klang, sebuah bandar yang muncul sebagai pusat perusahaan utama dalam negara berdasarkan kedekatannya dengan Pelabuhan Swettenham, kini Pelabuhan Klang. Hubungan ini bermula hampir seratus tahun dahulu bila bapa beliau Puah Chen tiba di sini pada awal 1930-an dari negara China, dan seterusnya menubuhkan sebuah perniagaan perusahaan makanan di Klang. Puah adalah anak lelaki keempat, dan telah diperkenalkan kepada seni oleh gurunya Tan Kim Sar di Sekolah Tinggi Pin Hwa, Klang. Selepas pengajian seninya di Australia, dia pulang ke Klang, dengan tekad untuk mencipta nama dalam dunia seni Malaysia. Tetapi, menjelang akhir dekad 70-an dia berhenti berkarya untuk mengerjakan perniagaan sos cili keluarganya di Klang dan memulakan keluarga sendiri bersama Sallyanne Quah. Namun begitu, dia terus aktif, mengunjungi pameran seni tempatan, dan meneruskan penglibatannya dengan Persatuan Pelukis Klang, dan dengan pelukis Klang yang lain termasuk guru sekolah menengahnya Tan Kim Sar. Bila dia kemudiannya meninggalkan perniagaan untuk menjadi pelukis sepenuh masa (dan ‘suami rumah tangga’) pada awal 90-an, dia terus bekerja di studio rumah keluarganya. Puah terus juga tinggal di Klang bersama keluarganya sehingga beliau meninggal dunia pada tahun 1999.
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(Title unknown)
c.1970s
Silkscreen on paper
78.8 × 72.5 cm
Collection of artist’s family
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(Title unknown)
c.1970s
Silkscreen on paper
78.8 × 72.5 cm
Collection of artist’s family
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Family and friends in a Mercedes Benz sedan drive past a rickshaw-puller under a Chinese shop sign. A humble past and an affluent present are captured in the same frame. The people in the car are waving at someone — the blurred reflection of a man in a short-sleeved shirt on the car door, who might be the artist. The Chinese characters read “两合号” (lit. “Two Together Brand”; 两 is also the character for “tael”, a measurement of weight and currency). It is the name of a Klang sundry shop, Chop Leong Hup, owned by one of Kok Yew Puah’s friends. This painting and Musicians read together seem to pose a riddle about values — of the meaning of cultural heritage, and of what we might lose sight of or “drive past”, in the speed, comfort and genericism of our modern lifestyles.
Keluarga dan sahabat di dalam sebuah kereta Mercedes Benz memandu lepas seorang penarik beca di bawah papan tanda kedai Cina. Masa lampau yang daif dan masa kini yang mewah dipapar dalam sebuah bingkai yang sama. Mereka di dalam kereta melambai kepada seseorang — bayang kabur seorang berbaju lengan pendek pada pintu kereta mungkin si artis. Tulisan Cina “两合号” (“Jenama Dua Bersama”; 两 juga tulisan untuk “tael”, sukatan berat dan mata wang). Ia adalah nama sebuah kedai runcit di Klang, Chop Leong Hup, dimiliki oleh seorang sahabat Kok Yew Puah. Dilihat bersama, lukisan ini dan lukisan Musicians seolah-olah teka-teki tentang nilai — makna warisan budaya, dan apa yang kita mungkin tidak nampak bila “memandu lepas” dengan kelajuan, keselesaan dan generisisme cara hidup moden.
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This exhibition is curated by Beverly Yong & Rahel Joseph
Our thanks to all the individuals and organisations whose kind support has made this exhibition possible:
The family of the late Kok Yew Puah
Alberr Shomaly
Andrew Gomez
Anurendra Jegadeva
Asgari Stephens
Balai Seni Negara
Bank Negara Malaysia
Charles Lok
Fairuz Sulaiman
Faridah Stephens
Graham Fransella
Ho Yan Tim
Hoo Fan Chon
Ken Gallery
Kenneth Tan
Khazanah Nasional Berhad
Dr Khatijah Sanusi
Dr. Krishna Gopal Rampal
Latiff Mohidin
Lee Kian Seng
Long Thien Shih
Mansoor Ibrahim
Dr Michelle Antoinette
National Gallery of Victoria
Ng Sek San
Noor Mahnun Mohamed
Pakhruddin Sulaiman
Ponirin Amin
Prem Anand Pillai
Puah Chin Kok
Puah Lake Poh
Rosemary & Dr Steve Wong
Sim Polenn
Dr Sulaiman Esa
Valentine Willie
Datin Valerie Yong
Yap Sau Bin
Yeh Poh Chung
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Positive Illusion
1973
Acrylic on canvas
165 × 152.4 cm
Collection of National Art Gallery of Malaysia
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Positive Illusion
1973
Acrylic on canvas
165 × 152.4 cm
Collection of National Art Gallery of Malaysia
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An island off the Klang coast, Pulau Ketam is a small Chinese fishing village, where houses built on stilts and traditional wooden boats can still be seen today, a contrast to the urban sprawl of Klang. In 1991, two years before Kok Yew Puah made this work, a new jetty was built on the island to accommodate the growing number of islanders who were now commuting to the mainland for studies and work. In this beautifully composed painting, Puah has created a work that is rich with narrative possibilities. Who is this salesman? Is he leaving Pulau Ketam for life in the big city? Or is he in fact making a trip to the island to ply his insurance policies to the unsuspecting fishermen? Is this Puah’s ironic paean to the persistence of insurance salesmen everywhere?
Pulau Ketam ialah pulau di pesisiran pantai Klang, yang berupa sebuah perkampungan kecil masyarakat Cina dengan rumah-rumah bertiang atas air dan masyarakatnya berbasikal untuk pengangkutan. Pada tahun 1991, dua tahun sebelum Kok Yew Puah menghasilkan lukisannya, sebuah jeti baharu telah didirikan di pulau ini untuk menampung keperluan penduduknya yang kian bertambah, berulang-alik ke tanah besar untuk belajar atau kerja. Dalam lukisan yang digubah begitu indah ini, Puah telah mencipta sebuah karya penuh dengan berbagai kemungkinan naratif. Siapakah jurujual ini? Adakah dia berhasrat meninggalkan Pulau Ketam untuk hidup di kota? Atau adakah sebenarnya ianya di situ semata-mata untuk menjual polisi insuran kepada para nelayan yang tidak mencurigainya? Adakah ini sebuah syair pujaan untuk para jurujual insuran di seluruh dunia?
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Kok Yew Puah and I were from the same school but he was my junior. I got kicked out of that school in Form 2. As I grew up, I didn’t really know him, but he happened to be in my sister’s year.
The school we went to was Pin Hwa Chinese school, formerly known as Wah Khiu (Overseas Chinese school). One of the teachers, Tan Kim Sar, was sent to attend Peter Harris’ art teachers class. After three months of training, he set up a full-fledged art studio in the school in 1954 — with a plaster cast Venus, oil paints; everything was supplied.
By the time Kok Yew heard about me, around 1959/1960, I was maybe 13 years old and winning prizes in competitions in KL organised by the Arts Council. My name got into the newspapers. It made me a bit of a star in Klang. There was a group, slightly younger than me, from Wah Khiu School who had drummed up some enthusiasm about learning art, and they asked me to take them to meet the Wednesday Art Group. In those days, Klang formed a very strong presence at art activities in KL.
In 1972, while I was in Paris, Kok Yew paid me a visit. He found me through my sister whom he had just seen in London. I got a surprise, I hardly knew the guy. At that time he was at art school in Melbourne. His teacher was Alun Leach-Jones, who was doing hard-edge. I said, look, optical art, hard-edge, is out of fashion. My attitude about Op-Art is that it's a science, a science of seeing. You can do it by mathematics — look at the greatest Op-Art masters, Julio Le Parc, Victor Vasarely, who had about ten artists working under him and told collectors, “In this age, my art does not involve the touch of my hand”. So I told Kok Yew, if you want to go this way, you have to be a very mechanical minded “blah blah blah” person. In those days, David Hockney was very big, pop art was very big, so I suggested he should look at pop art, and the London School artists when he returned to London.
During the few days he stayed with me, he did talk about wanting to do something with art in Malaysia but he did not say specifically what. He wanted to promote art in Malaysia. I didn't see him till 1973, when I came back for a short visit and he offered me his place to stay in — a shop house his father had bought. He stayed upstairs, and then the ground floor he kept empty as a gallery. I heard that he had quite a few interesting characters coming to Studio 22 — Usman Awang, Redza Piyadasa, Salleh ben Joned.
Kok Yew’s family was wealthy, his father’s grocery shop was the local agent for Nestle, Dutch Lady. So George had no problem about finances. But his family had expectations. His two eldest brothers were successful lecturers in Australia, and when they didn’t want to come back, his father was very disappointed. He expected George to work with his third elder brother in the business. George really had a passion for doing art but there was this family pressure that caused a conflict within him. At a young age, he searched for guidance, and I think he admired me because I was a bit of an enfant terrible. In Australia, he really looked up to his teachers as mentors. When he started teaching at UiTM, he became very attached to Piyadasa and Sulaiman Esa.
George was a nice, compassionate guy, close to many artists. Because of his financial position, he tried to help everybody when he could. When Frank Sullivan closed his gallery, he had no income at all. George, Lee Kian Seng, and a few artists every month would collect some money and pass it to Frank.
When I came back from Paris in 1975, every weekend we’d be playing poker at some artist’s house, and most often at Lee Kian Seng’s house. He and Kok Yew were lousy poker players. Joseph Tan would come all the way to Klang to join us. He was a devil. Kok Yew couldn’t win much because he wasn’t aggressive.
Long Thien Shih, in conversation, July 2021
Kok Yew Puah lebih muda daripada aku di sekolah yang sama. Aku dibuang sekolah ketika di Tingkatan 2. Semasa membesar aku tidak begitu kenal dia, hanya kebetulan dia sebaya dan sama tahun dengan adik perempuan aku.
Sekolah kami ialah sekolah Cina Pin Hwa, asalnya Wah Khiu (sekolah Cina luar negara). Seorang guru kami, Tan Kim Sar, telah mengikuti kursus perguruan seni di bawah Peter Harris. Tamat tiga bulan latihan, pada tahun 1954 dia mengadakan sebuah studio seni yang serba lengkap di sekolah — siap dengan patung acuan plaster Venus, cat minyak, semuanya disediakan.
Bila Kok Yew mengetahui tentang aku, sekitar tahun 1959/1960, aku telah berusia 13 tahun dan asyik memenangi hadiah pertandingan anjuran Majlis Kesenian di KL. Nama aku keluar di surat khabar. Aku jadi semacam bintang di Klang. Ada sebuah kumpulan, agak muda daripada aku, dari Sekolah Wah Khiu yang begitu bersemangat untuk belajar seni, meminta aku bawa mereka ke Wednesday Art Group. Pada masa itu, telah lahir di Klang sebuah kumpulan yang ghairah dengan aktiviti seni di Kuala Lumpur.
Semasa aku di Paris pada tahun 1972, Kok Yew telah menemui aku, melalui adik perempuan aku yang baru saja ditemuinya di London. Aku tergamam, hampir tidak mengenali lelaki ini. Masa itu dia masih mengikuti sekolah seni di Melbourne. Gurunya Alun Leach-Jones giat dengan seni hard-edge. Aku bagi tahu dia, seni optikal, hard-edge, sudah ketinggalan zaman. Pada aku Op-Art adalah sains, sains melihat. Ianya boleh dilakukan mengguna matematik — lihat saja tokoh Op-Art yang hebat, Julio Le Parc atau Victor Vasarely, yang mempunyai sekitar sepuluh orang artis bekerja di bawahnya, memberitahu pengumpul seni, “Zaman sekarang ini, seni aku tidak melibatkan sentuhan tangan”. Aku bagi tahu Kok Yew, jika dia mahu ikut jalan itu, dia perlu berminda mekanikal. Masa itu, David Hockney dipandang besar, pop art memang besar, jadi aku cadang dia juga melihat pop art, atau artis-artis London School bila pulang ke London.
Semasa beberapa hari dia tinggal bersama aku, dia ada bercakap tentang hasratnya untuk melakukan sesuatu berkaitan seni di Malaysia tetapi tidak pula menyatakan apa sebenarnya. Yang jelas dia ingin mempromosi seni di Malaysia. Aku tidak menemuinya lepas itu sehingga tahun 1973, bila aku pulang ke Malaysia sekejap dan dia mengajak aku tinggal bersamanya di sebuah rumah kedai yang dibeli oleh bapanya. Dia tinggal di tingkat atas, sementara tingkat bawah diguna sebagai galeri. Khabarnya dia dilawati oleh beberapa orang tokoh seni di Studio 22 itu, seperti Usman Awang, Redza Piyadasa, Salleh ben Joned.
Keluarga Kok Yew memang mewah; kedai runcit bapanya adalah ejen tempatan bagi produk Nestle dan Dutch Lady. George tidak ada masalah kewangan. Namun keluarganya menyimpan harapan. Dua orang abangnya bekerja sebagai pensyarah di Australia, dan tidak berhasrat untuk pulang, mengecewakan bapa mereka. Dia mengharapkan George dan abangnya seorang lagi mengusahakan perniagaan keluarga. Tetapi George memang benar-benar bersemangat seni dan tekanan kehendak keluarga menimbul konflik dalam dirinya. Pada usianya yang muda ketika itu, dia amat mengharapkan bimbingan, dan aku rasa dia mengagumi aku yang tidak ortodoks dan kaki lawan. Di Australia, dia benar-benar melihat gurunya sebagai mentor. Bila mula mengajar di UiTM, dia menjadi sangat rapat dengan Piyadasa dan Sulaiman Esa.
George adalah seorang yang baik, penyayang, dan rapat dengan ramai artis. Dengan kedudukan kewangannya, dia berusaha menolong semua orang bila dia mampu. Bila Frank Sullivan menutup galerinya, dan dia langsung tidak berpendapatan, George, Lee Kian Seng serta beberapa orang artis lain mengumpul wang untuk diberikan kepada Frank.
Sepulangan aku dari Paris pada tahun 1975, setiap hujung minggu kami bermain poker di rumah seorang artis, selalunya di rumah Lee Kian Seng. Dia dan Kok Yew memang pemain poker yang teruk sekali. Dari Kuala Lumpur, Joseph Tan akan datang menyertai kami di Klang. Dia memang hero. Kok Yew tidak menang besar, dia tidak bermain secara agresif.
Perbualan dengan Long Thien Shih, Julai 2021
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I still remember the nights he spent in his makeshift studio on the second floor of our home. This was his den, where after dinner, he would spend hours on his craft. I remember watching him, and although he was present, he seemed to be lost in his canvas. The mixing of acrylic on a table with a glass top that he used as a palette, the sharpening of his pencils, and the washing of brushes are all still vividly clear to me.
He would work during the day at the factory that produced Life sauces, a family business which we knew he worked at, to ensure a stable income to support the family. It was clear that as soon as he held those brushes, he started to come alive. At some point, he had to make a decision between the two, and with the support of my mom, he left the factory and became a full-time artist. I had just started secondary school and although it was not an easy decision to make, it was a time when he was the happiest and when he made some of his best works.
Saya masih ingat malam-malam yang dihabiskannya di studio sementara di tingkat dua rumah kami. Inilah ruangnya, di mana selepas makan malam, dia berjam-jam berkarya. Saya ingat lagi bagaimana saya memerhatinya, walaupun dirinya hadir, dia seperti tersembunyi di sebalik kanvasnya. Campuran cat akrilik atas kaca meja yang digunakannya sebagai palet, pengasahan penselnya, dan pembersihan berus semuanya masih jelas di mata saya.
Siang hari dia bekerja di kilang menghasilkan sos Life, perniagaan keluarga yang kami tahu dia usahakan, untuk memastikan pendapatan yang stabil buat menyara keluarga. Jelas sekali sebaik sahaja dia memegang berusnya, dia kembali hidup. Satu masa nanti, dia harus membuat keputusan antara keduanya, dan dengan sokongan ibuku, dia meninggalkan kilang dan menjadi seorang artis sepenuh masa. Saya baru sahaja memulakan sekolah menengah dan walaupun ia bukan suatu keputusan yang senang dibuat, itulah masa dia berasa paling gembira dan ketika itulah dia membuat karyanya yang terbaik.
Puah Ser Hon
Kok Yew Puah’s son
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British-born Australian painter Graham Fransella first met “George” in Klang on his way to Melbourne in 1975, and they became close friends. He describes the artist and the family man he came to know over the years.
Pelukis Australia kelahiran British Graham Fransella pernah bertemu “George” di Klang ketika dalam perjalanan pulang ke Melbourne pada tahun 1975, dan mereka menjadi rakan akrab. Beliau mengisahkan artis dan ketua keluarga yang pernah dikenalinya sejak sekian lama.
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Artist and curator Hoo Fan Chon spent his early childhood on Pulau Ketam, a small Chinese fishing village built on stilts, in the 80s. He recounts his memories of celebrating Chinese New Year, going with his fisherman grandfather to watch Teochew opera, and participating in a ritual at his family temple on the island.
Artis dan kurator Hoo Fan Chon menghabiskan zaman kanak-kanaknya di Pulau Ketam, sebuah perkampungan nelayan Cina kecil yang dibina di atas kaki bajang, pada tahun 1980-an. Beliau mengingati kembali memori ketika menyambut Tahun Baru Cina, keluar menonton opera Teochew bersama datuknya dan mengambil bahagian dalam ritual di tokong kepunyaan keluarganya di pulau tersebut.
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We were introduced to Kok Yew Puah around 1996 or 1997 by another artist from Klang, his neighbour Chen Chau Chen, who brought us to George’s house, that’s how we started to become friends.
We met maybe once or twice a month. He’d invite a few of us to his house — me and my wife, and some of my friends and students. He was very happy for us to be with him — he’d talk about his art concepts, his story. We might arrive in the morning or in the afternoon, but we’d always talk till about midnight.
When we first met him he was still using the viewfinder frame in his paintings, he found it interesting because it created a sense of distance from the subject, like a frame within a frame. But he was starting to move away from that, and working on paintings using the background of Hindu temples and other buildings, featuring portraits of friends. I found his work different, but not inaccessible.
He didn’t talk in detail about why he became an artist but he talked about culture as the soul of our country, and about the gap between generations and ethnicities that he found in his experience, though he wasn’t interested in politics. He felt the works of the Nanyang artists, for example, were irrelevant to current times, and so he made works of life around him.
I’d sometimes go with him to some place he wanted to draw, and he’d ask me to take photographs of details of the location, for example the Hindu temple. We would also photograph the people he wanted to draw, in front of his house — some of my students and I are in the painting of the musicians. When we saw the paintings he made, however, we noticed he had changed some of the images, and put in different people or details from different sources, like magazine photos.
He would go to Hin Hua and Pin Hwa High School art clubs to give art talks, and I would go along and help with the slides and also talk about them. He felt that in Malaysia the level of understanding of art was quite limited and wanted to help change this. Sometimes he would talk about the development of his own work, how he used hard-edge and brought in the camera, other times about art history and concepts. He’d also show slides of artists he liked, for example, Jeffrey Smart, David Hockney, and talk about their work. He did also talk to us about other Malaysian artists and took us to the National Art Gallery at the Majestic Hotel to look at exhibitions, like the Philip Morris Art ASEAN art awards.
After his passing, we met up with Sallyanne, who told us how much he looked forward to our visits, telling her “my students are coming to meet me”.
Before I met Kok Yew Puah, I felt art was pretentious. I was disappointed in artists’ lack of passion. Although I don’t paint, I learnt a lot from George about the process of making an artwork; also ideas from art history, art concepts. And I brought this knowledge to my photographic practice and shared it with my students. His approach taught me that you don’t need to find novelty to make your work interesting. I learnt to be less influenced by others, and be more confident to do things my own way.
The year before he passed away, we met quite often. He had seen a series of black and white photo portraits I had made of artists, and in early 1999, he got me to take a portrait of him. A couple of months later, he passed away. He looks strong in the photos, and we did not know that he was ill.
He had left instructions for my portrait of him facing forward to be used for his wake and funeral. I was just trying to capture his expression, but it was unusual for it to be used in this way because his mouth is covered. The second image, in profile, is more meaningful to me — because of the silver light around his hair. It reminds me of the proverb in the Bible: “Grey hair is a crown of glory; it is gained in a righteous life.”
Excerpts from conversations on 22 December 2020 and 29 May 2021 in Mandarin and English with photographer Yeh Poh Chung, formerly a lecturer at Kuala Lumpur College of Art from 1988 to 2004.
With thanks to Yap Sau Bin, Elroi Yee Ngan Pang, and Chong Chew Ping.
Pada tahun 1996 atau 1997, kami diperkenalkan dengan Kok Yew Puah oleh seorang artis, juga dari Klang, iaitu jirannya Chen Chau Chen, yang membawa kami ke rumah George dan memulakan persahabatan kami.
Sekali atau dua kali sebulan kami akan bertemu. Dia akan mengajak beberapa orang kami ke rumahnya — aku dan isteri, serta beberapa rakan dan pelajar aku. Dia senang hati kami dapat bersamanya – mendengar dia bercakap tentang konsep seninya, kisah dirinya. Kami mungkin tiba pada pagi atau petang, tetapi boleh berbicara hingga larut malam.
Pertama kali kami berjumpa, dia masih mengguna bingkai pemidang tilik dalam lukisannya, tertarik dengan bagaimana ia memberi perasaan jarak dengan subjek, seperti bingkai dalam bingkai. Dalam pada itu dia juga mula meninggalkan cara berkarya begitu, sambil mengusahakan lukisan yang berlatarkan kuil Hindu atau bangunan lain, sambil menonjolkan potret rakan-rakan. Pada aku karyanya berbeza, tetapi masih senang dihayati.
Dia tidak banyak bercerita kenapa dia menjadi seorang artis, hanya berbicara tentang budaya sebagai jiwa negara kita, dan tentang jurang di antara generasi dan kaum etnik yang ditemuinya, walaupun dia sendiri tidak berminat dengan politik. Dia menganggap karya pelukis Nanyang, misalnya, tidak bermakna untuk zaman sekarang, dan oleh itu dia membuat karya berkisarkan kehidupan sekitar dirinya.
Kadang-kadang aku mengikutnya ke mana-mana tempat yang ingin dilukisnya, dan dia akan meminta aku mengambil gambar tertentu di lokasi itu, misalnya kuil Hindu. Kami juga akan ambil gambar sesiapa yang dia ingin lukis, di depan rumahnya — beberapa orang pelajar aku dan aku sendiri ada dalam lukisan yang menggambarkan pemuzik. Namun, bila kami lihat lukisan yang telah siap, kami sedar dia telah membuat perubahan pada beberapa imej, dan memasukkan orang atau unsur lain, seperti foto daripada majalah.
Bila dia pergi berceramah di kelab seni Sekolah Menengah Hin Hua atau Pin Hwa, aku akan ikut untuk membantu dengan penayangan slaid dan menyertai perbincangan. Dia rasa tahap pemahaman seni di Malaysia agak terhad dan dia ingin membantu mengubahnya. Sesekala dia akan bercakap tentang perkembangan karyanya sendiri, bagaimana dia bermain dengan stail hard-edge, mula menggunakan kamera, atau mengenai sejarah dan konsep seni. Dia juga akan menunjukkan slaid berkaitan artis yang diminatinya, seperti Jeffrey Smart dan David Hockney, sambil membincang karya mereka. Dia juga bercakap mengenai artis-artis Malaysia dan membawa kami melawat Balai Seni Lukis Negara di bangunan lama Hotel Majestic untuk melihat pameran, seperti anugerah seni ASEAN Philip Morris.
Selepas pemergiannya, kami diberitahu oleh Sallyanne betapa gembira ianya menunggu lawatan kami, memberitahu “pelajar aku akan datang menemui aku”.
Sebelum aku mengenali Kok Yew Puah, aku menganggap seni sebagai sebuah lagak menunjuk-nunjuk. Aku kecewa dengan kekurangan keseriusan dan keghairahan berkarya di kalangan pelukis. Walaupun aku tidak melukis, banyak yang aku pelajari daripada George mengenai proses pengkaryaan seni; juga idea daripada sejarah dan konsep seni. Pengetahuan ini aku bawa kepada amalan fotografi aku dan dikongsi bersama para pelajar. Pendekatan George mengajar aku bahawa kita tidak perlu mencari pembaharuan untuk membuat karya menarik. Tidak perlu sentiasa bergantung kepada pengaruh orang lain, hanya terus yakin dengan cara dan usaha sendiri.
Setahun sebelum dia meninggal kami sering bertemu.
Dia telah melihat siri potret foto artis hitam-putih yang aku buat, dan pada awal tahun 1999, dia meminta aku buat potret dirinya. Beberapa bulan kemudian dia meninggal dunia. Dalam foto dia kelihatan kuat, dan kami tidak menyedari dia sakit.
Dia telah meninggalkan arahan agar potret rupa depan itu digunakan untuk upacara perhimpunan penghormatan dan pengebumiannya. Aku hanya cuba menangkap air mukanya; gambar dengan mulut terlindung begini tidak biasa digunakan untuk upacara berkenaan. Bagi aku gambar kedua, tampang sisi, lebih bermakna — dengan cahaya memutih menyinar rambutnya. Ini mengingatkan aku kepada ungkapan dalam kitab Injil: “Rambut beruban adalah mahkota kemuliaan; datangnya ia daripada kehidupan yang saleh.”
Petikan perbualan pada 22 Disember 2020 dan 29 Mei 2021 dalam Bahasa Mandarin dan Inggeris dengan jurufoto Yeh Poh Chung, bekas pensyarah di Kolej Seni Kuala Lumpur dari tahun 1988 hingga 2004.
Dengan ucapan terima kasih kepada Yap Sau Bin, Elroi Yee Ngan Pang, dan Chong Chew Ping.
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Kok Yew Puah was born in Klang, Selangor in 1947, the son of a businessman. His introduction to art began as a secondary school student at Pin Hwa High School, Klang, where he was taught by Chinese ink painter Tan Kim Sar. He continued his studies at the National Gallery of Victoria Art School (later known as the Victorian College of the Arts), Melbourne, Australia from 1966 to 1971, where he attained a Diploma in Painting and a Master’s degree in Printmaking under the tutelage of Alun Leach-Jones and Bea Maddock who both greatly inspired him. In November 1971, he held a first solo exhibition of his prints at Gallery 1 Eleven in Brisbane. After returning to Malaysia in early 1972, Puah held a solo exhibition that year at Samat Art Gallery, showcasing his large colourful, “hard-edged” abstract silkscreen prints.
In 1973, Puah established Studio 22, a gallery-cum-studio located in a house owned by his family, to facilitate and encourage creative activity in Klang. He also lectured part-time at the MARA Institute of Technology in Shah Alam (now Universiti Teknologi MARA) where he taught printmaking from 1974 to 1975. By the late 1970s, family responsibilities meant that he had to enter the family food manufacturing business, which left no time for his art practice.
In 1985, Puah returned to making art in his spare time and participated in various exhibitions. Leaving printmaking aside, he began to produce representational paintings which looked to his hometown Klang and addressed social issues such as the environment and urbanisation. After his solo exhibition, Kok Yew Puah: Paintings 1985–1993, which was held at the Creative Centre, National Art Gallery in 1993, he retired from business and became a full-time artist. Puah won several awards at the Philip Morris Art Awards, including Second Prize for Portrait of Anne Puah in 1994. He was also one of the five Malaysian winners for his painting Camera View of Two Tourists in a Malaysian Town in 1995. Puah’s second solo exhibition Klang and Beyond in 1997 documented the changing landscape of his hometown Klang through intimate portraits of family and friends. After his premature and sudden passing in 1999 at the age of 51, a posthumous exhibition Kok Yew Puah: A Tribute was organised by Valentine Willie Fine Art in 2004.
Kok Yew Puah dilahirkan di Klang, Selangor pada tahun 1947, anak kepada seorang peniaga. Pengenalannya kepada seni bermula semasa bersekolah di Sekolah Tinggi Pin Hwa Klang, di mana dia dididik oleh Tan Kim Sar, seorang pelukis dakwat Cina. Beliau kemudianya meneruskan pengajian di Sekolah Seni Galeri Nasional Victoria di Melbourne, Australia (dikenali kemudian sebagai Kolej Seni Victoria) dari 1966 hingga 1971, memperolehi ijazah Diploma Seni Lukis dan Sarjana Seni Cetak dibawah didikan Alun Leach-Jones dan Bea Maddock, yang merupakan inspirasi besar kepadanya. Pada November 1971, Puah mengadakan pameran solonya yang pertama di Gallery 1 Eleven di Brisbane, Australia. Sekembalinya ke Malaysia pada tahun 1972, Puah mengadakan pameran perseorangan di Galeri Samat, yang memaparkan cetakan sutra saring besar dengan imej abstrak gabungan pengaruh hard-edge.
Pada tahun 1973, Puah menubuhkan Studio 22, sebuah studio-galeri di rumah keluarganya, dengan tujuan menggalak kegiatan kreatif di Klang, dan mengajar sambilan seni cetak di Institut Teknologi MARA di Shah Alam (kini Universiti Teknologi MARA) dari 1974 hingga 1975. Lewat 1970an, tanggungjawab keluarga membuat beliau mengambilalih perniagaan pembuatan makanan keluarganya, memberinya tiada masa langsung untuk berkarya.
Pada tahun 1985, beliau kembali berkarya pada masa lapang dan menyertai beberapa pameran. Mengenepikan cetakan, beliau mula menghasilkan lukisan gambaran yang melihat kampung halaman Klangnya dan menangani isu-isu sosial seperti persekitaran dan pembandaran. Selepas pameran perseorangan Kok Yew Puah: Paintings 1985–1993, yang diadakan di Pusat Kreatif, Balai Seni Negara pada tahun 1993, di terus berhenti kerja perniagaanya untuk menjadi artis sepenuh masa. Puah memenangi beberapa hadiah dalam Anugerah Seni Philip Morris, termasuk Hadiah Kedua dengan Portrait of Anne Puah pada tahun 1994. Dia juga di antara lima orang pemenang dari Malaysia dengan lukisannya Camera View of Two Tourists in a Malaysian Town pada tahun 1995. Pameran perseorangannya yang kedua, Klang and Beyond pada tahun 1997 mendokumentasi landskap yang berubah di Klang kampung halamannya, menerusi pemaparan potret ahli keluarga dan rakan rapat. Valentine Willie Fine Art telah menganjur pameran Kok Yew Puah: A Tribute pada tahun 2004 setelah pemergian beliau secara mengejut di usia 51 tahun pada tahun 1999.
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Untitled (Seated Woman)
1988
Acrylic on canvas
132 × 170.2 cm
Collection of Charles Lok
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Camera View of Figures (Series One)
1994
Watercolour on paper
56.5 × 76 cm
Collection of Charles Lok
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This short video by Mahen Bala features a conversation with Kok Yew Puah’s daughter, Sze Ning, as she revisits familiar places around Klang that appear prominently in her father's paintings. Interspersed with glimpses of visual and sonic textures from around the royal city, the visual narrative prompts the question of just how much Klang has changed over the decades, and what it ultimately means to the people who call it home.
Video pendek ini oleh Mahen Bala menampilkan perbualan bersama anak perempuan Kok Yew Puah, Sze Ning, yang melawat kembali tempat-tempat kebiasaan di sekitar Klang yang menonjol dalam lukisan bapanya. Bersilih antara video sekilas dan tekstur sonik sekitar bandar diraja, naratif visualnya menekan pada persoalan sejauh mana perubahan Klang sejak berdekad lalu, dan apakah maknanya kepada mereka yang memanggil tempat ini sebagai kediaman mereka.
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Untitled (Windows Series), or Self-Portrait with Bananas, from the early 1980s sees the artist exploring artistic identity, referencing the works of at least three artists he knew intimately. The setting of the work is a window of sky within a window of sky, a play on dimensionality that pays tribute to Piyadasa’s Terengganu series of the late 60s. There is a clear allusion to Lee Kian Seng’s award-winning 1972 work, From the Windows of Red, in which two canvas paintings were presented back to back suspended from a rope, both edged with a red painted “window frame”. On one side, the rope appears to suspend the painting of a birdcage over a palm tree, to which Puah responds by hanging a bunch of bananas tantalisingly from a short painted length of rope in his painting. Looking up at the bananas is the figure of his bare-skinned self, cut off at the torso at the bottom edge of the painting so that he is hardly in the frame. Puah’s self-portraits closely relate to Alberr Shomaly’s use of the self-portrait and this particular figure appears like a cut-out from one of Shomaly’s prints. While we may never arrive at the precise personal meaning behind this pastiche of references, it seems clearly enough a puzzle about freedom, perspectives, cultural identification, and the languages of artists.
Karya Untitled (Windows Series), atau Self-Portrait with Bananas (Potret Diri dengan Pisang), dari awal 1980-an menampakkan beliau memeriksa identiti si artis, merujuk kepada karya sekurang- kurangnya tiga artis lain kenalan rapat. Latar karya ialah sebuah pandangan langit dalam sebuah tingkap dalam sebuah lagi tingkap berlangit, suatu permainan tentang dimensi yang memberi hormat kepada siri Terengganu Piyadasa lewat 60-an. Jelas ada kilasan juga kepada karya Lee Kian Seng From the Windows of Red (Dari Tingkap Merah) (1972) di mana dua lukisan atas kanvas digantung dengan tali saling membelakangi, kedua-duanya mempunyai “bingkai tingkap”yang dicat merah. Dari satu sudut, talinya nampak seperti menggantung lukisan sebuah sangkar burung atas sebuah pohon kelapa, yang dijawab oleh Puah dengan menggantung sesikat pisang dengan seutas tali yang dilukis. Melihat ke arah pisang ialah figura dirinya tak berbaju, dengan badan terpotong oleh pinggir bawah, membuatkan dia hanya setengah dalam lukisan. Potret diri Puah menyerupai bagaimana Alberr Shomaly mengguna potret diri, dan figura ini sendiri nampak seperti pepotong daripada cetakan Alberr Shomaly. Walaupun kita mungkin tidak akan tahu makna sebenar sebalik pastis rujukan ini, agak jelas ianya adalah sebuah teka-teki tentang kebebasan, perspektif, identiti budaya, dan bahasa-bahasa pelukis.
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I still remember the nights he spent in his makeshift studio on the second floor of our home. This was his den, where after dinner, he would spend hours on his craft. I remember watching him, and although he was present, he seemed to be lost in his canvas. The mixing of acrylic on a table with a glass top that he used as a palette, the sharpening of his pencils, and the washing of brushes are all still vividly clear to me.
He would work during the day at the factory that produced Life sauces, a family business which we knew
he worked at, to ensure a stable income to support the family. It was clear that as soon as he held those brushes, he started to come alive. At some point, he had to make a decision between the two, and with the support of my mom, he left the factory and became a full-time artist. I had just started secondary school and although it was not an easy decision to make, it was a time when he was the happiest and when he made some of his best works.
Saya masih ingat malam-malam yang dihabiskannya di studio sementara di tingkat dua rumah kami. Inilah ruangnya, di mana selepas makan malam, dia berjam-jam berkarya. Saya ingat lagi bagaimana saya memerhatinya, walaupun dirinya hadir, dia seperti tersembunyi di sebalik kanvasnya. Campuran cat akrilik atas kaca meja yang digunakannya sebagai palet, pengasahan penselnya, dan pembersihan berus semuanya masih jelas di mata saya.
Siang hari dia bekerja di kilang menghasilkan sos Life, perniagaan keluarga yang kami tahu dia usahakan, untuk memastikan pendapatan yang stabil buat menyara keluarga. Jelas sekali sebaik sahaja dia memegang berusnya, dia kembali hidup. Satu masa nanti, dia harus membuat keputusan antara keduanya, dan dengan sokongan ibuku, dia meninggalkan kilang dan menjadi seorang artis sepenuh masa. Saya baru sahaja memulakan sekolah menengah dan walaupun ia bukan suatu keputusan yang senang dibuat, itulah masa dia berasa paling gembira dan ketika itulah dia membuat karyanya yang terbaik.
Puah Ser Hon
Kok Yew Puah’s son
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Kok Yew Puah was born in Klang, Selangor in 1947, the son of a businessman. His introduction to art began as a secondary school student at Pin Hwa High School, Klang, where he was taught by Chinese ink painter Tan Kim Sar. He continued his studies at the National Gallery of Victoria Art School (later known as the Victorian College of the Arts), Melbourne, Australia from 1966 to 1971, where he attained a Diploma in Painting and a Master’s degree in Printmaking under the tutelage of Alun Leach-Jones and Bea Maddock who both greatly inspired him. In November 1971, he held a first solo exhibition of his prints at Gallery 1 Eleven in Brisbane. After returning to Malaysia in early 1972, Puah held a solo exhibition that year at Samat Art Gallery, showcasing his large colourful, “hard-edged” abstract silkscreen prints.
In 1973, Puah established Studio 22, a gallery-cum-studio located in a house owned by his family, to facilitate and encourage creative activity in Klang. He also lectured part-time at the MARA Institute of Technology in Shah Alam (now Universiti Teknologi MARA) where he taught printmaking from 1974 to 1975. By the late 1970s, family responsibilities meant that he had to enter the family food manufacturing business, which left no time for his art practice.
In 1985, Puah returned to making art in his spare time and participated in various exhibitions. Leaving printmaking aside, he began to produce representational paintings which looked to his hometown Klang and addressed social issues such as the environment and urbanisation. After his solo exhibition, Kok Yew Puah: Paintings 1985–1993, which was held at the Creative Centre, National Art Gallery in 1993, he retired from business and became a full-time artist. Puah won several awards at the Philip Morris Art Awards, including Second Prize for Portrait of Anne Puah in 1994. He was also one of the five Malaysian winners for his painting Camera View of Two Tourists in a Malaysian Town in 1995. Puah’s second solo exhibition Klang and Beyond in 1997 documented the changing landscape of his hometown Klang through intimate portraits of family and friends. After his premature and sudden passing in 1999 at the age of 51, a posthumous exhibition Kok Yew Puah: A Tribute was organised by Valentine Willie Fine Art in 2004.
Kok Yew Puah dilahirkan di Klang, Selangor pada tahun 1947, anak kepada seorang peniaga. Pengenalannya kepada seni bermula semasa bersekolah di Sekolah Tinggi Pin Hwa Klang, di mana dia dididik oleh Tan Kim Sar, seorang pelukis dakwat Cina. Beliau kemudianya meneruskan pengajian di Sekolah Seni Galeri Nasional Victoria di Melbourne, Australia (dikenali kemudian sebagai Kolej Seni Victoria) dari 1966 hingga 1971, memperolehi ijazah Diploma Seni Lukis dan Sarjana Seni Cetak dibawah didikan Alun Leach-Jones dan Bea Maddock, yang merupakan inspirasi besar kepadanya. Pada November 1971, Puah mengadakan pameran solonya yang pertama di Gallery 1 Eleven di Brisbane, Australia. Sekembalinya ke Malaysia pada tahun 1972, Puah mengadakan pameran perseorangan di Galeri Samat, yang memaparkan cetakan sutra saring besar dengan imej abstrak gabungan pengaruh hard-edge.
Pada tahun 1973, Puah menubuhkan Studio 22, sebuah studio-galeri di rumah keluarganya, dengan tujuan menggalak kegiatan kreatif di Klang, dan mengajar sambilan seni cetak di Institut Teknologi MARA di Shah Alam (kini Universiti Teknologi MARA) dari 1974 hingga 1975. Lewat 1970an, tanggungjawab keluarga membuat beliau mengambilalih perniagaan pembuatan makanan keluarganya, memberinya tiada masa langsung untuk berkarya.
Pada tahun 1985, beliau kembali berkarya pada masa lapang dan menyertai beberapa pameran. Mengenepikan cetakan, beliau mula menghasilkan lukisan gambaran yang melihat kampung halaman Klangnya dan menangani isu-isu sosial seperti persekitaran dan pembandaran. Selepas pameran perseorangan Kok Yew Puah: Paintings 1985–1993, yang diadakan di Pusat Kreatif, Balai Seni Negara pada tahun 1993, di terus berhenti kerja perniagaanya untuk menjadi artis sepenuh masa. Puah memenangi beberapa hadiah dalam Anugerah Seni Philip Morris, termasuk Hadiah Kedua dengan Portrait of Anne Puah pada tahun 1994. Dia juga di antara lima orang pemenang dari Malaysia dengan lukisannya Camera View of Two Tourists in a Malaysian Town pada tahun 1995. Pameran perseorangannya yang kedua, Klang and Beyond pada tahun 1997 mendokumentasi landskap yang berubah di Klang kampung halamannya, menerusi pemaparan potret ahli keluarga dan rakan rapat. Valentine Willie Fine Art telah menganjur pameran Kok Yew Puah: A Tribute pada tahun 2004 setelah pemergian beliau secara mengejut di usia 51 tahun pada tahun 1999.
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Kok Yew Puah: Portrait of a Malaysian Artist reflects on the work of a Malaysian who chose to become an artist twice. Kok Yew Puah (1947–1999) first impressed the local scene when he returned from his studies in Melbourne as a bold hard-edge abstract printmaker in the early 1970s, one among many artists trying to find a direction in the fray of competing isms, ideologies and social politics of the time. After leaving art for several years to run a family business, he forged a new practice as a figurative painter, producing some of the most honest, human and subjective representations of the country’s visual landscape of the late 1980s and 90s. He passed away at the age of 51.
Kok Yew Puah passionately believed in the potential and importance of art-making and artistic exchange. He was acutely aware of developments in global, regional and local ideas about art and culture, throughout his life actively seeking community and conversations with other artists, through running his own space, local art associations, and lecturing and mentoring students. He was also an artist deeply immersed in and concerned about his local environment and the social and cultural development of his country.
On one level, this exhibition attempts a portrait of the artist, tracing the development of his art practice and ideas through his works, essays, interviews, articles, and conversations with those who knew him about his personal history, character and interests. His own self-portraits, often humorous and made in different “postures”, present some interesting ideas of what this “artist” might look like. Through the perspectives of others, he is seen in turns as a visionary, an artist, a husband, a father, a friend, a teacher.
The exhibition also presents a portrait of Malaysians. In his paintings, Kok Yew 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” through the use of familiar visual cues in the landscape, architecture, dress and “props” they appear with. 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.
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. It is a portrait that speaks of anxieties about environmental damage, and the impact of rapid development particularly on younger generations, and their growing disconnection from history and culture.
Twenty-over years since his passing, as we review the works of Kok Yew Puah and what knowledge we can build around his life and times, what picture do we see of Malaysia, Malaysians and this Malaysian artist?
Pameran Kok Yew Puah: Portrait of a Malaysian Artist membayangkan pengkaryaan seorang rakyat Malaysia yang memutus untuk menjadi artis sebanyak dua kali. Pertama kali Kok Yew Puah (1947–1999) menarik perhatian dunia seni tempatan ialah semasa beliau baru pulang dari pengajian di Melbourne sebagai seorang artis cetak abstrak hard-edge ketara pada awal 1970an, di antara beberapa orang artis lain yang sedang mencari arahan dalam kehebohan persaingan isme dan ideologi sosio-politik semasa. Seterusnya, setelah mengenepikan seni selama beberapa tahun untuk mengerjakan perniagaan keluarganya, beliau menempa pengamalan baharu sebagai seorang pelukis figuratif, yang menghasilkan sekumpulan karya yang paling ikhlas, berkemanusiaan dan subjektif dalam menggambarkan suasana landskap tempatan lewat 1980an dan 90an. Beliau meninggal dunia pada umur 51 tahun.
Kok Yew Puah ghairah akan potensi dan pentingnya pengkaryaan dan pertukaran pendapat dalam seni. Beliau amat menyedari perkembangan idea seni dan budaya pada peringkat global, serantau dan tempatan; sentiasa mencari penyatuan serta perbualan dengan artis lain, menerusi mengendalikan ruang seninya sendiri, persatuan seni tempatan, berkuliah dan membimbing para pelajar. Beliau juga artis yang mengambil berat tentang persekitaran tempatan dan perkembangan sosio-budaya di negaranya.
Pada satu tahap, pameran ini berusaha memberi sebuah potret seorang artis, dengan mengesan perkembangan amalan dan fahamannya menerusi karya, esei, wawancara, artikel, dan perbualan dengan mereka yang mengenali sejarah, watak dan minat peribadinya. Lukisan potret dirinya sendiri, ada kalanya lucu dan dalam berbagai lagak, memberi gambaran menarik tentang si artis. Menerusi sudut orang lain, beliau dilihat dalam berbagai watak — seorang yang berwawasan, seorang artis, seorang suami, bapa, sahabat, guru.
Pameran ini juga memberi sebuah potret rakyat Malaysia. Dalam lukisannya, Kok Yew Puah kerap memapar dirinya sendiri, isteri dan anak-anak, dan juga rakan-rakan mereka sebagai model potret manusia. Mereka dikenali “rakyat Malaysia” dari segi penggunaan tanda-tanda visual yang lazim dalam landskap seperti bangunan dan binaan, pakaian dan “prop” atau “alatan pentas” yang mengiringi. Lukisan-lukisan Puah menjemput kita meneliti cara-cara kita melihat satu sama lain, dan membentuk makna-makna serta cerita berkaitan dengan Malaysia.
Ianya sebahagian daripada potret peribadi lebih besar tentang Malaysia, ditangkap menerusi pengalamannya di kampung halaman Klang semasa ianya berubah menjadi pusat industri. Ia sebuah potret yang menyuarakan rasa bimbang tentang pencemaran persekitaran, terutamanya impak pembangunan yang pesat keatas generasi muda, dan penceraian daripada sejarah dan budaya yang semakin meningkat.
Setelah lebih dua puluh tahun beliau meninggalkan kita, sambil kita mengimbas kembali pengkaryaan Kok Yew Puah dan fahaman yang diperolehi daripada riwayat hidup beliau, apakah gambaran yang kita lihat tentang negara Malaysia, rakyat Malaysia dan seorang artis Malaysia?
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Untitled (Two Abandoned Cars)
1995
Watercolor on paper
54.5 × 74 cm
Collection of Bank Negara Malaysia
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Artist in Landscape
1993
Watercolour on paper
55 × 75 cm
Collection of Yayasan ILHAM
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Colour Guide for Self Portrait in Four Different Postures
1993
Acrylic on canvas
137.3 × 137.3 cm
Collection of Seksan Gallery
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Colour Guide for Self Portrait in Three Different Postures
1994
Acrylic on canvas
137 × 137 cm
Collection of Ken Gallery
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Camera View of the Artist
1993
Acrylic on canvas
141 × 141 cm
Collection of Kenneth Tan
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Portrait of Anne Puah
1994
Acrylic on canvas
140 × 140 cm
Collection of Faridah Stephens
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Berhenti! (Klangscape Series) / The T-Junction
1988
Acrylic on canvas
127 × 127 cm
Collection of Charles Lok
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The Empty Lalang Field
1990
Acrylic on canvas
162.5 × 145 cm Collection of Charles Lok
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I still remember the nights he spent in his makeshift studio on the second floor of our home. This was his den, where after dinner, he would spend hours on his craft. I remember watching him, and although he was present, he seemed to be lost in his canvas. The mixing of acrylic on a table with a glass top that he used as a palette, the sharpening of his pencils, and the washing of brushes are all still vividly clear to me.
He would work during the day at the factory that produced Life sauces, a family business which we knew he worked at, to ensure a stable income to support the family. It was clear that as soon as he held those brushes, he started to come alive. At some point, he had to make a decision between the two, and with the support of my mom, he left the factory and became a full-time artist. I had just started secondary school and although it was not an easy decision to make, it was a time when he was the happiest and when he made some of his best works.
Saya masih ingat malam-malam yang dihabiskannya di studio sementara di tingkat dua rumah kami. Inilah ruangnya, di mana selepas makan malam, dia berjam-jam berkarya. Saya ingat lagi bagaimana saya memerhatinya, walaupun dirinya hadir, dia seperti tersembunyi di sebalik kanvasnya. Campuran cat akrilik atas kaca meja yang digunakannya sebagai palet, pengasahan penselnya, dan pembersihan berus semuanya masih jelas di mata saya.
Siang hari dia bekerja di kilang menghasilkan sos Life, perniagaan keluarga yang kami tahu dia usahakan, untuk memastikan pendapatan yang stabil buat menyara keluarga. Jelas sekali sebaik sahaja dia memegang berusnya, dia kembali hidup. Satu masa nanti, dia harus membuat keputusan antara keduanya, dan dengan sokongan ibuku, dia meninggalkan kilang dan menjadi seorang artis sepenuh masa. Saya baru sahaja memulakan sekolah menengah dan walaupun ia bukan suatu keputusan yang senang dibuat, itulah masa dia berasa paling gembira dan ketika itulah dia membuat karyanya yang terbaik.
Puah Ser Hon
Kok Yew Puah’s son
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Camera View of Two Tourists in a Malaysian Town
1995
Acrylic on canvas
162.5 × 162.5 cm
Collection of Khazanah Nasional Berhad
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Sisters
1994
Acrylic on canvas
143 × 143 cm
Collection of Charles Lok
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title unknown
Year unknown
Acrylic on canvas
61.2 × 61.2 cm
Collection of artist’s family
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Untitled (Two Abandoned Cars)
1995
Acrylic on canvas
162 × 162 cm
Collection of Charles Lok
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Temple Figures
1997
Acrylic on canvas
144.5 × 144.5cm
Collection of artist’s family
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Untitled (Nightscape)
1996
Watercolour on paper
77 × 92 cm
Collection of artist’s family
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I had been studying art in Taipei and George [Kok Yew Puah] suggested I join him in Melbourne. Our school was first located in the basement of Victoria Museum; it didn't really look like a school, more like a workshop, but after one or two years we moved to a space at the new National Gallery of Victoria. We had a new printmaking teacher, Tasmanian artist Bea Maddock, and were also taught by Alun Leach-Jones, doing hard-edge. We were lucky, a silkscreen printing workshop was set up with all the new technology, which was mostly used by me, George and Alberr [Shomaly]. With the new equipment in printmaking, we could produce big format prints, do all kinds of things. We spent a lot of our time together. The students were mostly local – there were quite a lot of ladies. Only George and I were from overseas. Our friends also included architecture students, because George's landlord was an architect. Melbourne was a quiet city in those days so there wasn't that much activity. There were no school fees to pay, it was free tuition, and most of us supported ourselves by working. Only George was fortunate as his parents supported him. When we came back to Malaysia, I started a silkscreen printing workshop, but it wasn't easy in those days to set up a printmaking studio.
Ho Yan Tim in conversation, September 2021
Saya sedang mempelajari seni di Taipei bila George
[Kok Yew Puah] mencadangkan saya menyertainya di Melbourne. Pada mulanya sekolah kami terletak di ruang besmen Muzium Victoria; sebenarnya tidak macam sekolah langsung, lebih menyerupai bengkel, bagaimanapun selepas setahun dua tahun kami telah berpindah ke ruang lain di Galeri Nasional Victoria yang baharu, di mana kami dapat guru cetakan baharu, seorang artis dari Tasmania, Bea Maddock, dan juga diajar oleh Alun Leach-Jones, membuat karya seni hard-edge. Kami juga bernasib baik sebuah bengkel cetakan saring-sutera lengkap dengan teknologi baharu disediakan, yang selalunya digunakan oleh saya sendiri, George dan Alberr [Shomaly]. Dengan peralatan cetakan yang baharu ini kami berupaya menghasilkan cetakan saiz besar, dan macam-macam lagi. Di sinilah kami selalunya. Kebanyakan pelajar penduduk tempatan — ramai juga wanita. Hanya George dan saya berasal dari luar negara. Rakan-rakan kami termasuk juga pelajar seni bina, kerana tuan rumah George seorang arkitek. Melbourne sebuah bandar yang agak tenang pada masa itu, tidak banyak aktiviti. Tidak ada yuran pengajian yang perlu dibayar, pengajian percuma, dan kebanyakan kami menyara diri dengan kerja bergaji, hanya George yang bernasib baik, ibu bapanya menyara. Sekembali ke Malaysia, saya memulakan sebuah bengkel cetakan saring-sutera, tetapi bukan mudah mendirikan studio seni cetak di sini pada masa itu.
Perbualan bersama Ho Yan Tim, September 2021
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The Artist as a Young Man
“George” in Melbourne
A wealthy business owner, Kok Yew Puah’s father encouraged his seven children to pursue their own interests at university, and Puah ended up being one of less than a handful of Malaysian artists in the mid-1960s to pursue studies in Australia, majoring in painting and then completing a Master’s degree in printmaking at the art school of the National Gallery of Victoria together
with fellow Klang artist Ho Yan Tim. Here, he was caught up in the international movements of the time, particularly the “new abstraction” characterised by hard-edge, geometric, colour and flat abstraction as practised by lecturers such as Alun Leach-Jones. He was also close
to Tasmanian artist Bea Maddock who taught him printmaking, and whose focus on the personal and the social, and explorations of photographic imagery and photo-etching seem to have informed his own later work alongside that of his close friend, Palestinian-born artist Alberr Shomaly. He dubbed himself “George” to make it easier for the locals to call him by name. In November 1971, he held his first solo exhibition at Gallery 1 Eleven in Brisbane, Australia.
Sebagai seorang peniaga yang kaya, bapa Kok Yew Puah menggalak anaknya yang tujuh orang untuk mengikut minat mereka sendiri hingga ke universiti, dan Kok Yew Puah adalah seorang daripada segelintir artis Malaysia 1960-an yang belajar di Australia berkhususan seni cetak di sekolah seni Galeri Nasional Victoria, di Melbourne bersama Ho Yan Tim, rakan pelukis di Klang. Di sekolah seni Kok Yew Puah telah terbawa dengan perkembangan seni antarabangsa semasa, terutamanya “abstraksi baru” hard-edge, geometrik, berwarna dan satah, yang diamalkan oleh ramai artis di Australia termasuk pensyarahnya Alun Leach-Jones. Dia juga rapat dengan Bea Maddock yang mengajar seni cetak, dengan tumpuannya kepada isu peribadi dan sosial, permainan dengan imejan fotografi dan foto-goresan, yang mungkin telah mempengaruhi karya Puah kemudian bersama karya rakan baiknya, artis Palestin Alberr Shomaly.
Dia menggelar dirinya sebagai “George” supaya lebih senang dipanggil oleh orang tempatan. Pada November 1971, Puah mengadakan pameran solonya yang pertama di Gallery 1 Eleven di Brisbane, Australia.
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The Artist as a Young Man
“George” in Melbourne
A wealthy business owner, Kok Yew Puah’s father encouraged his seven children to pursue their own interests at university, and Puah ended up being one of less than a handful of Malaysian artists in the mid-1960s to pursue studies in Australia, majoring in painting and then completing a Master’s degree in printmaking at the art school of the National Gallery of Victoria together
with fellow Klang artist Ho Yan Tim. Here, he was caught up in the international movements of the time, particularly the “new abstraction” characterised by hard-edge, geometric, colour and flat abstraction as practised by lecturers such as Alun Leach-Jones. He was also close
to Tasmanian artist Bea Maddock who taught him printmaking, and whose focus on the personal and the social, and explorations of photographic imagery and photo-etching seem to have informed his own later work alongside that of his close friend, Palestinian-born artist Alberr Shomaly. He dubbed himself “George” to make it easier for the locals to call him by name. In November 1971, he held his first solo exhibition at Gallery 1 Eleven in Brisbane, Australia.
Sebagai seorang peniaga yang kaya, bapa Kok Yew Puah menggalak anaknya yang tujuh orang untuk mengikut minat mereka sendiri hingga ke universiti, dan Kok Yew Puah adalah seorang daripada segelintir artis Malaysia 1960-an yang belajar di Australia berkhususan seni cetak di sekolah seni Galeri Nasional Victoria, di Melbourne bersama Ho Yan Tim, rakan pelukis di Klang. Di sekolah seni Kok Yew Puah telah terbawa dengan perkembangan seni antarabangsa semasa, terutamanya “abstraksi baru” hard-edge, geometrik, berwarna dan satah, yang diamalkan oleh ramai artis di Australia termasuk pensyarahnya Alun Leach-Jones. Dia juga rapat dengan Bea Maddock yang mengajar seni cetak, dengan tumpuannya kepada isu peribadi dan sosial, permainan dengan imejan fotografi dan foto-goresan, yang mungkin telah mempengaruhi karya Puah kemudian bersama karya rakan baiknya, artis Palestin Alberr Shomaly.
Dia menggelar dirinya sebagai “George” supaya lebih senang dipanggil oleh orang tempatan. Pada November 1971, Puah mengadakan pameran solonya yang pertama di Gallery 1 Eleven di Brisbane, Australia.
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I had been studying art in Taipei and George [Kok Yew Puah] suggested I join him in Melbourne. Our school was first located in the basement of Victoria Museum; it didn't really look like a school, more like a workshop, but after one or two years we moved to a space at the new National Gallery of Victoria. We had a new printmaking teacher, Tasmanian artist Bea Maddock, and were also taught by Alun Leach-Jones, doing hard-edge. We were lucky, a silkscreen printing workshop was set up with all the new technology, which was mostly used by me, George and Alberr [Shomaly]. With the new equipment in printmaking, we could produce big format prints, do all kinds of things. We spent a lot of our time together. The students were mostly local – there were quite a lot of ladies. Only George and I were from overseas. Our friends also included architecture students, because George's landlord was an architect. Melbourne was a quiet city in those days so there wasn't that much activity. There were no school fees to pay, it was free tuition, and most of us supported ourselves by working. Only George was fortunate as his parents supported him. When we came back to Malaysia, I started a silkscreen printing workshop, but it wasn't easy in those days to set up a printmaking studio.
Ho Yan Tim in conversation, September 2021
Saya sedang mempelajari seni di Taipei bila George
[Kok Yew Puah] mencadangkan saya menyertainya di Melbourne. Pada mulanya sekolah kami terletak di ruang besmen Muzium Victoria; sebenarnya tidak macam sekolah langsung, lebih menyerupai bengkel, bagaimanapun selepas setahun dua tahun kami telah berpindah ke ruang lain di Galeri Nasional Victoria yang baharu, di mana kami dapat guru cetakan baharu, seorang artis dari Tasmania, Bea Maddock, dan juga diajar oleh Alun Leach-Jones, membuat karya seni hard-edge. Kami juga bernasib baik sebuah bengkel cetakan saring-sutera lengkap dengan teknologi baharu disediakan, yang selalunya digunakan oleh saya sendiri, George dan Alberr [Shomaly]. Dengan peralatan cetakan yang baharu ini kami berupaya menghasilkan cetakan saiz besar, dan macam-macam lagi. Di sinilah kami selalunya. Kebanyakan pelajar penduduk tempatan — ramai juga wanita. Hanya George dan saya berasal dari luar negara. Rakan-rakan kami termasuk juga pelajar seni bina, kerana tuan rumah George seorang arkitek. Melbourne sebuah bandar yang agak tenang pada masa itu, tidak banyak aktiviti. Tidak ada yuran pengajian yang perlu dibayar, pengajian percuma, dan kebanyakan kami menyara diri dengan kerja bergaji, hanya George yang bernasib baik, ibu bapanya menyara. Sekembali ke Malaysia, saya memulakan sebuah bengkel cetakan saring-sutera, tetapi bukan mudah mendirikan studio seni cetak di sini pada masa itu.
Perbualan bersama Ho Yan Tim, September 2021
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Masks and the Modern Man
1995
Acrylic on canvas
162 × 223 cm
Collection of National Art Gallery of Malaysia
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Tradition and Change
1996
Acrylic on canvas
170.5 × 170.5 cm Collection of Kenneth Tan
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I had been studying art in Taipei and George [Kok Yew Puah] suggested I join him in Melbourne. Our school was first located in the basement of Victoria Museum; it didn't really look like a school, more like a workshop, but after one or two years we moved to a space at the new National Gallery of Victoria. We had a new printmaking teacher, Tasmanian artist Bea Maddock, and were also taught by Alun Leach-Jones, doing hard-edge. We were lucky, a silkscreen printing workshop was set up with all the new technology, which was mostly used by me, George and Alberr [Shomaly]. With the new equipment in printmaking, we could produce big format prints, do all kinds of things. We spent a lot of our time together. The students were mostly local – there were quite a lot of ladies. Only George and I were from overseas. Our friends also included architecture students, because George's landlord was an architect. Melbourne was a quiet city in those days so there wasn't that much activity. There were no school fees to pay, it was free tuition, and most of us supported ourselves by working. Only George was fortunate as his parents supported him. When we came back to Malaysia, I started a silkscreen printing workshop, but it wasn't easy in those days to set up a printmaking studio.
Ho Yan Tim in conversation, September 2021
Saya sedang mempelajari seni di Taipei bila George [Kok Yew Puah] mencadangkan saya menyertainya di Melbourne. Pada mulanya sekolah kami terletak di ruang besmen Muzium Victoria; sebenarnya tidak macam sekolah langsung, lebih menyerupai bengkel, bagaimanapun selepas setahun dua tahun kami telah berpindah ke ruang lain di Galeri Nasional Victoria yang baharu, di mana kami dapat guru cetakan baharu, seorang artis dari Tasmania, Bea Maddock, dan juga diajar oleh Alun Leach-Jones, membuat karya seni hard-edge. Kami juga bernasib baik sebuah bengkel cetakan saring-sutera lengkap dengan teknologi baharu disediakan, yang selalunya digunakan oleh saya sendiri, George dan Alberr [Shomaly]. Dengan peralatan cetakan yang baharu ini kami berupaya menghasilkan cetakan saiz besar, dan macam-macam lagi. Di sinilah kami selalunya. Kebanyakan pelajar penduduk tempatan — ramai juga wanita. Hanya George dan saya berasal dari luar negara. Rakan-rakan kami termasuk juga pelajar seni bina, kerana tuan rumah George seorang arkitek. Melbourne sebuah bandar yang agak tenang pada masa itu, tidak banyak aktiviti. Tidak ada yuran pengajian yang perlu dibayar, pengajian percuma, dan kebanyakan kami menyara diri dengan kerja bergaji, hanya George yang bernasib baik, ibu bapanya menyara. Sekembali ke Malaysia, saya memulakan sebuah bengkel cetakan saring-sutera, tetapi bukan mudah mendirikan studio seni cetak di sini pada masa itu.
Perbualan bersama Ho Yan Tim, September 2021
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Untitled (Three Persons Holding Masks)
1996
Acrylic on canvas
67.5 × 167.5 cm
Collection of Charles Lok
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Kenyataan – Statement
1992
Acrylic on canvas
183 × 183 cm
Collection of National Art Gallery of Malaysia
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The Artist as a Young Man
“George” in Melbourne
A wealthy business owner, Kok Yew Puah’s father encouraged his seven children to pursue their own interests at university, and Puah ended up being one of less than a handful of Malaysian artists in the mid-1960s to pursue studies in Australia, majoring in painting and then completing a Master’s degree in printmaking at the art school of the National Gallery of Victoria together with fellow Klang artist Ho Yan Tim. Here, he was caught up in the international movements of the time, particularly the “new abstraction” characterised by hard-edge, geometric, colour and flat abstraction as practised by lecturers such as Alun Leach-Jones. He was also close to Tasmanian artist Bea Maddock who taught him printmaking, and whose focus on the personal and the social, and explorations of photographic imagery and photo-etching seem to have informed his own later work alongside that of his close friend, Palestinian-born artist Alberr Shomaly. He dubbed himself “George” to make it easier for the locals to call him by name. In November 1971, he held his first solo exhibition at Gallery 1 Eleven in Brisbane, Australia.
Sebagai seorang peniaga yang kaya, bapa Kok Yew Puah menggalak anaknya yang tujuh orang untuk mengikut minat mereka sendiri hingga ke universiti, dan Kok Yew Puah adalah seorang daripada segelintir artis Malaysia 1960-an yang belajar di Australia berkhususan seni cetak di sekolah seni Galeri Nasional Victoria, di Melbourne bersama Ho Yan Tim, rakan pelukis di Klang. Di sekolah seni Kok Yew Puah telah terbawa dengan perkembangan seni antarabangsa semasa, terutamanya “abstraksi baru” hard-edge, geometrik, berwarna dan satah, yang diamalkan oleh ramai artis di Australia termasuk pensyarahnya Alun Leach-Jones. Dia juga rapat dengan Bea Maddock yang mengajar seni cetak, dengan tumpuannya kepada isu peribadi dan sosial, permainan dengan imejan fotografi dan foto-goresan, yang mungkin telah mempengaruhi karya Puah kemudian bersama karya rakan baiknya, artis Palestin Alberr Shomaly. Dia menggelar dirinya sebagai “George” supaya lebih senang dipanggil oleh orang tempatan. Pada November 1971, Puah mengadakan pameran solonya yang pertama di Gallery 1 Eleven di Brisbane, Australia.
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Camera View of a Group of Teenagers
1997
Acrylic on canvas
168 × 168 cm
Collection of Pakhruddin & Fatimah Sulaiman
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title unknown
Year unknown
Acrylic on canvas
61.2 × 61.2 cm
Collection of artist’s family
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Camera View of Two Tourists in a Malaysian Town
1995
Acrylic on canvas
162.5 × 162.5 cm
Collection of Khazanah Nasional Berhad
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Temple Figures
1997
Acrylic on canvas
145.5 × 169 cm
Collection of National Art Gallery of Malaysia
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Untitled (Study for Camera View of Two Tourists in a Malaysian Town)
1995
Watercolour on paper
55 × 76.5 cm
Collection of Charles Lok
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In Front of an Indian Temple
1997
Acrylic on canvas
137 × 137 cm
Collection of Charles Lok
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In Front of an Indian Temple
1997
Acrylic on canvas
137 × 137 cm
Collection of Charles Lok
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Untitled (Study for Camera View of Two Tourists in a Malaysian Town)
1995
Watercolour on paper
55 × 76.5 cm
Collection of Charles Lok
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Portrait of an Insurance Salesman in Pulau Ketam
1993
Acrylic on canvas
164 × 162.5 cm
Collection of Khazanah Nasional Berhad
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There is clearly a dialogue between Puah’s Tao’s Orbat series and his teacher Alun Leach-Jones’ seminal Noumenon series, spanning from around 1964 to 1972, where circles containing busy masses of symbol-like forms fill square canvases. To this visual interpretation of a Kantian concept, Puah responds with variations on the geometric shapes used in a similar square format, using bolder, more simplified colours and forms. His titles allude to a much earlier Eastern conceptual equivalent of phenomenon-noumenon, Tao, and its principle of the harmony of objects. Ideas about Eastern and Western thought, the development and “universality” of the modern art movement, even the sharing of basic values can be read into this conversation.
Sememangnya ada dialog di antara karya Puah siri Tao’s Orbat dengan siri berpengaruh Noumenon oleh gurunya Alun Leach-Jones, dari 1964 hingga 1972, di mana bulatan yang mengandungi bentuk menyerupai simbol memenuhi kanvas empat segi. Sebagai gerak balas kepada tafsiran visual konsep Kant ini, Puah menghasilkan berbagai variasi bentuk geometrik dalam format empat segi yang sama, mengguna warna dan bentuk yang ketara lagi sederhana. Tajuk-tajuknya menyentuh konsep Timur lebih awal yang menyamai phenomenon-noumenon, yakni Tao, dan prinsipnya tentang harmoni di kalangan objek. Idea tentang pemikiran Timur dan Barat, perkembangan dan “kesejagatan” pergerakan seni moden, malah perkongsian nilai-nilai asas juga boleh dikesani pada perbualan ini.
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There is clearly a dialogue between Puah’s Tao’s Orbat series and his teacher Alun Leach-Jones’ seminal Noumenon series, spanning from around 1964 to 1972, where circles containing busy masses of symbol-like forms fill square canvases. To this visual interpretation of a Kantian concept, Puah responds with variations on the geometric shapes used in a similar square format, using bolder, more simplified colours and forms. His titles allude to a much earlier Eastern conceptual equivalent of phenomenon-noumenon, Tao, and its principle of the harmony of objects. Ideas about Eastern and Western thought, the development and “universality” of the modern art movement, even the sharing of basic values can be read into this conversation.
Sememangnya ada dialog di antara karya Puah siri Tao’s Orbat dengan siri berpengaruh Noumenon oleh gurunya Alun Leach-Jones, dari 1964 hingga 1972, di mana bulatan yang mengandungi bentuk menyerupai simbol memenuhi kanvas empat segi. Sebagai gerak balas kepada tafsiran visual konsep Kant ini, Puah menghasilkan berbagai variasi bentuk geometrik dalam format empat segi yang sama, mengguna warna dan bentuk yang ketara lagi sederhana. Tajuk-tajuknya menyentuh konsep Timur lebih awal yang menyamai phenomenon-noumenon, yakni Tao, dan prinsipnya tentang harmoni di kalangan objek. Idea tentang pemikiran Timur dan Barat, perkembangan dan “kesejagatan” pergerakan seni moden, malah perkongsian nilai-nilai asas juga boleh dikesani pada perbualan ini.
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Untitled (Window Series)
(Self Portrait with Banana)
c.1980
Watercolour on paper
76 × 56 cm
Collection of artist’s family
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Ponirin Amin talks about being an art student and graduate in the mid-1970s, when he briefly shared a house with his former lecturer Kok Yew Puah, and Mansoor Ibrahim.
Ponirin Amin berbicara tentang pengalamannya sebagai pelajar dan graduan seni pada pertengahan 1970-an, di mana beliau sempat berkongsi rumah bersama bekas pensyarahnya Kok Yew Puah dan Mansoor Ibrahim.
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“I returned at the worst possible time.I could hardly sell my works and everybody was trying to find new direction. There were also no print facilities for me to work on.”
“Pada ketika saya kembali, keadaan sangat tidak baik. Sukar untuk menjual karya dan ramai yang sedang mencari hala tuju baru. Juga tiada fasiliti seni cetak untuk saya bekerja.”
Kok Yew Puah
(‘Kok Yew Paints a Changing World’,
Ooi Kok Chuen, New Straits Times,
23 August 1997)
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We had never thought of their marriage as a great love story as my father was absent from family holidays, and preferred a hermit-like existence. He was largely reluctant to travel anywhere beyond 10km, preferring his daily routine in his tiny carved-out space in Klang. In retrospect, having lived most of this past year in some form of isolation because of the Covid-19 pandemic, I would like to think we can all relate better to his introspection.
Perhaps it was indeed the greatest love story of all, featuring a man so content with his family and immediate surroundings, that he never felt the need to go far, choosing to immortalise them in his paintings. And a wife, whose love gave him the space to create his art, leaving a legacy for us all.
Kami tidak pernah menganggap perkahwinan mereka sebagai suatu kisah cinta yang hebat, sebab bapa selalunya tidak bersama kami semasa keluarga bercuti dan lebih meminati hidup bertapa. Dia tidak gemar berjalan ke mana-mana lebih daripada 10 kilometer, lebih berminat kepada rutin hariannya dalam ruangnya sendiri di Klang. Bila ditinjau kembali, setelah mengalami tahun yang lepas dalam suasana terasing akibat pandemik Covid-19, aku rasa lebih memahami sikapnya yang suka memeriksa diri sendiri.
Mungkin ini sebuah kisah cinta yang paling hebat, dalam menonjolkan seorang manusia yang begitu puas hati dengan keluarga dan sekitarnya yang terdekat, sehingga ia tidak terasa untuk berjalan jauh, sebaliknya memilih untuk mengabadikannya dalam lukisan, dengan kasih sayang seorang isteri yang memberi ruang untuk menghasilkan karya seni yang menjadi warisan untuk kita semua.
Puah Sze Ning
Kok Yew Puah’s daughter
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This painting spoke to me because of its affinity with Hockney, whom I was very much inspired by. I liked David Hockney’s early work very much and connected with it when I first saw it — the drawings of his friends, his use of a “hobby artist” material like colour pencil; that it’s very straightforward, the simple geometry, the straight lines. Like him, I was also doing a lot of flat perspective though, for me, this came from Japanese woodcuts and Indian miniature paintings, and their colours.
Reading Kok Yew Puah’s painting, he has simplified the composition, dividing the painting with this figure of Sallyanne, sitting in the chair. And she's looking, I wouldn't say bored exactly, but there's something about the way her eyes are looking upwards I would say that’s a 70 percent eye-roll. There is an expression, it feels like, of having to sit in this chair, having to pose for this painting.
And the chair — I remember Hockney also had wicker chairs in several of his paintings. And that tree looks like the banana tree in Hockney’s painting of Mrs Betty Freeman, in which there’s also the zebra lounger which reflects the Op-Art background behind Sallyanne. California and Klang have similarities, I guess.
The more I look at it, the more I like it. On one hand, it is so minimal, but it says a lot, or just enough. I mean, you have the reflective glass, you have the outdoor, the indoor, there is light streaming through. And there’s the reluctant muse sitting in the wicker chair.
In Puah’s other paintings of her, there’s more of a narrative, a sense of occasion but what I like about this particular portrait is the fact that it really is just Sallyanne sitting in a chair, posing for him, a Malaysian painter in Klang. And I like that he quotes David Hockney in this work, because to me, David Hockney has a universality to him – he doesn’t feel British, or American because he paints from California, he feels international... because everyone can relate to his work. This painting too might be located in Klang but it could be anywhere in the world. I like the simplicity of it, and the composition is very calculated, with the squares and the rectangles. It's all very minimal. And the colours — the cold green and the lime green, and that light cobalt blue sky. You don't see that blue sky in Malaysia actually, but I know what he's heading towards. To me, it’s perfect. I couldn’t ask for a better portrait.
Extract from a conversation with Noor Mahnun Mohamed, August 2021. Noor Mahnun Mohamed is an artist who works very much with the figure and the portrait.
Lukisan ini menarik perhatian aku kerana persamaannya dengan karya David Hockney yang besar pengaruhnya bagi aku. Aku memang menyukai karya awal David Hockney dan terpikat bila pertama kali melihatnya — gambar rakan-rakan yang dilukisnya, bahan-bahan “hobi melukis” yang digunakan seperti pensel warna; cara melukis yang mudah, geometri yang ringkas, garis lurus. Seperti dia, aku juga banyak melukis perspektif satah, walaupun pengaruh aku ialah cetakan kayu Jepun dan lukisan kenit India, dan warna-warnanya.
Dalam menghayati lukisan Kok Yew Puah, aku nampak dia telah memudahkan komposisi, membahagi lukisan dengan bentuk figura Sallyanne duduk di kerusi. Daripada gulingan biji matanya yang melihat ke atas aku nampak dia seperti agak bosan dengan keperluannya duduk atas kerusi itu untuk tujuan lukisan ini.
Kerusinya pula — aku teringat Hockney juga mempunyai kerusi anyaman rotan dalam beberapa karyanya. Pohonnya pula kelihatan seperti pohon pisang dalam lukisan Mrs Betty Freeman oleh Hockney, yang juga mengandungi sebuah kerusi santai bercorak belang zebra yang menyahut latar Op-Art di belakang Sallyanne. Mungkin ada persamaan agaknya di antara California dan Klang.
Semakin lama aku menekun lukisan ini, semakin
aku menyukainya. Dari satu segi, ianya nampak minimalis, namun banyak yang diperkatakan, atau mencukupi. Maksud aku, ada kaca reflektif, ada ruangan luaran, dalaman, dan pancaran cahaya dari luar. Dan ada juga persona ilham yang keberatan terduduk di kerusi rotan.
Dalam lukisan Sallyanne yang lain oleh Puah, ada naratif yang lebih nyata, ada unsur suasana, namun apa yang aku suka tentang potret ini ialah kehadiran Sallyanne semata-mata, terduduk di kerusi, untuk dilukis oleh Puah, seorang pelukis Malaysia di Klang. Aku juga suka bagaimana dia merujuk kepada David Hockney dalam karya ini, kerana bagi aku, David Hockney mempunyai unsur kesejagatan — dia bukan Inggeris, dan bukan juga orang Amerika kerana melukis di California, dia bagaikan antarabangsa ... semua orang boleh disentuhi karyanya. Lukisan ini mungkin bertempat di Klang, namun ianya boleh terjadi di mana saja di dunia. Aku suka kesederhanaannya, dan komposisinya yang begitu nyata bagaikan terukur, dengan segi-segi empat sama dan tepat. Semuanya berdikit-dikit. Dan warnanya — hijau dingin dan hijau limau, dan langit biru kobalt muda. Kita tidak ada langit biru begitu di Malaysia, tetapi aku faham tujuannya. Bagi aku, ianya sempurna. Tidak perlu aku cari potret yang lebih baik.
Petikan perbualan bersama Noor Mahnun Mohamed, Ogos 2021. Noor Mahnun Mohamed adalah seorang pelukis figura dan potret.
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Masks & the Modern Man
In these paintings, Kok Yew Puah groups different traditional masks together — a Balinese Rangda mask,
a Mah Meri mask, some form of African tribal mask.
They offer up a range of possible identities the Malaysian subject can “wear” — national, regional, “ethnic”, cultural. Does the wearing of masks by men in jeans or suits express a tension between traditional and modern perspectives and aesthetics? Do we read the use of masks as a means of hiding behind or expressing identity? What lies behind the mask?
Kok Yew Puah mengguna berbagai jenis topeng suku kaum — kebiasaannya topeng Rangda Bali, topeng
Mah Meri dan juga bentuk topeng puak dari Afrika, menawarkan berbagai identiti yang subjek Malaysia
itu boleh “memakai” — kebangsaan, serantau, etnik, budaya. Adakah lelaki yang berseluar jean atau sut dan bertopeng menandakan ketegangan di antara perspektif dan estetika tradisional dan moden? Bolehkah kita mentafsir penggunaan topeng sebagai suatu cara bersembunyi di sebalik atau menyata identiti? Apakah sebenarnya di sebalik topeng?
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Portraits of the Artist & His Muse
A central character in his work and life, his wife Sallyanne cuts a consistently powerful figure in what are, arguably, some of Kok Yew Puah's most successful and memorable paintings, including the prize-winning Portrait of Anne Puah.
Meanwhile, none of Kok Yew Puah’s self-portraits resemble him very closely. Mostly produced around 1993/1994 when he made the decision to become a full-time artist, they present a series of “postures”, as if he was constantly questioning what he was doing as an artist, what it was to be an artist in Malaysia, and what an artist might look like to his family and society at large.
Sebagai seorang yang berpengaruh dalam kerja dan hidupnya, tidak hairan Sallyanne, isteri Kok Yew Puah, merupakan watak utama dalam beberapa buah karyanya yang boleh dikatakan di antara yang paling menarik dan bermakna, termasuk Portrait of Anne Puah yang telah memenangi hadiah.
Sementara itu, tidak ada potret diri Kok Yew Puah yang menyerupai dirinya sepenuhnya. Kebanyakannya dihasilkan sekitar tahun 1993/1994 bila dia memutuskan untuk menjadi pelukis sepenuh masa, karya-karya ini merupakan sebuah siri “lagak” atau "postur", seolah-olah dia sentiasa menyoal peranannya sebagai seorang artis, sebagai seorang artis Malaysia, serta rupa seorang artis dalam tanggapan keluarga dan masyarakat am.
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Figurative painter and former arts journalist Anurendra Jegadeva talks about being influenced by Kok Yew Puah’s paintings and the ways in which they use “small narratives” to help us think about our place within bigger stories.
Pelukis figuratif dan bekas wartawan Anurendra Jegadeva berbicara tentang pengaruh lukisan Kok Yew Puah dan bagaimana cara mereka menggunakan “naratif kecil” untuk membantu kita berfikir mengenai sesuatu tempat di dalam kisah yang lebih besar.
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Dr Krishna Gopal Rampal, art collector and author of Sacred Structures: Artistic Renditions of Hindu Temples in Malaysia and Singapore, speaks about the history and architecture of the 127-year-old Sri Sundararaja Perumal Temple, featured in Kok Yew Puah’s paintings.
Dr Krishna Gopal Rampal, pengumpul seni dan pengarang Sacred Structures: Artistic Renditions of Hindu Temples in Malaysia and Singapore, berbicara tentang sejarah dan seni bina Kuil Sri Sundararaja Perumal yang berusia 127 tahun, yang terdapat di dalam lukisan Kok Yew Puah.
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Prem Anand Pillai and Andrew Gomesz speak about growing up in Klang, their friendship with the Puah family, and posing for their friends’ artist father as teenagers in the 90s.
Prem Anand Pillai dan Andrew Gomez berkongsi cerita tentang membesar di Klang, persahabatan mereka bersama keluarga Puah, dan bergaya untuk bapa rakan mereka yang juga seorang artis, sewaktu zaman remaja mereka pada tahun 90-an.
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Artist and educator Dr Sulaiman Esa reflects on his friendship with Kok Yew Puah around the time of his tenure as head of the Art & Design Faculty at Institut Teknologi MARA, where Puah taught printmaking.
Artis dan pendidik Dr Sulaiman Esa merenung kembali persahabatan beliau bersama Kok Yew Puah ketika bertugas sebagai ketua Fakulti Seni Lukis dan Seni Reka di Institut Teknologi MARA, di mana Puah mengajar seni cetak.
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This short video by Mahen Bala features a conversation with Kok Yew Puah’s daughter, Sze Ning, as she revisits familiar places around Klang that appear prominently in her father's paintings. Interspersed with glimpses of visual and sonic textures from around the royal city, the visual narrative prompts the question of just how much Klang has changed over the decades, and what it ultimately means to the people who call it home.
Video pendek ini oleh Mahen Bala menampilkan perbualan bersama anak perempuan Kok Yew Puah, Sze Ning, yang melawat kembali tempat-tempat kebiasaan di sekitar Klang yang menonjol dalam lukisan bapanya. Bersilih antara video sekilas dan tekstur sonik sekitar bandar diraja, naratif visualnya menekan pada persoalan sejauh mana perubahan Klang sejak berdekad lalu, dan apakah maknanya kepada mereka yang memanggil tempat ini sebagai kediaman mereka.
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Prem Anand Pillai and Andrew Gomesz speak about growing up in Klang, their friendship with the Puah family, and posing for their friends’ artist father as teenagers in the 90s.
Prem Anand Pillai dan Andrew Gomez berkongsi cerita tentang membesar di Klang, persahabatan mereka bersama keluarga Puah, dan bergaya untuk bapa rakan mereka yang juga seorang artis, sewaktu zaman remaja mereka pada tahun 90-an.
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People & Place
Klang
One of our deepest needs is for a sense of identity and belonging and this longing is often located in our attachment to landscape and place. Apart from his years away in Melbourne, Kok Yew Puah lived all of his life in Klang. He very seldom travelled.
When he came back to art-making in the mid-80s, he moved away from printmaking to seek a more naturalistic way of depicting the world around him. It was not surprising that his main source of inspiration was the cityscape of Klang, as well as its people. While Puah was certainly influenced by the British artist David Hockney and the Pop Art movement, the bright colour schemes of his work reflected the aesthetics and primary hues often found in the city.
Kok Yew Puah produced a body of work that encapsulates not just what he saw but what he thought worth remembering; his family, his friends, his neighbourhoods, all set against the backdrop of his beloved Klang, and in the larger sense, his beloved country.
Many of his paintings documented the changes to the city with its rapid urbanisation in the 1980s and 1990s as a result of then Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir’s industrialisation policies. His paintings, beginning with the works shown in his landmark solo exhibition in 1993, explore environmental damage and city congestion, and the encroachment on nature and the lack of safe public spaces caused by the rapid urbanisation of Klang. They document the changes, physical, economic, and social that would impact the lives of Klang’s citizens, particularly the younger generation.
Satu-satunya keperluan asas manusia ialah semangat identiti dan kekitaan yang biasanya terbukti dalam hubungan kita dengan landskap dan tempat. Selain daripada beberapa tahun di Melbourne, Kok Yew Puah tinggal di Klang sepanjang hidupnya. Dia jarang mengembara.
Bila dia balik berkarya pada pertengahan 1980-an, dia meninggalkan seni cetak untuk menggambarkan dunia sekeliling secara mana ianya dilihat. Memang tidak menghairankan sumber utama ilhamnya ialah pemandangan bandar Klang dan para penduduknya. Dalam ianya jelas dipengaruhi oleh artis British seperti David Hockney dan pergerakan Pop Art, skima warna terang pada karya beliau boleh juga difahami sebagai cerminan estetik dan warna-warna asas yang jelas ditemui di bandar tempat tinggalnya.
Beliau telah melahirkan sekumpulan karya yang merangkumi bukan hanya apa yang dilihat tetapi juga apa yang beliau anggap sepatutnya diingati; keluarganya, sahabat handai, kampung halaman, semuanya berlatarkan daerah Klang yang disayangi, dan lanjutannya, negara yang disayangi.
Kebanyakan lukisannya merakam perubahan di bandar raya akibat pembandaran pesat pada tahun 1980-an dan 90-an di bawah dasar pengindustrian Perdana Menteri Tun Dr Mahathir. Bermula dengan karya-karya pameran solonya pada 1993 yang dianggap penting, lukisannya mengolah isu pembinasaan persekitaran dan kesesakan bandar, pencerobohan alam semula jadi dan ketiadaan ruang yang selamat untuk orang awam akibat pembandaran pesat di Klang. Lukisan-lukisan ini merakam perubahan fizikal, ekonomi dan sosial yang memberi kesan kepada kehidupan rakyat Klang, khususnya generasi muda.
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The Artist as a Young Man
The 1970s
Kok Yew Puah returned to Malaysia from his studies in January 1972, joining a sizeable cohort of fellow art school graduates from Europe and the UK, and coming back to a modern art scene in the making. That March, he held a solo exhibition at Frank Sullivan's Samat Art Gallery, standing out as a bold printmaker, with ideas and aesthetics that aligned with those of the cerebral experiments of the so-called local “New Scene” movement. The artist community in Klang was expanding with Institut Teknologi MARA's School of Art & Design's move to new premises in nearby Shah Alam, and Puah was keen to play an active part. His close friends numbered among them Lee Kian Seng, Long Thien Shih, Joseph Tan, Sulaiman Esa, Latiff Mohidin, and Redza Piyadasa, who would come to be his foremost champion. He converted the ground floor of a family premises into a gallery-cum-studio, Studio 22, for artists and other creative thinkers to meet and exchange ideas, and make use of his library of art books and journals. He taught printmaking part-time at ITM, and later shared a house with former students Ponirin Amin and Mansoor Ibrahim. There were even tentative plans to set up a printmaking studio with Latiff Mohidin and Ho Yan Tim.
Kok Yew Puah had set out as a young artist in Malaysia against the backdrop of complex and uncertain times, bristling with possibility – he had been abroad during the May 13 riots of 1969, and the National Cultural Congress of 1971. Artists were exploring many different directions and ideas in a society trying to find ways to mend itself. Puah took part in some group exhibitions, but with a limited market and no access to the technical facilities he needed to produce his prints, did not make any substantial body of new works at this time. By the late 70s, he had stepped back from the art scene to work at the family’s chilli sauce business.
Bila Kok Yew Puah pulang ke Malaysia daripada pengajiannya pada Januari 1972, beliau menyertai sekumpulan pelukis Malaysia berkelulusan sekolah seni Eropah dan UK, dalam suasana seni moden yang kian membiak. Pada bulan Mac berikutan, dalam sebuah pameran solo di Galeri Seni Samat kendalian Frank Sullivan, dia telah menonjolkan pengkaryaan seni cetak yang berani dan berimaginasi, selaras dengan idea dan fahaman estetik pergerakan baru tempatan yang digelar
“New Scene”. Komuniti artis di Klang semakin berkembang dengan pemindahan Kajian Seni Lukis & Seni Reka Institut Teknologi MARA ke premis barunya di Shah Alam yang berdekatan, sekali gus menggiatkan lagi minat seni Puah. Antara rakan karibnya termasuk Lee Kian Seng, Long Thien Shih, Joseph Tan, Sulaiman Esa, Latiff Mohidin, dan yang paling mendorong, Redza Piyadasa. Dia mengubah suai tingkat bawah rumah keluarganya menjadi studio-galeri, dinamakan Studio 22, sebagai tempat pertemuan para pelukis dan pemikir kreatif lain untuk berbincang, dan memanfaatkan perpustakaan buku dan jurnal seninya. Pada masa yang sama dia juga mengajar seni cetak secara sambilan di ITM, dan kemudiannya berkongsi rumah dengan Ponirin Amin dan Mansoor Ibrahim, kedua-duanya bekas pelajar beliau. Malah ada juga rancangan untuk mengadakan sebuah studio seni cetak dengan Latiff Mohidin dan Ho Yan Tim.
Kok Yew Puah muncul sebagai artis muda di Malaysia berlatarbelakangkan era yang kompleks dan tidak menentu, penuh dengan kemungkinan — dia sendiri berada di luar negara semasa rusuhan 13 Mei 1969, dan Kongres Kebudayaan Nasional 1971. Para artis mencuba berbagai haluan dan idea, dalam sebuah masyarakat yang dalam usaha menyembuh dirinya sendiri. Puah menyertai beberapa pameran berkumpulan, tetapi disebabkan keadaan pasaran yang terhad dan ketiadaan kemudahan teknikal untuk menghasilkan cetakannya, dia tidak berupaya membuat banyak karya baru. Menjelang akhir 70-an, dia telah mungundur daripada bidang seni untuk turut mengusahakan perniagaan sos cili keluarganya.
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I first met Kok Yew Puah when he returned home from Melbourne. He and I used to often discuss printmaking. I was interested, above all, in the various types and techniques of printmaking that could be done in Klang. He showed me a few editions of his works, mostly silkscreens. Later we talked about the problems of setting up print studios. He often came to my studio in Kampung Delek in Klang. I had bought a large antique rubber mangle which had been manufactured in England in the early 30s. I had it modified into an etching press. I believe it was the first etching press in Malaysia, besides the ones at Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) and Institut Teknologi MARA (ITM). In the beginning, I was very excited about producing lots of good etchings but slowly, things got complicated. Nature took over the whole process of printmaking. It was not easy to maintain a small, simple, clean printmaking studio in a remote village. The heat, the moisture, the small, hungry insects...The rare German paper I had bought in New York, the special printing ink from Paris, the tools from Tokyo were all damaged. Such frustrations. In the early 70s, there was not a lot of public interest in prints. Few were enthusiastic about etchings, linos, woodcuts, silkscreen prints, serigraphs — except, of course, the young, struggling independent printmakers themselves. I think Puah was very disappointed for not being able to concentrate on his passion for printmaking, although he hid it well. When I met him in the mid-80s, he told me, in jest,“Latiff, now I have become a towkaylah, have to jaga my father’s shop...” I thought his early works, the ones he produced in Australia, were most exciting. Particularly those large colourful prints, and there were some fine linos. Looking back, Klang could have been an important printmaking centre in the early 70s. There was a small community of four or five leading printmakers. There was Long Thien Shih, Lee Kian Seng and his wife, Puah and myself. But nothing significant really happened. Everyone moved away or sadly gave up. Thien Shih was making figurative work, instead of the beautiful and abstract colour prints he did in Paris. Kian Seng took up sculpture, instead of making his fine Japanese woodcuts. Puah struggled to set up a silkscreen workshop and I totally gave up doing any print works — “my etchings bleed!” — to embark on the first series of Mindscape. So, in the end we had to forget our dreams of setting up our own printmaking studios when we were young, idealistic students abroad...
Latiff Mohidin in correspondence, April 2021
Saya pertama kali bertemu dengan Kok Yew Puah sewaktu beliau pulang ke tanah air selepas tamat pengajian di sekolah seni di Melbourne. Kami sering berjumpa dan berbincang mengenai seni cetakan. Saya berminat terutamanya dengan pelbagai jenis dan kaedah seni cetakan yang boleh dibuat di Klang. Beliau menunjukkan kepada saya beberapa edisi karyanya, kebanyakannya karya cetakan sutera saring. Kemudian kami berbual mengenai berbagai-bagai masalah berhubung dengan usaha mendirikan studio cetakan. Beliau sering mengunjungi studio saya di Kampung Delek di Klang. Saya telah membeli sebuah mesin penggelek getah antik yang dibuat di England pada awal tahun 30-an. Saya mengubahsuainya menjadi mesin untuk menghasilkan cetakan gurisan. Saya percaya ia mesin cetakan gurisan yang pertama di Malaysia, selain yang terdapat di Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) dan Institut Teknologi MARA (ITM). Pada mulanya saya begitu teruja hendak menghasilkan banyak karya cetakan gurisan yang bagus, namun lama kelamaan keadaan menjadi semakin rumit. Alam semula jadi mengambil alih dan mengganggu seluruh proses pencetakan. Tidak mudah menjaga studio cetakan yang ringkas dan bersih yang terletak di sebuah kampung terpencil. Haba, lembapan, pelbagai serangga kecil yang kelaparan... Kertas dari Jerman yang sukar didapati yang saya beli di New York, dakwat khas untuk pencetakan dari Paris, beberapa peralatan dari Tokyo, semuanya rosak binasa. Sungguh mengecewakan. Pada awal tahun 70-an, tidak ramai orang awam yang meminati seni cetakan. Amat sedikit yang ghairah hendak menghasilkan cetakan gurisan, lino, torehan kayu, sutera saring, serigrafi — melainkan, sudah tentulah, beberapa pengkarya muda seni cetakan yang bersusah payah bergerak secara berdikari. Saya fikir Puah berasa sangat kecewa kerana tidak dapat memberikan tumpuan kepada minat mendalamnya terhadap seni cetakan, meskipun beliau pandai menyembunyikan kekecewaan itu. Ketika saya bertemu dengannya pada pertengahan tahun 80-an, secara berseloroh beliau berkata kepada saya, “Latiff, sekarang saya sudah jadi taukelah, kena jaga kedai bapa saya...” Saya fikir karya-karya awalnya yang dihasilkan di Australia adalah yang paling menarik. Khususnya karya-karya cetakan berwarna-warni yang berukuran besar serta beberapa karya cetakan lino yang bagus. Apabila saya mengingat kembali, saya rasa Klang sepatutnya boleh menjadi pusat seni cetakan yang penting pada awal tahun 70-an. Terdapat sekumpulan kecil seramai empat atau lima orang pengkarya seni cetakan yang terkenal. Ada Long Thien Shih, Lee Kian Seng dan isterinya, Puah dan saya sendiri. Namun tiada apa yang benar-benar penting terjadi. Masing-masing kami berpindah atau malangnya berhenti. Thien Shih menghasilkan karya figuratif dan bukannya karya cetakan abstrak berwarna-warni yang indah yang pernah dihasilkannya di Paris. Kian Seng beralih kepada arca dan tidak lagi membuat karya cetakan torehan kayu gaya Jepun yang cukup halus. Puah bersusah payah membuka sebuah bengkel cetakan sutera saring dan saya terus berhenti daripada membuat karya cetakan —“cetakan gurisan saya terluka!”— untuk memulakan siri pertama karya Mindscape. Jadi, kami akhirnya terpaksa melupakan impian untuk mendirikan studio cetakan kami sendiri, impian yang pernah kami tanam ketika menjadi pelajar muda yang serba idealis di luar negara dulu...
Surat balas Latiff Mohidin, April 2021
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Puah was my schoolmate, same year, different class. Puah and I graduated the same year, in 1965. I was in the science stream, Puah was in the arts stream. The school had an art society where Puah was a member, I was not. I was regarded by the art teacher as a rebel because I refused to join the school art society — all the artists from the same school were members of the school art society, except for me.
Artists like Long Thien Shih, Joseph Tan, Kok Yew Puah, and others would come to my studio for tea and a poker game on most Saturdays in the 70s. It was during this period that I created the Poker Game, now in the collection of the National Art Gallery. In the early 70s, I introduced Puah to Frank Sullivan to organise his exhibition. From 1973, I travelled to Japan very often. When Japanese art critics and artists came to visit me, I would invite Long, Ho (Yan Tim), and Puah to come share their prints. We met less when Puah went into the family business.
I started to comment, questioning what was called “National Identity”, as projected by (Redza) Piyadasa and Sulaiman (Esa). Because my understanding was that when you speak of national “Identity”, it is a subjugation of Art to politics. This was a very serious issue at that time. During this period, Syed Ahmad Jamal (he used to drop by my studio occasionally), Joseph (Tan), Sulaiman, and Puah followed my progress from time to time.
My involvement with the Noh mask and Kabuki theatre began as early as 1969. I obtained the “Sabah” mask through an ITM student sometime in the 1970s, when I taught a Batik course there. I used masks to further explore the inner modern man.
I think Puah might have directly quoted this concept for the title of his later work — Masks and the Modern Man — but in a different context. He had seen many of my photographic studies on masks produced in Japan in 1976.
It is a lifelong challenge for free and independent artists to survive in a multi-ethnic society beset with racial politics. After the May 13 race riots in 1969, the Malaysian art scene was unpredictable. In the turbulent wave, from the modern to the contemporary, it is indeed difficult for ordinary scholars to interpret the multi-faceted co-existent thinking in the art field in that era.
Lee Kian Seng in correspondence, January – August 2021
Puah rakan sekolah saya; tingkatan yang sama tetapi di kelas berlainan. Saya dan Puah menamatkan persekolahan pada tahun yang sama, iaitu 1965. Saya dalam aliran sains dan Puah pula aliran seni. Di sekolah kami ada persatuan seni lukis dan Puah menjadi ahlinya, tetapi tidak saya. Saya dianggap oleh guru seni lukis sebagai pemberontak kerana saya tidak mahu menyertai persatuan seni lukis di sekolah — semua pengkarya dari sekolah saya datang dari persatuan seni lukis di sekolah tersebut, kecuali saya.
Hampir setiap hari Sabtu pada awal tahun 70-an, beberapa pengkarya seperti Long Thien Shih, Joseph Tan, Kok Yew Puah dan lain-lain datang ke studio saya untuk minum petang dan bermain poker. Pada masa itulah saya menghasilkan karya Poker Game yang kini menjadi koleksi Balai Seni Negara. Sejak tahun 1973 saya sangat kerap pergi ke Jepun. Pada awal tahun 70-an, saya memperkenalkan Puah kepada Frank Sullivan untuk mengadakan pamerannya. Kemudian, apabila pengkritik seni dan beberapa seniman dari Jepun datang mengunjungi saya, saya memanggil Long, Ho (Yam Tim) dan Puah untuk datang dan menunjukkan karya cetakan mereka. Kami semakin kurang berjumpa apabila beliau terlibat dalam perniagaan keluarganya.
Saya mula membuat komentar sosial dengan mempersoalkan apa yang disebut sebagai “Identiti Kebangsaan” seperti yang dianjurkan oleh (Redza) Piyadasa dan Sulaiman (Esa). Kerana mengikut pemahaman saya, apabila anda bercakap tentang “Identiti” kebangsaan, anda meletakkan Seni di bawah penguasaan politik. Ini perkara yang amat serius pada masa itu. Ketika itu Syed Ahmad Jamal (beliau kadangkala singgah di studio saya), Joseph (Tan), Sulaiman dan Puah mengikuti perkembangan saya dari semasa ke semasa. Penglibatan utama saya dalam teater topeng Noh dan Kabuki bermula seawal tahun 1969. Saya mendapatkan topeng “Sabah” melalui seorang penuntut di ITM sekitar tahun 1970-an sewaktu saya mengajar kursus Batik di sana selama beberapa ketika. Saya menggunakan topeng untuk meneroka lebih lanjut mengenai aspek dalaman atau jiwa manusia moden. Saya rasa Puah mungkin secara langsung merujuk kepada konsep ini untuk dijadikan tajuk kepada sebuah karya yang dihasilkannya selepas itu — Masks and the Modern Man. Tetapi dalam konteks yang telah diubah. Beliau pernah melihat agak banyak foto yang saya ambil untuk mengkaji topeng yang dihasilkan di Jepun pada tahun 1976. Memang menjadi cabaran sepanjang hayat kepada seniman yang bergerak secara bebas dan berdikari untuk dapat bertahan lama dalam suasana politik perkauman dan masyarakat berbilang kaum.
Selepas terjadi rusuhan kaum 13 Mei 1969, dunia seni di Malaysia menjadi tidak menentu dan sukar diramalkan; dalam menempuhi gelombang yang penuh bergelora, dari yang moden kepada yang kontemporari, memang sukar bagi para sarjana biasa untuk mentafsir dan memahami berbagai-bagai aspek pemikiran yang wujud serentak dalam bidang seni pada era tersebut.
Surat balas Lee Kian Seng, Januari – Ogos 2021
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Untitled (Study for Two Friends)
1998
Charcoal on paper
81 × 101 cm
Collection of Charles Lok
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Study for Untitled (Driving Past)
1998
Charcoal on paper
77.5 × 91 cm
Collection of Charles Lok
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Untitled (Man in a Trishaw)
1998
Poster colour on paper
76.5 × 56 cm
Collection of Charles Lok
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Untitled (Two Friends)
1998
Acrylic on canvas
127 × 152 cm
Collection of Charles Lok
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Portrait of Noel Aaron Peter & Ganesh Subramaniam
1998
Acrylic on canvas
137 × 137 cm
Collection of Charles Lok
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A Study of a Group of Teenagers at an Indian Temple
1997
Charcoal on paper
70 × 109 cm
Collection of Rosemary & Dr Steve Wong
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Untitled (Driving Past)
1998
Acrylic on canvas
127 × 127 cm
Collection of Charles Lok
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Untitled (Musicians)
1998
Acrylic on canvas
122 × 122 cm
Collection of Datin Valerie Yong
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Self Portrait in Despair
1994
Acrylic on canvas
104 × 124 cm
Collection of Charles Lok
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Untitled (Man in a Trishaw)
1999
Charcoal and watercolour on paper
74.5 × 55.5 cm
Collection of Charles Lok
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Self Portrait in Deep Thought
c.1993
Acrylic on canvas
115 × 165 cm
Collection of Charles Lok
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Two Important Men
1993
Acrylic on canvas
118 × 168 cm
Collection of Charles Lok
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Cyclists
1995
Acrylic on canvas
163 × 163 cm
Collection of Charles Lok
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Untitled (Roller Skaters)
1995
Watercolour on paper 55.5 × 77 cm
Collection of Charles Lok
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Urban Playground
1994
Acrylic on canvaS
139 × 185 cm
Collection of artist’s family
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Artist and educator Dr Sulaiman Esa reflects on his friendship with Kok Yew Puah around the time of his tenure as head of the Art & Design Faculty at Institut Teknologi MARA, where Puah taught printmaking.
Artis dan pendidik Dr Sulaiman Esa merenung kembali persahabatan beliau bersama Kok Yew Puah ketika bertugas sebagai ketua Fakulti Seni Lukis dan Seni Reka di Institut Teknologi MARA, di mana Puah mengajar seni cetak.
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Untitled (Roller Skaters)
1995
Watercolour on paper 55.5 × 77 cm
Collection of Charles Lok
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Camera View of a Group of Laughing School Children
1994
Acrylic on canvas
137.5 × 137.5 cm
Collection of National Art Gallery of Malaysia
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Festival Series I
1992
Acrylic on canvas
162 × 162 cm
Collection of Charles Lok
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“The economy in Southeast Asia was beginning to flourish, and local painters favoured working on paintings about their home country instead of looking outside. They believe in returning to our own culture and roots, even if the medium being used is oil painting from the West, we must retain the local context, with inspirations from our immediate surroundings. This gave life to Asian post-realism during the late 1980s, and my later artworks are influenced by it.”
“Ekonomi Asia Tenggara sedang berkembang, dan pelukis tempatan lebih suka membuat karya berkaitan negara mereka sendiri dan tidak melihat ke luar. Mereka lebih cenderung balik ke akar umbi budaya sendiri, walaupun bahantara yang digunakan ialah cat minyak dari Barat, kita mesti kekalkan konteks tempatan, dengan persekitaran yang terdekat sebagai inspirasi. Inilah yang menghidupkan pasca-realisme Asia lewat 1980-an, dan karya aku kemudian dipengaruhinya.”
Kok Yew Puah
(‘生活寫實勾畫怪象 (Realistic Depictions
of Life's Strange Images)’, Koh Ea Boon,
Guang Ming Daily, 8 April 1998)
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People & Place
Painting Others
As the figure began to emerge in different “contemporary” forms in Malaysian art, often as symbolic and stylised representations of self and humanity, in the 1990s, Kok Yew Puah was among the very few artists who chose the portraiture of others as a central subject during this time. He seemed to have a special gift for empathy and openness towards people, no matter their background, and he was also interested in what he saw as a regional, Southeast Asian movement towards realism, and local subject matter and aesthetics.
By his second solo exhibition, Klang & Beyond,
in 1997, Puah had developed a carefully strategised yet playful approach to his portrait-based paintings which incorporated a range of artistic ideas from hard-edge to pop to narrative realism.
Semasa bentuk figura mula muncul semula dalam berbagai cara ‘kontemporari’, selalunya sebagai gambaran diri dan kemanusiaan secara simbolik dan stailis, Puah adalah di antara segelintir artis yang memilih potret orang lain sebagai subjek utama pada masa itu. Dia seolah-olah memiliki kebolehan menyelami sanubari orang lain dan berhati terbuka kepada mereka, tidak kira latar belakang, serta tertarik dengan apa yang dilihatnya sebagai pergerakan serantau Asia Tenggara ke arah realisme dalam bentuk subjek dan estetika tempatan.
Menjelang pameran solonya yang kedua, Klang & Beyond pada tahun 1997, Puah telah dengan teliti membentuk pendekatan lukisan potret yang strategik namun bersahaja, melibatkan berbagai idea seni daripada hard-edge kepada pop dan realisme naratif.
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