Different strokes
An artist delves into the digital realm with some captivating results, writes Izwan Ismail.
VETERAN contemporary artist Wong Chee Meng’s brush with virtual reality technology and a virtual art app called Tilt Brush by Google have opened up a new horizon for him to express his creative ideas.
At his double-storey home in Mutiara Indah, Puchong, the living room has been turned into a sort of creative “playground”.
Cans and bottles of paints and art equipment used for his conventional canvas artwork are arranged neatly by the wall. Instead of splashing his ideas on a 3x3 canvas stretched on a frame, he has now turned half of the living room into a virtual “canvas”, a space as big as a standard living room carpet.
There is a 34-inch monitor connected to a computer CPU at the edge of his “canvas”, which is a mat. A special virtual reality (VR) headgear is wired to the CPU for accessing the Tilt Brush app.
CREATING DIGITAL ART
The enthusiastic Wong shows some of his artwork, not on canvas, but on the screen. They are colourful and abstract work and can be viewed from many angles.
“Here's how I do it,” says the 42-year-old, while putting on the VR headgear from HTC called Vive.
He holds two controllers, one in each hand, which act as his brush and palette.
Once everything is set, Wong starts to work on his artwork.
From the viewers’ eyes, it may look funny to see him drawing something in the air. He bends, sways and moves from one side to another, making all sorts of hand gestures.
Wong is actually experimenting with a new form of art making.
He is completely in a virtual world where what he draws can be seen on the monitor.
After about 30 minutes moving around in the virtual realm creating an artwork, the result is a fairytale-like drawing with glowing lights and glitter.
“Imagine the amazing possibilities waiting to be created when your paintbrush and canvas are as limitless as your imagination. The Google Tilt Brush and HTC Vive have allowed me to achieve something that is impossible before,” he says.
“I can now move around in the artwork I'm creating and look at things from various angles. The feeling is like dancing in space,” he adds.
Once the artwork is done, Wong says he can either print it or do a 3D printing of it.
BEING AN ARTIST
For Wong, his art is an expression of his personal struggle in dealing with his permanently impaired eyesight due to a motorcycle accident as a teenager in Taiping, Perak .
“My left eye ball went inside a few millimetres and left me with blurry vision,” he says.
Wong views the world in blurry lines and double images. But what he lacks has formed the basis for him to tell stories from his pieces of art.
Playing on the way he sees things, in multiple layers, sometimes crossing over and overlapping, and not always clear, his works are a direct reflection of the way he views the world.
Through meticulously painting layer upon layer of images, Wong camouflages many stories and hidden worlds within his canvases, creating a harmonious composition that reveal deeper references as we start to focus and look beyond the obvious.
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He has been a practising artist since 1996 and has participated in numerous exhibitions throughout Malaysia and on an international platform.
Despite his impaired vision, he lives normally and has a Diploma in Fine Art from the Malaysian Institute of Art, Malaysia, a Bachelor of Arts from Curtin University, Australia, and an MA in International Contemporary Art and Design Practice from Limkokwing University.
Wong currently teaches art at Asia Pacific University of Technology and Innovation in Bukit Jalil. He was selected as the artist in residence at the Mali Hom Residency in Penang in 2007 and represented Malaysia at an exposition of Malaysian art in Havana, Cuba in 2006.
His works have been widely collected by both private and public institutions and can be seen in the collections of Axiata, Rimbun Dahan and ABN Amro Bank.
CHALLENGES MOVING TO VR
Being one of the first VR artists in Malaysia, Wong says it took him quite a while to adapt to the new environment.
“All this while, I've been doing my artwork in 1D and 2D, and now it has become 3D,” he says.
“I spent about 60 hours to complete my first VR artwork but now its getting easier and I've begun to like the versatility of this new format,” he adds.
The use of Google Tilt Brush has improved his work as his eyes are getting “sharper” in terms of seeing art.
“Such technology is also suited for my kind of genre, which is pop art and urban style," says Wong.
“VR has a lot of potential in the art world, and with apps like the Google Tilt Brush, the creative world just become more interesting."
Moving forward, Wong plans to introduce the VR art and Google Tilt Brush app to his students.