Chang Fee Ming bedazzles in his latest offering of seascapes and landscapes of his beloved Terengganu, writes Sarah NH Vogeler
IT is almost impossible to not fall in love with Chang Fee Ming’s paintings. If paintings had smells, Fee Ming’s are unusually fragrant, like full-bloomed lilacs in spring.
Beautifully curated, his latest show Selaut Kasih, Sepantai Sayang (A Sea of Affection, A Shore of Love) is ordered into four olfactory delights: Nafas Terengganu, (Terengganu Comes Alive) Membuka Tabir Kehidupan, (Unveiling Life) Menanti Rezeki, (Awaiting the Day’s Catch) and Renungan (Reflection).
TERENGGANU COMES ALIVE
This segment showcases the artist’s early paintings from 1983 to 1993 — the Terengganu landscape painted from a distance, as seen in 1983’ Seberang Pintasan II, 1987’ A Night in Yellow House I, 1986’ December and 1993’ Kampong Perhentian Besar From The Hill.
UNVEILING LIFE
The daily lives of fisher folk community are expanded extensively here, the images more intimate. In 1984’ Drying, 1987’ Family and 1994’ Breeze, Fee Ming takes on a simple image of clothes drying in the breeze and makes them poignant. It isn’t so much the garments, it is what they reveal, the invisible salty wind, the mistiness, the brilliant light. The laundry echoes the lives of the undetected occupants and their daily existence, the simple clothes of simple people free of ridiculous wants. In these paintings, they are free. They are content. They are happy. Such wonderfully soundless metaphors - domestic idylls liberated from existential troubles.
AWAITING THE DAY’S CATCH
The details are amazing, as seen in 2014’ diptych Arrival & Departure. The women wait for their men to come home after a long day (days perhaps) away at sea. The designs on the sarongs are intricate and painstakingly drawn. These faceless women with weather-beaten hands on their hips hint at amity, even a celebration of sorts. But there is also an underlying theme, so subtle it is likely to be missed — that worry which plagues, of tragic possibilities when proved untrue, is cause for much relief, and release. The happiness seen here is palpable, it is infectious.
REFLECTION
There are too many to choose from to speak of. One which moves so, is 2012’ Dzuhor in December, Across the River. A man sits in prayer. The stunning mosque in the background makes the painting even more affecting. That there is nothing more powerfully beautiful than to place oneself in the palm of God. Another, 2012’ The Last Juruselam, that monster killer fish next to him, the expert diver who risks losing his senses (literally) in the pursuit of an excellent catch.
The artist reveals: “The things which surround me inspires, and similarly, the things I experience during travels. I sketch all the time, and of course take photographs as references. There is also a small body of work I composed entirely from memory and imagination. I call these my ‘underground work’ — deeply private and won’t be seen for a long while yet.”
Beginning in the mid-1980s, Fee Ming began employing still life to portray the daily lives of the Malay community, as seen in his Bird and Cage, and later, A Half Figure series. In recent times, ardent followers of Fee Ming will notice the artist subtly injecting slivers of current socio-political themes into his works.
Chang Fee Ming lists Singaporean artist Siew Hock Ming as a stimulus, and those from the Equator Art Society (1956-1974) which deepened his love for image-making. He would spend hours analysing their techniques during outdoor sessions. He watched. He watched intently.
Legendary water colourist Khalil Ibrahim is another source of inspiration. His east coast style left ineffaceable prints, influencing much of Fee Ming’s own early renditions. For another hero, Andrew Wyeth, Fee Ming simply states: “He made me understand how an unassuming subject can emote so much.”
He continues: “It is exhilarating when the viewer connects with my paintings, the myriad of feelings they give off. I may not necessarily feel the same way when making the works, but that is not the point. I remember vividly in 1982 when my work was shown at The National Art Gallery, (now known as Lembaga Pembangunan Seni Visual Negara, LPVSN). It increased my confidence, and I began participating in more shows and collectors began to take notice. I never dreamt of becoming an artist. My aim was to earn enough so I could care for my family.”
Fee Ming has come far, so far from his childhood days of “drawing big fish on the beach”, from bravely leaving school at 17 and educating himself by sketching scenes of fishing villages (“the kampung nelayan was my art academy,” he muses) and painting signboards for money. His works are very much coveted and unsurprisingly, has retained that purity most of us lose so early in our own lives.
As he concludes: “I want to leave behind a legacy of works which would continually be enjoyed long after I am gone, but mostly, I wish they will be viewed as a kind of ‘mini documentary’. A documentary on humankind, to learn about the past, about things which have already disappeared.”
From The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson compiled from the original 1955 variorum of Thomas H. Johnson, A Soft Sea Washed Around The House: -
A soft Sea washed around the House
A Sea of Summer Air
And rose and fell the magic Planks
That sailed without a care --
For Captain was the Butterfly
For Helmsman was the Bee
And an entire universe
For the delighted crew.
Terengganu : Selaut Kasih, Sepantai Sayang
When: Until 17 July
Where: Bank Negara Malaysia Museum and Art Gallery Sasana Kijang, 2 Jalan Dato’ Onn Kuala Lumpur
+603 9179 2784
infomuseum@bnm.gov.my