The New Girl and Red

Red, 76x 61cm, oil on canvas, 2012

 The New Girl, 76 x 91cm, oil on canvas, 2012

“The New Girl” and “Red” depicted modern Asian women who dyed their hair with different colors, from a dark hair Asian beauty to a brunette, brown, red and other color dyes………they keep changing their hair color until they forgotten what their original hair color is! (I was once received a comment regarding my so dark hair, queried why my hair is so black! OMG! I was born that way!). I place this modern era girls with a traditional batik motif background to show the contras between two elements: “Modern” and “Tradition”. The background girls in “The New Girl” are typical batik figurative design (kampong girls) commonly used. The dyed hair modern women in the paintings are more as a symbol of modernization. In the painting “Red”, the woman face is void of color; very pale looking, with striking red hair n red lips. The color used on the image of woman in “The New Girl” are also mostly towards the tone of “cold color”. I am trying to convey the message that some of the new generation today is so indifferent, cold towards their originality, roots, traditional values and culture. I am not trying to critique or impose my “traditional thinking” on anybody, or saying the new generation is in the wrong for not following their culture and tradition. How they live their life is their own choice, especially now most people are a bunch of technology savvy, web social network craving in this modern technology world.  I am just trying to present a contras image with two different elements for you to think, to ponder, to wonder, to deliberate about what happened in the world today and what have lost with the bygone era!

Choice

 Choice, 76 x 91cm, oil on canvas, 2012

“Choice” is my second piece based on Plato epigram.

"I throw the apple at you, and if you are willing to love me, take it and share your girlhood with me; but if your thoughts are what I pray they are not, even then take it, and consider how short-lived is beauty" - Plato (Epigram VII)
 

The two women, one receiving/holding the apple, the other laughingly throwing/watching an apple falling, show the choice we constantly make in our life. Either you are “throwing” or “receiving”, the choice is yours to make. We are free to choose our own destiny!

Illusion of Beauty

Illusion of Beauty, 76x91cm, oil on canvas, 2012

I started my new figure series with the piece entitled “Illusion of Beauty”, and “Sends in the Clowns”, gradually the ideas keep developed and evolved, then come the piece “Blessed” and “Choice”, next is the “The New Girl” and “Red”

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For “Illusion of Beauty”, the painting depict 2 women, one in the background is a traditional Chinese woman in ancient China society who foot were bonded, in those days, women who bond their feet (also known as lotus foot) will only consider as a beauty, accepted by society as a worthy “lady” for marriage. The tiny narrow feet of the "ladies" were considered beautiful and to make a woman's movements more feminine and dainty. Men were crazy over the tiny but deformed foot which emphasized on their hips, make the women swaying when walking, they considered that as sexy! In the front is a modern woman holding up a stiletto/high heel, the woman is painted as a clown/as a sarcasm icon to mock women in this modern era wearing stiletto/extremely high heels in the name of beauty and sexy. In actual fact the structure of stiletto, from the tips of the heel to the base of the front part is about the same length achieve by a binding feet, which make a woman’s hip sway too when walking. Although wearing a stiletto is not as destructive as binding one foot, but if wearing for a long period of time, it will caused health problem too, causing back pain and deformed the feet in long run.