The Seventh Sense

For the exhibition on March 8, International Women's Day, G-Hotel, Penang.

2011-09-14T05:37:00.000-07:00

I like to paint strong, bold or obnoxious women. I like to paint round, fat and voluptuous women which give the impression of warmth and steadfastness. My objects flow into each other and into all spaces; the dots show the interconnectedness of humans and their surroundings. There is no blank in this world.

“Explore your seventh sense...transcend the boundaries of your own imagination”.

You will find my women in compromising positions, either in love, exploring their physical sexuality, their spirituality, or in leisure, free from fear, guilt or shame. Nudity bordering on eroticism is equally prominent in my artwork as a direct response to the conservative and repressive society in which we live, for example, lack or no freedom in expressing religious, political or sexual preferences.

“Only when a woman is able to transcend her cultural, religious and racial boundaries, could she be empowered”.Women, and the environment they live in (physical or political), and the relationships they have feature very strongly in my work.But the women I paint are seldom (or never) in their traditional roles – roles dictated by a capitalist, male dominated world.

Is it surrealism, abstract expressionism or simply naive? I do not wish to replicate reality in my paintings but the message in my work is very real. Visible in my art is some form of resistance towards the given (traditional and conservative structures, rules and norms in art, e.g. perspective). There is no shading, shadow or strokes to define perspective or time. Perspective and the concept of time are defined by the conceptual rather than the physical.

Art, for me, is not only therapeutic, but a creative process that is very personal, private and yet political.

Waking up next to you....I get a headache :-)

The colors of a prayer...

Young single mother: come, child, let me comfort you...

Behind a woman's sarong....

Woman and three fishes

2010-11-03T10:13:00.001-07:00

Mixed media: ink + digital art

Tree of life

2010-11-03T10:11:00.000-07:00

Mixed media: oils on paper, digital art

Hell hole

2010-11-03T10:04:00.000-07:00

Mixed media: ink, digital art on paper.

Storm at sea

2010-10-30T10:59:00.000-07:00

Oils on paper.

Meditation.

2010-09-18T10:46:00.000-07:00

Woman meditating, heart and mind seeing, no arms, for her tasks in this world is complete.

Untitled.

2010-09-17T12:35:00.000-07:00

Altantuya?

2010-09-16T03:29:00.000-07:00

The "eye"

2010-09-14T12:14:00.000-07:00

Seeing the seen and unseen, feeling the felt and unfelt, knowing the known and unknown...

A tiger never sleeps.

2010-09-14T12:10:00.000-07:00

You don't bring me flowers anymore...

2009-11-24T10:24:00.000-08:00

Oil on cardboard.

I had to do still life today which I don't like so much. This is the result :=(

Women in oil

2009-11-14T11:25:00.001-08:00

Fluidity and colors is the key to a harmonious life...

"Women", oil, 375x530mm

"orgasm", oil, 375x530mm

"Flurry", oil, 375x530mm

My abstract view of Chinese symbols

2009-11-13T12:41:00.000-08:00

"8 fishes", oil on paper, 375x530mm

"Herald", oil, 375x530mm

"The Tao", oil on paper, 375/530mm.

"Justice", oil on paper, 375x530mm

Tonight, I painted faces, too, of anger and sadness.

"Anger", oil on paper, 375x530mm

"Sad", oil on paper, 375x530mm

Bury me and I shall still live

2009-11-04T22:51:00.000-08:00

Bury me, lock me away
stash me underground
Still I shall breathe
Still I shall live.

Modern Art

2009-02-10T10:01:00.000-08:00

My journey into modern art begins with a sense of freedom.

1. Wounded

2. We are all different

3. World Dance

4. Sharing colorful, crazy thoughts

Medium (for all the above): Acrylics on paper, 37x55cm.

The garden fairy & other women

2009-02-06T13:44:00.000-08:00

1. Garden Fairy

She just appeared, and refused to leave.
And if I refused to paint her,
she would cast a spell over me.
Turning me into a tree, or a leaf,
or a flower.
I don't really mind,
But if that ever happenned,
I would never be able to leave.
To be myself again.
The garden fairy awaits you,
She is the reason why you lose your way.
Will she help you find your way back?

2. Red-faced woman

Don't mess around with the red-faced woman. She's got snakes on her head. She is not Medusa, but just a very angry woman!

3. Pregnant woman meditating

All paintings in acrylics on paper, 37x55cm.

Letting go...

2009-02-06T13:40:00.000-08:00

Medium = acrylics on paper, 37x55cm.

It's not always easy to let go, the pain, the suffering, the tears, and the unfulfilled dreams.

Veiled women

2009-02-03T09:48:00.000-08:00

There are many such women in my country, and they are beautiful!

1. Shy

2. Bride

3. Fully clothed

I am suddenly having this obsession about veiled women. Or is it just about the 'veil'. They're very beautiful ones, especially in South Asia.

I once visited a place called Quetta, in the southwestern part of Pakistan, in a province name Balochistan (it borders Afghanistan and Iran). The Balochs are a minority and are often marginalised. It's military rule and daily curfews as well.

The women are hardly seen but they stay at home and sew 'dopata' veils as colorful as these. They do it for months -sometimes it takes up to six months to complete one.

So every veil from that place has a story. A woman's story.

These are painted with acrylic on paper, 33x26cm.

Painting in a state of madness..

2009-02-02T11:49:00.000-08:00

Tonight I am mad! So I paint my madness away with acrylics on paper. The size of these painting are 26x33cm. They are all for sale (originals) if anyone is mad enough to buy them!

1. Peacock's bloom

1 (a) Just my abstract about yellow shirts demonstrating in the heart of Bangkok

2. Spring is here!

3. The saddest tree...

4. The ugliest tree...

Goddesses of my dreams...

2009-01-31T03:57:00.000-08:00

Meet the goddesses in my dreams...they appear during my most deepest, saddest and painful moments. During times like these, I just use inks and stabilo and bleed my bloody art paper with the colors of my thoughts.

1. Goddess of the red sun, yellow moon and blue skies

2. Goddess of the garden, of butterflies and flowers, of spring

3.Goddess of the flame, of seduction, of heat and eventually torment

4.Goddess of pain, of blood, bruises, and of courage

5. Goddess of the bleeding heart

6. Two faced goddess of the bleeding heart

7. Red faced: The goddess of hot passion, of blood and anger

8. Black faced: The goddess of the night, of silence, tranquility, and sometimes bad dreams

9. Green faced: The goddess of the earth, of the trees, skies,and of envy

10. Goddess without a name

Every face tells a story

2009-01-30T10:21:00.000-08:00

"You're hot"

'You burn me'

"Coming out of you"

"I am missing you badly, my hairy bodied man..."

'When will we meet again?'

Tackling society's issues in Art

2009-01-10T07:49:00.000-08:00

Here's a collection of artwork done by me, trying to express my thoughts about our society issues:

[Special thanks to Jennifer Mourin for scanning my art pieces so beatifully!].

1. Dedicated to those who are forced to love in secret, because you come from different ethnic or religious groups, nationalities or social status, or simply, because you have different skin colors.

2. Do we just look at people or we look down on them? Society always does that, especially to those who are different from them.

3. How many trees do we cut while they are still growing?

4. Despite the fancy clothes, the colorful cosmetics, the plastic surgeries and the veil, aren't we all the same inside?

5. Is she lonely, sad or simply restful? Some women simply love to be alone.

6. It's no fun to live in a concrete jungle - cold,comfortless,hard,careless.

7. Going back to nature is the best. Where you can explore your true, naked self.

8. Hey, what are you doing with my best friend?

9. We are always wearing masks to overcome society's pressures, no matter who and where we are.

Seeing others

2008-12-16T10:26:00.001-08:00

Medium= acrylic on canvass,50x70cm

"We don't always see others at the same level do we?"

Dreams grow on trees

2008-12-12T11:58:00.000-08:00

[acrylic on canvass, 50x70cm]

You will know by now that I love to paint trees. This one came about because of a strange dream I had last night.

Read the story here.

Mother and child

2008-12-09T11:53:00.000-08:00

I hope I am not going to always paint something to startle people. I am sorry, I can't help it.

Medium - acrylic on canvass, free hand, 50" x 70".

If I gave you a basketful of yellow roses...

2008-12-08T13:36:00.000-08:00

Will you be my friend?

Medium -acrylic on canvass, 50" x 70".

Drowning in a sea of blood

2008-12-08T11:49:00.000-08:00

medium = acrylic on canvass, photographed and modified with digital technology.

The bleeding uterus

2008-12-07T05:19:00.001-08:00

Medium = acrylic on canvass, 50" x 70"

Seeing it grow

2008-12-07T05:08:00.001-08:00

"Seeing it grow" - acrylic on canvass, 50" x 70" : Dedicated to my friends Bernice and Giyoun.

The story behind this painting is here: My first painting on canvass

A slideshow of my art pieces

2008-12-06T11:37:00.000-08:00

woman

2008-11-28T07:34:00.000-08:00

Woman and blood are inseparable, from the moment she is born - menstruation, during birth and when giving birth. She comes from blood and will return to blood.

But men only notice her big boobs, don't they?

tsunami

2008-11-28T06:29:00.000-08:00

three in one

2008-11-28T06:22:00.001-08:00

ghost

2008-11-26T14:59:00.000-08:00

dreams

2008-11-26T14:27:00.000-08:00

make sleeping difficult.

swallow me

2008-11-26T13:41:00.001-08:00

untitled

2008-11-26T12:33:00.000-08:00

Closet

2008-11-26T11:31:00.001-08:00

Instead of becoming more open, where are we heading?

polygamy

2008-11-26T11:17:00.000-08:00

tears

2008-11-26T10:48:00.001-08:00

ocean

2008-11-26T10:43:00.000-08:00

eyes

2008-11-26T10:39:00.000-08:00

Whatever you do, society's eyes are always on you.

by my father's bedside

2008-11-26T10:31:00.000-08:00

Thinking of how beautiful the world is was my only consolation during those dark and lonely hours when I was caring for my father in the Penang General Hospital. These pieces, and a few more, were drawn at his bedside, in the late nights and wee hours of the morning. The year was 2003. My father died in June.

faces

2008-11-26T10:27:00.000-08:00

Aren't you just fazed by all that's happening around ya?

faceless

2008-11-26T10:11:00.000-08:00

sometimes, all a woman needs to have is a beautiful body.

lovers

2008-11-26T09:24:00.000-08:00

people actually wanted to buy these pieces...

lonely in the city

2008-11-26T04:59:00.000-08:00

cold, colorless, concrete.

rafflesia

2008-11-26T03:59:00.000-08:00