LOT 62
LEE WENG FATT
B. Kuala Lumpur, 1967
Untitled, 2000
Signed and dated “Lee Weng Fatt 00” on lower left
Acrylic on canvas
62 x 45.5 cm
Provenance Private Collection, Kuala Lumpur
Lee Weng Fatt’s work lies mainly in ‘preserving’ heritage buildings by capturing their timeless beauty and allure through his canvas. He started out as a water-colourist and in 1995 decided to try oils and has since mastered the medium. This work however, is acrylic on canvas, his brilliant attempt at a varying medium. The primary subject which has made him famous and highly sought after are old heritage buildings in various locations around Malaysia, particularly in Melaka, Penang and KL.
As more of these buildings are forced to give way in the name of progress, the artist feels an obligation to preserve and document them in the way he knows best – by immortalising them through oil on canvas paintings. For him, returning time and time again to these old edifices is akin to journeying back to his roots. This artwork captures the details of a traditional Malay house, particularly the stairs that ascends into it, the unpretentiousness of a visible clothesli undry on it, and chickens roaming around it.