LOT 81
YEOH JIN LENG
B. Perak, 1929
Human Rot, 1969
Oil on canvas
100 x 100 cm
Private Collection, Kuala Lumpur
Signed and dated on lower right. Gallery label from Valentine Willie on verso. Exhibited in the National Art Gallery in 1996 and illustrated in the Retrospective exhibition book on page 53 and 136
RM 110,000 – 190,000
Yeoh Jin Leng belongs to one of the earlier generation of Malaysian artists. Born in 1929 in Ipoh, Jin Leng’s work has been widely regarded to be one of the best among his peers and in the Malaysian art scene. Jin Leng studied at the Anderson School in his hometown before embarking to a teaching course at the Malayan Teachers’ College in Kirkby in Liverpool. He would then continue on to study art at the very prestigious Chelsea School of Art in London before obtaining his National Diploma in Design. Later on, Jin Leng would finish his Diploma in Painting through Chelsea before finishing his ATD Art Teacher’s Diploma at the London University’s Institute of Education. In 1958, Jin Leng completed his Cautauld Institute’s Art Lectures on Renaissance Art.
The Human Rot is certainly one of the most interesting paintings that have ever been made by Yeoh Jin Leng. It was during his visit to London in 1965 when, while walking around Charing Cross, he stumbled upon a book about the devaluation of ethics and morality. The book piqued his fascination with the concept and, inspired by what he read, he went on to paint The Human Rot. It was completed in 1968.
A year later, in 1969, the 13th May incident occurred. “I was surprised that it happened. This region has been contaminated by Western capitalism and materialism, and we adopted capitalism because we thought it would bring progress. Instead, it brought about materialism. The social-political upheaval and a greed for power and money were the catalysts that started the riots. The value of ethics has become rotten in many sense of the word,” Jin Leng said.