Lot 30
LYE YAU FATT
B. Kedah, 1950
Chattering
Signed on lower right
Mixed media on canvas
76 x 96.5 cm
Provenance Private Collection, Singapore
RM 15,000 – RM 25,000
Lye Yau Fatt went on to study printmaking in New York before holding his first solo exhibition in 1979 at the Sum Art Gallery. He then went on to win the Open Art Sculpture Award, the Malaysian Watercolour Society Award in 1987 and the PNB Watercolour Landscape Award. He was always very much influenced by his mentor, another renowned artist, Cheong Soo Pieng, for his unique manner in combining colours.
Lye often produced artworks highlighting the Malaysian theme and lifestyle. Deriving inspiration from mundane and monotonous settings in life, he draws on canvas a private moment between family and friends. Using warm and vibrant colours, this serene painting depicts a group of ladies and a child sitting in the midst of nature, under a glowing tree with birds sitting on the branches. They seem to be in conversation and viewers might feel as if they are imposing on the exclusivity of the moment.