LOT 36
YAU BEE LING
(B. Selangor, 1972)
The Many Corners of My House, 2000
Signed and dated “Bee Ling 2000” on lower right
Oil on canvas
65 x 101 cm
Provenance
Private Collection, Singapore
SOLD – RM 13,440
“In my paintings, my style is still primarily expressionist, but I transform the abstract the figurative by playing with ideas of concealing and revealing. You could call them contemporary paintings with a conventional understanding of the media used.” Yau Bee Ling The whimsical layering here is incredible, and that is what artist Yau Bee Ling is known for. Throbbing with vivid strokes and colour, depicts – as the title suggests – the many corners of her house. It is as if one is looking at a floorplan or an aerial view of a house. There is a den armed with sofas and chairs, a dining room equipped with a dining table, plates and teapots and all the paraphernalia one would find in the kitchen as well as a laundry room.
Despite the many layerings and complexity in her pieces, Yau has said that she wants them to simple, allowing anyone to connect with it as well. She pushes here the potential of her chosen medium, using its flexibility to convey her thoughts and feelings, of which are provided by her home. Depicted here is a typical, humble home bursting with comfort and warmth, and one is reminded of family, shelter and rest.
Yau Bee Ling is considered to be one of the most established contemporary artists in Malaysia. She was born in 1972 in Port Klang. She studied art at the Malaysian Institute of Art, where she was awarded with a full scholarship. She represented Malaysia at the 9th Asian Art Biennal in Bangladesh. Her work was then selected by a renowned curator in Singapore, T. K. Sabapathy for an exhibition at the Singapore Sculpture Square, and then at the Fukuoka Asian Art Museum.