LOT 80
TAN THEAN SONG
(B. Kedah, 1946)
Fetching Water, Undated
Signed in Chinese with seal on lower left
Ink and watercolour on paper
43.5 x 68.5 cm
Provenance
Private Collection, Kelantan
SOLD – RM 2,912
The setting is simple, and everyday. It is something that we commonly see.
However, Tan Thean Song manages to turn a morning market scenery into something completely otherwordly and arresting. With elaborate batik details, patterns and shapes, the congruent tones and gradual change of warm hues of the backdrop, it seems almost spiritual. He freezes a disorderly scene at the market into a single, serene moment that seems to glow.
Tan Thean Song studied art at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, and specializes in painting with Chinese ink and watercolour. His painting ‘Playing Kite’ is a permanent collection of the National Art Gallery in Kuala Lumpur, and said painting also won the second prize in batik medium in the Salon Malaysia Art Competition in 1969. In 1964, he won the first and consolation prizes in the Malaysian Young Artists Art Competition.