LOT 84
KOK YEW PUAH
B. Selangor, 1947-1999
Untitled, 1971
Signed and dated “KOK YEW PUAH 1971” in pencil on lower edge of paper
Silkscreen on paper
88 x 67 cm
Provenance
Private Collection, Selangor
SOLD
RM 6,537.76
Kok Yew Puah was born in Klang and apart from going abroad to study; he lived most of his life in Klang and is sometimes referred to as a “Klang” artist. After studying painting and printmaking at the Victorian College of the Arts in Melbourne, Kok Yew Puah left art during the 70’s for a long hiatus to manage his family’s food business. In the late 80’s, he made a tentative return to the art world, and began to develop his own extraordinary brand of Malaysian realism. His finely detailed, large canvases have a distinctive local colour, concrete greys and glaring blue skies are punctuated by the bright tones of late 20th century youth fashion and advertising, cars stand abandoned in tall green ‘lalang’.
Among the awards he had won are the Philip Morris Malaysia Art Awards (2nd Prize), Honourable Mention at the 1997 Philip Morris Malaysia Art Awards. Throughout his career, he held solo exhibitions in Australia and Malaysia.