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Title:Construction worker    Country: Guangdong Province,China
Artist:Chua Mia Tee

This art falls in the category of the contemporary art and was created by Mr Chuah Min Tee in the year 1955.The painting potrays a self potrait of a construction worker, probably an Indian worker in the 1950"s.The reason I chose this art is because the painting has a distinctive  sort of explaining the working conditions of a road construction worker since they have to work under harsh weathers sometimes.The painting actually resonates to me as of I can understand the feelings in common without explanation needed.Besides this art must be taken maybe during his free time when he"s not doing anything and had volunteered to present himself for his portraiture to be taken by the artist by a roadside.The question that makes me wonder by looking at this painting is that, What drove the artist to take a potraiture of a mere construction worker and what did he see in this man that resulted in this painting?

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Title: Merapi, Eruption by Day/ Merapi, Eruption by Night
Artist: Raden Saleh, born in Indonesia, 1811

These amazing paintings were done by Raden Saleh in year 1865. Raden Saleh"s pair of Merapi paintings reflect the artist's exposure to both the Romantic and Orientalist trends during his long sojourn in Europe in the min-19th century. Displaying Romantic tendencies, nature in these two paintings is portrayed as dramatic and overwhelming, with diminutive human figures emphasising the power and destructive potential of the volcano. In 19th century Orientalist art, the "East," a vague geographical entity which included the Dutch East Indies (present-day Indonesia), is often depicted as a mythical and timeless world. Here, Mount Merapi, a mountain that features heavily in Javanese mythology, is imagined as a part of far-flung colony ruled by nature.
The reason I chose this pair of painting is because I was amazed by the beautiful and natural scenes. However, the first question came out from my mind when I saw these paintings was, how could the artist "duplicated" the same painting with different situations so brilliantly?

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ZARITH AMANI NAZURA BINTI AHMAD NAZRI (1181102875)

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ZARITH AMANI NAZURA BINTI AHMAD NAZRI (1181102875)

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Young Woman with Lily
Artist: To Ngoc Van, 1943, Vietnam

I chose this beautiful painting because I really love how the artist portrays the woman in white, how gentle and soft the young lady looked like in the painting. In addition, this painting is an oriental sensibility of the Artist herself, the young women in long white skirt naturally tilting her head looking at the vase of lilies appeared to be innocent figure. With a tight layout and a skillful way using color, “Young Women with a Lilies” has shown the softness and the charm in the curve of the young women and the rosy glow on her cheek. Especially, the pure white lily flowers embellished her beauty.

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MUHAMMAD HAFIZ BIN SHARULNIZAM (1181102972)

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MUHAMMAD HAFIZ BIN SHARULNIZAM (1181102972)

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Muhammad Hafiz Bin Sharulnizam 1181102972

Artist: Mori Kinsen

Time and Location: 1959, Indonesia

The art piece is named Port Scene. I chose it as my favorite simply because it appealed to me very well through its wonderful shading and almost monochromatic coloring. The setting it had created was something I always dreamed of. A world full of silhouette and bright glowing lights. But that said it’s not the only source of light within the painting. Mori Kinsen has added immense detail in the clouds lighting to show the after glow to what I could only assume is the break of dawn. A majestic back light for the looming clouds that slowly cross the sky. The single question that arose was ‘what was the painter’s emotional connection with this?’ The plaque aside it, holding the history of the painting, mentions that it failed to show any form of development through colonization. It was, ‘untouched by change, occupying a timeless space in the collective colonial imaginary.’ Could this have been his ultimate form of peace in his country? Untouched within a timeless space?

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NOR KIASATINA ATHIRAH 1191100357

Raden Saleh, Forest Fire, 1849, National Gallery Singapore.

Raden Salleh's Forrest Fire will attract our attention the moment we enter the Southeast Asia’s first gallery. At three metres, the painting is easily dwarfs everything else in the room. The painting appeal the dramatic story of the forest on fire, both prey and predator looks like they are in trouble and shows their terror because of their habitat lost. However, it actually perhaps symbolize a play of society.
Raden's work  are indicative of his Western art training with a likeness to romanticism in the Dutch Golden Age. It considered as Indonesia’s pioneer modern artist, the popularity of his works travels to Europe. Eventhough he created a naturalistic scenes of his home country.  I really like how Raden tries to hide the meaning of this painting from the colonizer by tricking their ego to see their perspective of this painting eventhough it has a different meaning However,  Raden was not necessarily tuned it  to a create Indonesian art, instead his themes were more to show of a nationalist awakening. There are more works by Raden Saleh in the Southeast Asia gallery painted in the same likeness as if we can spot them.
But the one thing that I curious about is how come the colonizer does not realize what is the real meaning of this painting? Is it  because they got blinded by their ego and wanted to hide the fact that they are just a colonizer that just came to colonize?

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Sulaiman Esa, The Mystical Reality Reinvented -- Metamorphosis, 2016, Malaysia

Sulaiman was commissioned by the Southeast Asia Gallery to produce a new work titled "A Mystical Reality Reinvented" for the inaugural exhibition. This new piece looks back to Sulaiman's older exhibition called "Towards a Mythical Reality" but interpreting it from the vantage point of today and also his own practise.

I love this piece mainly for its ambiguity. You can't really tell what the artist is trying to convey but if you look at it in the right way, you can tell that it has a sense of progression. The use of color brilliantly shows the transformation from something colorful and innocent to something quite dark and cult-ish. To add to that, I personally love the fact that the degrading colors contrast with the ever so white background.

The one question I have lingering in my mind is "What does the artist mean by Metamorphosis in his artwork?"

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Raden Saleh (1811-1880)'s Merapi, Eruption by Night, 1865, Indonesia.

The time depicted in this painting was at night, at a mountain that features heavily in Javanese mythology. It was imagined as part of a far-flung colony ruled by nature.

I fell in love at first sight on this painting. It came in a pair, the other one is just exactly the same mountain, except it was at the day. I chose the night version because I felt like the eruption and the nighttine gives the painting a dramatic aura, and as if Raden Saleh was trying to portray an iconology from it through the eruption. It looked dramatic and overwhelming, with diminutive human figures emphasasing the power and destructive potential of the volcano. It was incredibly beautiful and well-painted too.

The one thing that I wonder is why did Raden Saleh chose volcanoic Mount Merapi as the subject matter. Was there any special occassion that made his mind thought of this beautiful mountain since the first time?

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Which is your favourite Art?
1) Post an image of the Art and include Artist's Name, Title, Year, country.
2) What is the Time and Place? (Context of this Art)
3) Why do you love this piece?
4) Looking at this Art, what is one question that arose?

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Arahmaiani, Sacred Coke (1993–2016).
Sacred Coke treats this ubiquitous soda as a symbol of sex, drugs, and broader social decay brought on by the acceleration of global consumer culture—a theme that is also referenced in compatriot Jim Supangkat's sculpture, Ken Dedes, from 1975. The work shows the plaster bust of the eponymous mythical queen, considered the embodiment of beauty in Javanese tradition, plus a drawing in black marker on white-painted wood of a woman's torso and legs wearing unzipped jeans.

Part of the Indonesian New Art Movement (1974–1989), which criticised decorative art and attempted to replace it with the contemporary artist's toolkit of installations, ready-mades, photographs, found objects, and so on, Supangkat sought to critique Indonesian President Suharto's economic policies, conceived by Indonesian economists educated in the U.S. and that saw a steep increase in foreign direct investment that brought with it Western influences and values.
The thing i love about this artwork is the hidden and the obvious meaning the artist put in on his artwork and how his put it all together to one single artwork.
The first thing that popped up in my mind is " Is the condom used ? "

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Abdullah suriosubroto an indonesian village at sunset. This painting is undated and the technic is oil on canvas. This painting is from indonesia. Time is during a sunset at a village. This painting infused  warm tropical light emphasising the radiance of a sunset. The artist localised the landscape by introducing motifs such as paddy fields and straw huts. The huts are one of the few signs of human presence in his painting.
Why i love this painting is because i really love sunset it does show that my problem and things is done for the day. For me when sunset my day is over all my work and stresses for today is over and tomorrow gonna be a better day than today that is my thought of sunset. That is why i love sunset.
The question that arose in my mind is “does he think the same thing as me? Why sunset and not sunrise? Is this what u see with your eyes or just an imagination?”

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Juan Luna's España y Filipinas(The Philippines, 1886)
This painting is a depiction of two female figures representing two countries and their relationship between them.(The left figure is Spanish and the right figure is Filipino). It can be seen that the Spanish figure is more dominant and guiding the Filipino figure.The two figures are seemingly similar in stature and dignity. I like this painting because it show the unity of two countries in one painting being benevolent to each other. The painting itself looks calming and warm. I 've been wondering, where is the Spanish figure guiding the Filipino figure to?

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Tan Chin Kuan's Tragic of Blue Night (Malaysia, 1991)

The main idea of this (what I considered as a) masterpiece is based on the artist's frustration and his opinion on art in the Malaysian society in 1990s. From his grand painting in the middle of the artwork, to the mix media material surrounding it, it vividly presents where do Malaysia stand in terms of modern art and culture in the eyes of an expressionist. This art make me think about how do we, as Malaysian, perceive art back in the 1990s compare to how we see it now. Is the rise of modernism a healthy next step to the art revolution, or it actually rottens it? Is art no longer about beauty, but more on expressionism? Overall, this is my favourite artwork in the gallery. (Bonus: I really love the tagline on the shirt AND the backstory of it.)

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1.

Artist: Lim Cheng Hoe

Title: Kaleidoscope

Year: 1971

Country: Singapore

2. This painting is about 1970s scene of Singapore, and present in abstraction.

3. Compare with people and animals, I like the nature painting more. The symphony of colours make this painting looks peaceful and warm, I feel calm and peace when I see this painting. Although it is simple than other paintings, it give me some feeling I can't get from other paintings. To me, it is nice to feel calm without strong emotions.

4. Looking at this painting, I wonder how the artist looks and think in his brain to draw the scene so colourful and peace.

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Frescoes in Sigiriya - Sri Lanka
This is the most famous surviving examples of Southeast Asian-style. This painting found in the rock fortress and palace ruin of Sigiriya in Sri Lanka. These date from about the 5th-6th centuries CE and depict graceful female figures bearing flowers. I'm wondering how creative they were those time painting in a rock, and how the paint still there even after thousand of years and what type of colors they used to create this.

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Shabina Begum Krehi
Age of Full Blossom - San Minn (Myanmar)
When I first saw the painting I was really interested in studying more deeper about it . As if the painting was trying to tell me something important issue. What attracts me also was the chain . It was real. This painting is is about the Socialist Republic of the Union of Burma

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Wounded Lion by Raden Saleh, 1839, Indonesia
It was from Prince Mangkoenegara VII's collection which was acquired around 1939 in Solo, Java. When I first saw the painting i was mesmerized by the detail. The dark background with the face of the lion highlighted puts the focus on facial expression. The lion looks so scared and so vulnerable with tears in its eyes and it looks like its roaring for help. Even after going through all the pictures in the gallery, I kept returning to this picture. Still mesmerized. One question that I have is "How did the artist capture the emotion and facial expression of the lion?"

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Fernando Amorsolo, Defense Of A Filipina Woman's Honour, Philipines
1945, Philippines ( World War II Era )
This is one of the pieces being done by the artist during the WWII era. This painting shows how unmerciful the Japanese soldiers were. It also shows how the man is being very protective about his wife and not allowing the Japanese soldiers to land their hands on his wife. The artist is famous for using natural lights. Witnessing the painting itself was truly jarring especially when you could look so close to observe the details and strokes.
What they are looking at?

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Which is your favourite Art?
1) Post an image of the Art and include Artist's Name, Title, Year, country.
2) What is the Time and Place? (Context of this Art)
3) Why do you love this piece?
4) Looking at this Art, what is one question that arose?