Martin Loh is a self-taught Singaporean artist who culls his subjects from the richness of his own Peranakan heritage. His paintings reflect the colour, charm and details of a bygone era in a naïve style that is uniquely his. A self-confessed day-dreamer, he lets his imagination run wild through his works, recreating images of people and places from his childhood days growing up in Katong, a predominantly Peranakan area. His earlier works were highly nostalgic and mainly inspired by home-based activities and portraits of the “lady of the house”, as well as old architecture and traditional costumes. Over the years, he has evolved to a freer style of painting and works that are more whimsical, though no less enchanting, drawn from his wide-ranging experiences as he travels around the region. This series investigates a darker psychological mindscape, where nyonyas toy with anthropomorphic animals and concomittant danger. As he transitions from paper to canvas, his work is no less colourful, many still replete with the crowded details and fussiness so favoured by the Straits Chinese in days gone by.
"Martin Loh, a self-taught Peranakan artist and former journalist with The Straits Times, investigates a darker psychological mindscape, where nyonyas toy with anthromorphic animals and danger."
and these are his other works :
got the pics from flickr , peranakan.org, carpediem galleries
and . . .
from research , Martin Loh does not only create work on the straits chinese also took part in an exhibition, Men in the Raw which is the first erotic gay art exhibtion in singapore .
i find his works expressive and interestingly bright and colourful, and i find that i could draw references from the symbols used in the backdrop. however i find that my style differs from Martin Loh's in that my drawings are more detail as opposed to his expressive paintings with details that are suggestive.
No comments:
Post a Comment