Penang Artist Corner Group Show.-An Afternoon with my Brother

Penang Art scene like everything else here is primarily dominated by the Chine Artists and this is saying not in any negative way but just  the plain truth. You can count on your fingers the number of Malay Artists here and those that have survived over the years have made it through mostly the support given to them by the Chinese Artists and Art lovers, and collectors.

The Chinese Artists are very competitive in their approach to art especially in terms of marketing their works and this as a result partly makes their works less appealing in depth of perception; their works become repetitively shallow or more in quantity less in quality. The above work by Jean Khoo seems likely to break away from this finding a niche in the market syndrome typical of Chinese.

Lee is one of those characters that you rarely come by in life who transcends the norm in his tastes and depth of perception when it comes to art and people. Don't let his laid back demeanor fool you, ha has th ability to read you inside out while smiling at you with that innocent smile. 

He is well respected by his peers and feared by his opponents as a lawyer, he seems to have found peace within despite the turmoils he has to deal with on a daily basis in being a lawyer and a good father and husband. He also is a key f figure in the community especially among the Christian in his parish.

I find that good artists are those who does art because it is what they love and enjoy doing and those who do otherwise tends to push too hard to be ahead of peers and their styles and techniques usually become a very well guarded secret like a family recipe .

This gentleman I met many years ago when we both had a booth at the Little Penang Street Market still makes model paper planes and he is one of those who i have great respect for as he seems unassuming in character, a very humble man and a very creative spirit.

In officiating the launch of the Show lee insisted that he does not speak in Mandarin although 99.9%  of his audience were Chinese and iw as the only Malay present. Kudos!  He also asked that a minute of silence be observed in  memory of those missing with the MAS Flight 307 as there were many artist from China on board the flight on their way home.

To become a good collector of Art one has to be extra sensitive towards every piece you see no mater the style or technique. To pick out the best among the best of the art works demands that the collector is not easily swayed by  what he sees but rather moved by what he feels.

Among all the young man's works lee got what he thought was the best as a token of  appreciation for his officiating the show. And the young man has himself a potential collector of his future works. This is how connections are made, mostly through the act of giving and sharing; something the Malays has yet to discover if they ever will.