Lot 79 | Auction XV

LOT 79

CHUAH SIEW TENG
(B. Penang, 1944)

Portrait of a Boy, 1975

Signed and dated “S.Teng 1975” on lower right
Oil on canvas
38 x 28.5 cm

Provenance
Private Collection, Kuala Lumpur

AVAILABLE – RM 3,000 – RM 4,500

The mood is sombre, pensive and mysterious. The subject looks on, seemingly lost in a world of daydreams as children would be. His cheeks, plump and rosy are slightly puffed as he pulls his mouth in an almost defiant pout. Viewers almost wonder what is going on in the boy’s head as the vignette effect gives the entire piece a vintage-like and antiquated atmosphere to it.

The artist is the critically acclaimed and award-winning eldest son of Chuah Thean Teng and has also had his works shown in international exhibitions. Siew Teng has won many art awards even before abtaining a formal art education at the Ravensburne College of Art and City & Guild Art School in England in 1965. His art focuses on a modernist interpretation of Malaysian culture. He lived abroad for quite awhile, mainly England. In 1975 he lectured and taught batik art in Australia and although his Batik work has been described as “beyond boundaries”, Siew Teng declares that his true forte lies in Oil Painting, as seen in this portrait of a boy completed in 1975.