The Women
Yau Bee Ling
We are pleased to announce ‘The Women’ by Yau Bee Ling at Wei-Ling Contemporary from 5th March to 1st April 2013.
Known for her distinctive layered works, Yau Bee Ling is regarded as one of the most powerful contemporary painters in Malaysia today. This exhibition marks her second solo showing in a 15 year career, after her first solo entitled Portraits of Paradox which took place in 2008.
With her second exhibition, she has discovered through the production of this series how greatly she has evolved as an individual and encompasses the different aspirations, relationships and inner manifestations of her role as a woman. ‘The Women’ depicts women in various groupings, standing alone, with their children signifying at times a sense of isolation, but also exploring the various relationship links in Bee Ling’s life. Although the rapid advancement of technology has provided much ease in our everyday lives, it has also just as easily brought about strains in relationships. Despite practicing traditional ways of domestic life, the artist believes that we cannot be any further from how things used to be. We now seem to be heavily consumed by technology, and a lack of communication and interaction between humans are highly prevalent. In many ways, the women portrayed in these paintings are almost a virtual extension of herself and her relationships with those around her.
These works also act as a rediscovery of her femininity which the artist had momentarily lost touch with after a period spent devoted to bringing up her two children. Known for her multi-layered style of painting, Bee Ling wishes for her audience to delve deeper within the layers to gain a deeper connection with her work than what may merely be viewed on the surface. The layer upon layer of colours present in her work symbolises the unfolding of her many “layers” of introspection.
Yau Bee Ling’s works have attracted attention overseas and in the past has been invited to exhibit her works in Japan, Singapore,Pakistan,China,Hong Kong,Sweden and Bangladesh. Her works were included in the 2nd Fukuoka Triennale in 2002 and were exhibited at the Fukuoka Asian Art Museum, Japan. In 2004, her paintings travelled to the Hokkaido Museum of Contemporary Art as part of the “Soul of Asia: Fukuoka Asian Art Museum Collection” exhibition and in 2005, she was awarded the Rimbun Dahan, Malaysian – Australian Artist-in-Residence programme. Her works have been collected by the Fukuoka Asian Art Museum, Japan and Galeri Petronas, Malaysia amongst others.
‘The Women’ will show at Wei-Ling Contemporary from 5th March to 1st April 2013. We very much look forward to seeing you there!
Wei-Ling Contemporary is located at G212&213A Ground Floor, The Gardens Mall, 59200, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Wei-Ling Contemporary is open Daily from 10am-9pm.
Please call 0322601106/0322828323 or email weiling.shaz@gmail.com for more information.
You may also visit our website at http://www.weiling-gallery.com
or our facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Weiling-Gallery/157878490904431?fref=ts
“Women” Probes Femininity Through Art by Katrin Figge, The Jakarta Globe, March 27th 2013
“An artist’s journey through womanhood” by Sharmilla Ganesan, The Star, 30th March 2013
“Perception of Women” by Sarah Vogeler, New Straits Times 7th April 2013
“The Women”: A Journey into Selfhood by Mas Zetti Atan
Kaleidoscopic metaphors: The Women Series; In conversation with Yau Bee Ling by Gina Fairley