Once in a while there surfaces a great talent which has been kept under wraps for years. More often than not, the works of these geniuses are never seen by the public; Created for their own personal consumption and never intended for the public, these works feed their souls, and are purely personal indulgences.

Toon Hian is one such individual.
Hailing from a prominent industrialist Chinese family from Ipoh, he was schooled in the UK and thereafter came back to live, work and settle in Ipoh, Malaysia. He is a successful businessman who is painfully private and his artworks are his escape away from the realities of this world.

Over the last thirty years he has spent his evenings and weekends dedicated to his art. Working mostly in indian inks and watercolours, his works are honed to a skill which is reminiscent of Picasso’s late drawings, drawing image references from a daily feed of information ranging from Animal Planet to CNN, the works are his own take on the world at large and are a mesh of interlocking images which unfold to tell his version of the story.

Employing very deft brushstrokes and fine textures Toon Hian’s artworks reveal a simplistic naivete which is reserved only for those who have been able to retain the ability to see things as they are.

‘Bewildered’brings together a collection of works that have been amassed over the last thirty years. This will be the first time that this reticent artist has agreed to show them in public.
‘Bewildered’ features at Wei-Ling Gallery from the 7th June-2nd July 2011.