The Second Asia-Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art, Brisbane, Australia, 1996 : Report

MALAYSIA Eng Hwee Chu's paintings are powerful autobiographical statements that reveal the demands which marriage, cultural inheritance, religion and contemporary values place upon women in today's rapidly changing society. The three large paintings, Prospect, The holy state of matrimony and Black moon 14, are rich with symbols which convey the conflicting expectations and choices that confront the artist. Although engaging with the experience of being a woman, her work also has a highly spiritual dimension and refers to Christian symbols. It also relates to her continuous quest for truth and understanding of herself as expressed in her statement: The Black Moon is the real Moon; the Lighted Moon is the glory of the Sun. Therefore, the moon is my symbol for truth. I use black for my spiritual image which follow me everywhere I go. I n the process of discovering myself I was confronted with my inner self, my spirit. Fauzan Omar's large multiple canvases deal with three principal themes - construction , obstruction and destruction - and explore these through an examination of human impact on the natural environment. His works juxtapose beauty and decay, the artificial and the real, decoration and representation , exploring artistic vocabularies which can be related to abstraction and Islamic art. Pleasing, fragile, sensuous, mysterious, vibrant, vivid, soft, aromatic, flowers are different symbols in different beliefs, cultures, and customs. For every culture which seeks to understand their meaning and display their immutable beauty, flowers provide the spiritual comprehension of natural perfection . In fact human life itself can be symbolised by or interpreted in terms of the flowers. When we are at the peak of our lives, we are in 'full bloom'. But the basic function of the flower is to produce seed and so perpetuate its species. Within a matter of days, weeks or months, flowers bloom, wilt and die. This process of budding, blooming and decaying signifies the birth , growth and death in the cycle of l ife. (extract from artist's statement) 15