KL Lifestyle Art Space: January 2012

A Solo Art Exhibition

As one of the most highly regarded artists in the region, Malaysia should be so proud to count Tew Nai Tong as one of their own. A professional painter, a lecturer and the founder and president of the Watercolour Society of Malaysia, Tew Nai Tong’s journey from the moment he decided to become an artist at the young age of eighteen until this very moment has been nothing short of extraordinary.

Born in 1936 in his hometown in Klang, Tew Nai Tong attended Peng Hwa Chinese School at Tew Nai Tongthe age of seven. By the time he turned eighteen, he decided that he wanted to pursue his dreams of being an artist, a proper artist. With his mind set on painting his way through life, he upped sticks and moved to Singapore, enrolling at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (NAFA) and studied there for two very fruitful years. Focusing on sketching, watercolors and landscape painting during his early years at NAFA, he, along with his contemporaries, became part of the watercolors movement in Malaysia, promoting the art style to the people in Malaysia.

Busy Market, 2006
123cm x 93cm. Oil on Canvas

For alumnus of NAFA, it was customary and essential for them to further their studies in Paris. Thus, for another two years, Paris became his home away from home as he studied oil and figurative painting at the Ecole Nationale Superieure Des Beaux-Arts de Paris. From 1967 to 1968, Tew Nai Tong immersed himself in the kaleidoscope of arts and culture in France and across Europe, visiting museums and art galleries in search of inspiration, for new ideas. His time in Paris instilled in him a newfound creative energy, which he used to great effect as he went through an experimental phase on forms, compositions and colors, which shaped his unique art style: an interesting and beautiful combination of Oriental charm and Parisian elegance injected into dreamy watercolor on canvas, playful collages within oil paintings to geometrical abstracts depicting rural living, local culture and landscapes.

This combination stems from his time in Singapore and Paris, with his art being described as representing the tail-end of the old Nanyang (the Southern Seas of China) style as well as embodying the spirit of the new Nanyang style, a combination of stylised Balinese-Sarawakian figure types, the School of Paris chic and Chinese painting traditions. The amount of research that he always puts in for his art is exemplary. He visited Bali from 1996 to 2006, while also making a return to Paris from 1999 to 2002 in order to conduct research for his artworks as well as to look for inspiration, visits that have also played a part in moulding his unique style.

Boats, 2002
90cm x 90cm. Oil on Canvas

His reputation as one of the most important artists that have come out of the South East Asia region was confirmed when he was awarded the grand prize of the prestigious Asia Art Award 2009 to recognize over 50 years of tremendous contribution to the local and international art scene at the Asia Invitation Art Exhibition in Seoul, Korea. Many from his almost 2000 pieces now adorn many private and institutional collections all over the world. For everything that he has done in the name of art, Tew Nai Tong is an inspiration to look up to for all of us.