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.

Image: © Yau Bee Ling, Wei Ling Contemporary