Infinite Canvas illustrates various city landscapes which wholly depicts the essence of Kuala Lumpur life. The body of work within this exhibition consist of 5 pieces of 2 panels each, which can be placed interchangeably to allow for 12 possible arrangements. Having held his first solo exhibition entitled ‘Undulating Spaces’ with Wei-Ling Gallery (then known as the Townhouse Gallery) in 2003, he has progressively moved forward through the years with solo shows such as ‘Cerulean Skies’, ‘Reality in Wonderland’ and ‘New Landscapes’. ‘Reality in Wonderland’ marked Kong Yee’s tenth year as a practicing artist and with this exhibition came a 65 page publication showcasing the various sojourns beyond Malaysian grounds, which he had embarked upon through time. This exhibition will mark Chin Kong Yee’s 6th solo exhibition at the gallery, and his first solo exhibition in two years.
Chin Kong Yee’s paintings display his continuous search to capture his own experience of a time and place. Highly known for his wonderful fish-eye lens work, this artist’s works evoke a somewhat surreal feel about them. By combining the present, past and future through a depiction of two perspectives (realistic and unrealistic) his paintings have an exciting, dramatic edge about them that draws the viewer into his space. Chin Kong Yee seeks his audience to feel and see what he has experienced in the creation of his artwork. He has labeled his style as Actuality Accorded Painting (AAP), whereby, in painting and portraying an object, it has to have existed, and have undergone the process of being real, in order for it to be translated onto the canvas as art. AAP is basically the act of “seeing” where the past, the present and the future is enveloped into one when one looks at an object. Once eye contact has been made through AAP, the images become the past. To this artist, nothing is ever stagnant. Images are changing and evolving as you look at them. Space can never be measured or fixed and it is only present in the mobility of time.
Image: © Chin Kong Yee, Wei-Ling Contemporary
