Karibu PROSPER !: MYANMAR AND ARTS

January 10, 2012

MYANMAR AND ARTS

Three Contemporary Myanmar Artists

U Lun Gywe, Two Ladies in Green, 2003, 52 x 62 cm, Oil on canvas

Myanmar is a country in South East Asia which has endured isolation for the last four decades. It is also a country with deep rooted Buddhist beliefs. The contemporary art scene in the country reflects these facts and the art is often related to Buddhism and the difficult socio-political situation. In this age of globalization, Myanmar art has developed rather on its own terms.

Three of the most recognized artists in Myanmar are U Lun Gywe, MPP Yei Myint and Aung Kyaw Htet. Their works are represented in major museum collections.

Myanmar

By Yin Ker

U Ba Moe, Mother & Child, 1968, Oil on panel, 65 x 50 cm, Collection of Singapore Art Museum

The Singapore Art Museum started the Myanmar Collection in 1994. With 167 paintings dating from the turn of the 19th century to recent years, this collection features seminal works representing a century of evolution in Myanma painting. Diversified in style and subject matter – from caricature to social realism, Myanma kanut to impressionism, cubism and surrea-lism, it suggests enthusiasm in referencing fresh visual modes and reviewing existing ones. Just as the assimilation of Indian, Chinese and Thai arts had nourished the Myanma artistic repertoire in ancient times, the constant cross-referencing of sources foreign and local, western and eastern has shaped the countenance and demeanour of modern and contemporary Myanma art.

Art Talk

Revisiting Parables

By Usha Nathan

Namiko Chan Takahashi, This son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found. 2007

FOST Gallery, 2 August - 2 September 2007

“I have wanted to paint truth ever since I first picked up a brush,” says Namiko Chan Takahashi. This 33-year old artist and the winner of 25th UOB Painting of the Year Award possesses a subtly sensitive figurative style. The human forms she depicts resonate with life and poignant detail – at once layered and revelatory. On a quiet evening, at her studio cum home, she talks to us about her work for her upcoming exhibition - ‘Parables’.

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Ms. Mika Aoyuki

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