Lot 125
Ivan Lam
b. Kuala Lumpur, 1975
Utamaro With Text, 2002
signed and dated on the side edge (lower center)
mixed media on canvas laid on board
76 x 152cm
PROVENANCE
Private collection, Singapore
ESTIMATE RM 25,000 – 45,000
PRICE REALISED RM 24,640.00
|
The large elongated heads of beautiful women (bijin okubi-e) depicted by Kitagawa Utamaro (1753-1806) somehow fascinated Ivan Lam to attempt a homage, drawing in large tracts of kanji featured on the image’s left for good measure – design and a kind of patterning. Utamaro borrowed from the Katsukawa School stock of long face, long neck, slim shoulders and unusually large coiffure. His works were among those other famous ukiyo-e artists of Edo Japan who had a great influence on the Impressionists like Van Gogh and Gauguin. Utamaro was doing well but ran afoul of the all-supreme daimyo, the military ruler Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and was imprisoned for making illegal prints of him, and he died in 1806, two years later. Utamaro was also known for his illustrations of Nature studies, especially insects, and for his cover of the book, Forty-eight Love Scenes, under the pseudonym Kitagawa Toyoaki.
Ivan Lam graduated with a MA from University of East London (2006) and BFA from the Maine College of Art, USA (1998). He obtained his Graphic Design certificate from the University LKW Institute of Technology, KL (1994). He won the National-level award of the Asean Art Award in 2003, and was among the 10 finalists in the Sovereign Art Prize in Hong Kong. He was featured in Art Stage Singapore and Art Basel Hong Kong (2013). He was commissioned by Louis Vuitton to make a painting for their collection. He had a one-month residency in Dusseldorf, Germany, in February 2012. In 2015, Wei-Ling Gallery gave him a survey exhibition of 20 years of his artworks. Ivan Lam is among the four Malaysian artists featured at the national pavilion in the 58th International Art Exhibition of La Biennale in Venice, Italy.
|