Lot 128
Chang Yoong Chia
b. Kuala Lumpur, 1975
From Hero To Zero, 2014
postage stamps and adhesive collage
130 x 148cm
PROVENANCE
Private collection, Singapore
ESTIMATE RM 45,000 – 70,000
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History is manmade, man unmade and man remade, according to changing circumstances, changing times. And the history books are written by the victors. The price is often heavy, in blood, sweat and tears. There will always be interpretations, depending on which side it is taken from, and nuances. What is the real truth, long after all the protagonists are dead, scholars and generations thereafter pored over the incidents with the details getting fuzzier and more slippery. At the bottom of this triangular work is a statement: “It is irrelevant whether I succeeded or failed, at least I did what I did,” an extract from the Malayan communist leader Chin Peng’s farewell letter made public after he died. Some kind of images can be gleaned from the painting plastered with postage stamps of soldiers and the fallen.
Chang Yoong Chia made an impact when he was chosen a finalist in the APB Signature Art Prize in Singapore in 2011. He has been exposed to major international exhibitions and residencies all over the world. The exhibitions include the 3rd Fukuoka Asian Art Triennial 2005, World Social Forum Porto Alegre Brazil 2005, Bangladesh Asian Art Biennale, Dhaka (2010), 2nd Chongqing Youth Biennale (2011), Welcome To The Jungle, Japan (2013), Start Art Fair, London (2014), Journey, Jerusalem (2014), Open Sea, Lyon, France (2015), Asia Young 36, Jeonju, South Korea (2016), and in Malaysia, the KL Biennale (2017-2018). He also had whirlwind schedule of residencies, the latest being in Leipzig, Germany, under the Goethe-Institut, at the height of the coronavirus pandemic. His other art residencies were at Uyman (Tobiu Art Festival, Japan, 2019), Sapporo (2017, 2008), 1 Shanti Road (Bangalore, India), Pinyao, China (2010), Tembi Yogyakarta / Valentine Willie Fine Art (2010), Wanakio, Meijima Art Centre, Okinawa, Japan (2008), Chiayi, Taiwan (2007), Ujiae Art Studio, Gwangju, Korea (2007), Rimbun Dahan, Kuang (2006), C21, Blackburn, UK (2006), and KHOJ, Mysore, India (2002). Since 2004, he had 12 solos, including a mid-career survey show, Second Life, at the National Art Gallery, in 2018-2019. He was educated at the Malaysian Institute of Art, Kuala Lumpur. |
