Lot 33
MARVIN CHAN
b. Kuala Lumpur, 1972
SUTERA DANCER, 2009
Signed and dated 'Marvin 09' lower left
Oil and resin on canvas
75cm x 100cm
PROVENANCE
Private collection, Penang
ESTIMATE RM 5,000 - 7,000
PRICE REALISED RM 9,350
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A special commission, this piece is about yearning and pining lodged in the transient episodes of lover-boy Krishna and his muse, Radha. While Radha’s face and upper body are solid her legs seem to almost disappear and the background, stippled and diaphanous, lends the painting a dream-like quality. Left alone and with Krishna away, Radha finds it difficult to fill the gap of his absence, longing for his voice and his amorous touch. She tries to catch some sleep, hoping to see him again maybe in her dreams, or in another form perhaps. In his works, Marvin explores contemporary themes surrounding notions of existence, structure and form.
Self-taught, Marvin Chan has made the transition from an advertising practitioner to a visual artist in his first solo called First Harvest at a2 Gallery, Penang in 2007. He was a twice recipient of the Freeman Fellowship in Vermont in the United States, first with a partial grant in 2007, and then as an alternate artist in 2008 to 2010. He was also selected for the Commonwealth Connections art residency in 2009, the year in which he also won the BP Portrait Award. He has exhibited in numerous group shows, most recently Skin at House of Matahati in 2012, MASIF 2011 at Galeri Petronas and a solo show at Wei-Ling Gallery in 2010 titled Inconsequential Consequences of Hope. Besides exhibiting in Malaysia, his artworks have been shown in London and South Korea and are held in private collections in Singapore, Hong Kong, Dubai, the United States and Italy.
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