Lot 051
SHIA YIH YIING
b. Sarawak, 1966
WIN VESTURE, 2006
Signed and dated 'SHIA06' lower right
Inscribed 'Win Vesture 138cm x 101cm Acrylic and oil on
canvas Shia Yih Yiing 2006' on reverse
Oil on canvas
138cm x 101cm
PROVENANCE
Private collection, Kuala Lumpur.
EXHIBITED
Vessels of Art, Shalini Ganendra Fine Art, Petaling Jaya, 2006.
ESTIMATE RM 8,000 - 9,000
PRICE REALISED RM 10,450 |
In this work by Shia Yih Yiing, there is an assertion of Chinese identity as indicated by the iconic Ming blue porcelain and the symmetrical double phoenix symbol, rising from the ashes of its past. It also assimilates with issues of migration – social, economic and political – of the quest for greener pastures and a better life.
Upon closer inspection, there lies the recognisable Bank Negara logo that is repetitively imbedded as part of the body art. The Kijang (barking deer) motif was derived from the gold coins of the State of Kelantan, which were among the earliest coins of the Malay Sultanate. It features a Kijang, a sun and a crescent moon. The sun symbolises power and the crescent moon represents Islam, the official religion of Malaysia. One may also notice the Malaysian flag thoughtfully placed on the eyes of the phoenix as well as the hibiscus, the national flower motif recurring on the canvas. This takes Win Vesture into a deeper consciousness in search of its own identity.
Shia Yih Yiing was educated at the Malaysian Institute of Art. She held her first solo Homage to Ordinary Life at the Creative Centre, Kuala Lumpur in 1998. She won the Kontena Nasional’s Rural Malaysia Award in 1993 and a Minor Award in the Young Contemporary Artists exhibition in 1994. She was selected for the Asean Visual Art Education Workshop in Mandalayong, the Philippines in 1994, and the Commonwealth Fellowship in Arts And Crafts in New South Wales, Australia in 1999. She was an alternate artist in the Vermont Studio Center Fremont Fellowship in 2007. Since 1989, her works have also been included in a number of group and solo exhibitions, including, most notably her solo wOm(b) at Galeri Petronas in 2004. Her works form part of major collections that include Galeri Petronas, HSBC Bank Berhad and the National Visual Arts Gallery, Kuala Lumpur.
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