谢薏莹　Shia Yih Ying

Extract from "Masterpieces from the National Art Gallery of Malaysia"

《Homage to The Vanishing World》 1996

Acrylic on canvas 115cm X 150cm

Born: 1967

Education:

1990 – Malaysian Institute of Art, Kuala Lumpur

The emergence of more committed figurative art involvement within the local art scene, as practiced by the younger generation artists, during the Nineties, is significant. It signals the waning influence of Abstract Expressionism which had dominated the local art scene for so long. The reasons for the new figurative tendencies, largely linked to the younger Chinese artists, may be attributed to a number of factors. The new interest in societal contexts and issues, influenced by the new post-modernist impulses, has necessitated artists employing recognisable images and forms. The more serious younger artists, have clearly been affected by the new, more stringent and more demanding art critical impulses of their own times. There is a conscious search for content these days, reflecting the new, post-formalist art contexts. And, this is the case with the Sarawak-born artist Shia Yih Ying.

Her Homage to The Vanishing World is a celebration of the rich, complex world of Dayak culture. The work is made up of three panels joined together to produce a tryptych. In this case, it is a tryptych with a shape that reminds us of those used in the medieval Christian churches, with a taller, centralising panel. The artist has also appropriated bodily poses and hand gestures that clearly refer to the Renaissance paintings of the Italian artist Sandra Botticelli. Central perspective also features in the work. That these influences, derived from Western art sources, have been used in her efforts to celebrate the Dayak tribal culture is indeed remarkable. Magical realism also features strongly in her work. The artist herself appears a number of times in the composition, standing in the right hand panel imitating the pose of Botticelli’s Venus and she appears again in the central panel, at the top, as one of the Three Graces.

The compositional structure of the work is indeed complex. But what impresses the viewer is her deep familiarity and respect for her chosen subject matter.