Extract from "Masterpieces from the National Art Gallery of Malaysia"
《The Soul Under Midnight》 1996 Oil on canvas 208cm x 460cm
Born: 1966
Education:
1987 – Malaysian Institute of Art, Kuala Lumpur
Tan Chin Kuan belongs to the younger generation of figurative artists who have been involved with social commentary. He was trained locally and he emerged in the Nineties. In his case, he asserts his Chinese-ness quite self-consciously and it is often tinged with the pain and anguish of the marginalised person. He views himself painfully as a second class citizen and he makes this point clear quite often, even if the view projected can seem somewhat exaggerated at times. His artistic approach is one founded on angst. And he employs a combination of the expressionist and magical realist influences for his artistic effects.
This work is a large painting and reflects the artist’s somewhat pessimistic view of human kind. A large centrally-placed muscular, young Chinese man with one arm raised over his head stares out at the viewer. He is holding a glove. He is dressed in his underpants. Around him are scattered many tiny naked figures, involved in different animated activities. Above him are fragments of buildings with staring faces enclosed within windows. On either side of the large composition is a vertical blaze of fire. Are these hell fires? There is usually in this artist’s works a Kafka-like atmosphere.
This work is reminiscent of a kind of hellish landscape. It suggests a not too favourable view of humankind and of life. The work borders on the absurd. The overall mood of the work is nevertheless, powerful and challenging. The artist’s confrontational approach and his cynicism, first reflected during the early Nineties, has not diminished.
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