Renewed love for painting

Bong (right) showing one of his ‘Love Our Rivers’ paintings to Sarawak Deputy Tourism, Creative Industry and Performing Arts Minister Datuk Sebastian Ting. — Photos by ZULAZHAR SHEBLEE/The Star

AFTER an absence of two decades from the local art scene, veteran Sarawakian artist Bong Choo Chew rediscovered his love of painting during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Bong, 70, started his art career more than 50 years ago but then stopped painting for personal reasons.

“During the movement control order, because there was nothing to do, I picked up my brush again after a lapse of 20 years.

“Why did I stop painting? That is a long story to tell. It was because I had family problems but I’d rather not give the details,” he said.

Having resumed painting again, Bong recently showed 50 of his oil paintings in a solo exhibition themed “Dialogue With Our Nature” at Hoan Gallery in Kota Samarahan.

More than half of the paintings were done in the last three years, while others dated back to the early 1990s.

Bong said his inspiration for the show, which ran from May 13 to 31, was the need to protect the environment.

“I see lots of pollution around us. The environment now, it’s very messy and dirty.

“We need to love the Earth so that we can have a clean and hygienic environment and live in harmony,” he said.

In line with this, Bong urged everyone not to create too much rubbish or throw it into the rivers and sea.

“We must protect nature and love our rivers. That is the main theme of the exhibition,” he said.

Another defining feature of the show was the oil medium used by Bong.

According to him, not many artists nowadays paint in oil because it is painstaking, tedious and takes time.

“In the years to come, oil painting might go extinct. You can see nowadays people are more interested in acrylic because it’s simpler.

“Youngsters believe oil painting is too troublesome and they prefer the easy way.”

For Bong, however, painting in oil displays his passion and confidence in the medium.

“From what I see, oil paintings have a higher aesthetic value compared to other mediums.

“Oil painting is considered the best medium,” he added.

Gallery owner Hoan Kee Huang said Bong’s oil paintings can be divided into three phases – realism, semi-abstract and abstract.

“There is a progression that visitors will be able to see. His paintings begin with streetscapes to natural landscapes, from what he sees at the markets to what he feels in his heart and mind,” he said.

Bong also categorised his paintings into eight series, such as “Harmony” which depicts koi fish, the Buntal fishing village series and the “Love Our Rivers” series of realist and abstract riverscapes.

All the paintings were for sale and Bong has pledged to donate 70% of the proceeds to charity, in commemoration of his 70th birthday this year.