"It is a very personal, never-ending search,
I'm always somewhere but I never arrive." Because of this, James Tan says
with an embarrassed grin, "it is difficult to tell people where I am. I'm
not really sure which direction I'm going in!"
Tan's search for ways to combine traditional
Chinese brush painting techniques with contemporary themes is played out at
an exhibition of more than 90 different works at the National Museum Art
Gallery. He has stripped the walls of his home of all paintings, including
his favorites, which are not for sale for the show.
Born in Johore, Tan's combines the traditional
brush painting techniques of the Lingnan (Cantonese) school of painting with
modern subjects and contemporary themes.
An example of this eclectic style is a
striking Monterey beachscape he saw on his way from Carmel to San Francisco,
I the work .won a consolation ' prize in the 1985 OUB Art Corn petition. The
actual scene was \ brown and grey but Tan changed I the colours because "it
wouldn't come out well in Chinese paints, j you have to combine traditional
< Chinese colours into it to get just f that feel".
The show is a varied codec- varied of
different themes, subjects, styles and techniques. A painting of a river in
New Orleans is typically Western in composition but ?Eastern in brush stroke
and colour. The end result is serenity.
I there are some more recent techniques and
styles Tan am experimenting with, but he's keeping them for a later
exhibition.
"I don't give up traditional painting because
it is from that that I derive the basic techniques that I need," Tan says.
About two-thirds of his works are contemporary or abstract. "Its images I
want mostly, not the subject matter, but the feeling," he says.
He does not make any claims for unique
techniques or style "If I like the ideas. I make use of them. I go more for
the contemporary rather than the traditional because it gives me a chance to
explore; it gives me a chance to expose myself to a new world. But even in
the traditional work, there is a blend of East and West. People believe that
East and West do not mix together well, but in my works the/are in harmony,"
Tan concludes.
"My fundamental philosophy is that beauty and peace always go together." The
best symbol for this is a bird. "I like birds. They are free to go where
they want, I like to sit down and watch them fly."
Birds also symbolize his de- sire to be free. "I do not worry about what
people say. I always paint the way I want," Tan points out.
He displays a child-like fascination for
things happening around him and a youthful exuberance. This probably
explains why people always think that he's still in his 20s although Tan is
more than 35 years old.
"Every one I meet always thinks that an artist has to be an old man. They
always think that an artist is disorganized and dirty, so they are usually
quite surprised when they first meet me," Tan says.
