Lot 1: ERIC CHAN (b. Malaysia 1975)

Riding along
signed and dated 'Eric Chan/2002' (on the reverse)
oil on canvas
39 3/8 x 39 3/8 in. (100 x 100 cm.)

Kuala Lumpur, Valentine Fine Art, new paintings by eric chan, 23 October - 9 November 2002, pl. 19.

"Like box cubes with paint on one surface" (Laura Fan, "Artist of the Fleeting World" in New Paintings by Eric Chan, Valentine Willie Fine Art, Kuala Lumpur, 2002, p.4.) is what Eric Chan wants his work to appear as he revealed in one of the interviews. The effect is equivalent to a flattened surface with a painterly texture and his insistence on adopting silky effect to his composition further renders the work a hint of opulence but, with his choice of subjects, a definite contemporary sensibility.

Prettiness is a definite characteristic with the work of Eric Chan. An art critic has confessed "Conversations with others reassure me that I am not alone in my guilty addiction to Eric's work. His painting fulfills a hunger for pure visual pleasure that has become unfashionable to admit to. In our age of anxiety, political issues, urbanism and history dominate the work in museums and the ranks of competition winners. It's so passi to be seduced by something pretty". (Ibid.)

In his ability of drawing (literally) out the emotive dimensions of his subjects, one is drawn to the each and every pictures, in a most personable and individual fashion that makes the process both immediate and intimate.