Yeoh Choo Kuan

In between working at the art residency in Philipines, and preparing for the launch of his solo exhibition ‘In the Flesh” at RK Fine Art, Kuala Lumpur, Yeoh Choo Kuan took some time out of his busy schedule and obliged Chalk and Raddy with some very honest Q & A.

We are very pleased and excited about this exhibition. Choo Kuan has developed a unique technique in his works, that complements the subject that interests him most – humans. In exploring emotions and the process of uncovering the feelings of a person, Choo Kuan depicts this peeling with layering of paint to create a sense of the skin being torn and revealing the underlying flesh beneath its cover.

Read about the exhibition here: In the Flesh – Yeoh Choo Kuan

Get to know Choo Kuan better here, it doesn’t get anymore frank than this!

What should we know about you?

Top 5 wonders about me from friends & family:

1. I never own a smart phone and using Nokia black & white simply because I like it small and battery lasts for a long duration.
2. I don’t talk much because I would easily and helplessly drown into fearful behavior and a withdrawn state of mind.
3. Since the first “Harry Potter” movie series released in 2001, countless people say that we look alike and I still don’t get it every time I look at myself in the mirror
4. my fingers tremor most of the time to release stress caused by anxiety
5. I love eating fish head very much because I find great pleasure when my tongue clears the meat from different parts and shapes of the head bone… But sometime I feel guilty about it because I also love scuba diving and swimming with them.

Love in Motion
Picture from http://www.discovermalaysiart.wix.com

Your favourite quote?

If you are falling….dive.

 Where is your favourite place and why?

It is a lonely place where it is the guarantee of absolute freedom

 What drives you?

To drive the “beast” inside myself drives me. To chain, feed, and release the “beast”, is to maintain the tension and energy of the “beast” of creation impulse.

Who are the influencers in your life, whether from an artistic perspective or personal trait perspective?

Family is the essential influence. Growing up in a broken family taught me to be doubtful and uncertain, yet have the courage and strength to confront the truth, which has grown with me as well.

 What is the story behind In the Flesh, and how was this idea conceived?

By realizing I had those twisted feelings in intimate, sexual relationship and desire of bodies, I have learnt to deal with my “psycho”, raise it to the aesthetics level and turn them into a brutally elegant form of execution and visual in paintings

 Can you describe your experience and journey from your first solo exhibition to the current one?

Before, I was trying to show the audience the bodies I knew and experienced; now I allow the audience to observe me wander around the bodies, and to experience my attempt on figuring out what is forgotten or still hidden to me.

 “All the world is a stage” ~ What role do you see yourself as in the world?

I think I am a stage for the world instead. My existence is some kind of abstract form to realize the existing discipline in the universe. All I can do is just keep moving like “The Walking Man” by Alberto Giacometti

 What would you advise or like to share with Art enthusiasts and art collectors?

Thank you… Thank you? Thank you!

 

Exhibition details:

Dec 1 – 14, 2014

Richard Koh Fine Art
Lot No. 2F-3, Level 2, Bangsar Village II,
Jalan Telawi, Bangsar Baru,
59100 Kuala Lumpur, MALAYSIA
T: +60 (03) 2283 3677
F: +60 (03) 2283 4677