There is a tremendous energy and movement which emanates from the works of Voon Kim Cheong - a resonance and a vibrancy which almost catches the casual viewer off-guard with his stunningly beautiful paintings.
In Voon Kim Cheong’s vivacious oil canvases, reminiscent of Italian Futurism, curved kites dart and sway in the wind - tossing and turning amidst turbulent thermals. Gyroscopically spinning tops whirl and jostle while lively multi-racial drummers pound out the country’s life-beat, reverberating and resonating with a dynamic passion uniquely displayed in a sultry equatorial Malaysia.
Born in 1968, In Kuala Lumpur, Voon Kim Cheong graduated from the Saito Academy of Graphic Design in 1992. He sought further training as a fine artist and has made a living in illustration, design and painting.
He was included in the Young Artists Exhibition, 1995, in Klang, Selangor and The Philip Morris Group of Malaysia Awards at the National Art Gallery, Kuala Lumpur in 1999. The following year (2000) Voon Kim Cheong had art works in ‘Little Treasures Art Exhibition’ organised by Klang Fine Art Centre, The Philip Morris Group of Malaysia Awards, again at the National Art Gallery and ‘The First Step’ art exhibition organised by Klang Fine Art Centre, Klang, Selangor.
In 2001 Voon Kim Cheong exhibited in the ‘Open Show 2001’ in the National Art Gallery, Kuala Lumpur, and five years later was part of the 1st Malaysia World Art Tourism Expo 2006 at MITC Ayer Keroh, Malacca. The following year he took part in the International Art Exhibition 2007 as part of the Malaysia’s 50th anniversary celebrations at the Daiichi Modern Art Gallery in Sungei Petani, Kedah.
As part of an international initiative, Voon Kim Cheong took part in the ‘World of Imagination’ (Vol 2) - an exhibition in the APW Gallery, Long Island City, USA, in 2009. There his works was part of 2000 paintings, hung in a single gallery, featuring 500 artists worldwide. That same year he took part in the Malaysian Chinese Art Exhibition, celebrating the 35th anniversary of Malaysia/China ties, at the Cheng Ho Cultural Museum, Malacca. That year he also had his work exhibited in the Penang Art Society 56th Anniversary Art Exhibition in the Penang State Art Gallery, Penang. In 2010 Voon Kim Cheong took part in the International Famous Artists’ Paintings Exhibition at the Daiichi Modern Art Gallery in Sungei Petani.
The current exhibition springs from work the artist had done back in 1998 – Rhythm of the Night. It is a darker piece, more surreal than his later works but, in it, is the love of music – a combining of musical instruments that brings to mind the Chilean surrealist Roberto Matta, the colouration and fluidity of line of Frans Marc (The Little Blue Horses - 1911) or the dynamics of The Golden Eye by Max Ernst (1948).
Voon Kim Cheong’s latest work focuses, primarily, on Malaysian drums, drummers and drumming using dynamic rudiments of the ‘curved line’. Other elements on show are spinning tops (Gasing), flying kites (Wau) and the ‘Performer’ series, accompanied by still life, fishing villages and antique architecture.
Drums and drumming are integral to the races living harmoniously in Malaysia. A full Chinese drum troupe may consist of 24 drums - 6 representing each season from the first of spring to the great freeze. Malays use a longer drum called a ‘Gendang’, of which there are more than a dozen different types, used in civil and religious ceremonies. Malaysia’s Indian population have brought with them the popular drums of India, used in the north and south of that country and there are many other drums used by indigenous peoples.
‘I use the idea of drum to represent the sun and moon. Sun is harder while the moon is soft. Sometimes when you bang a drum it is hard, and the sound is hard, at other times it is soft. When I paint the images of drumming, I try to depict colours relevant to the race of the drum and drummers, in my work’ said Voon Kim Cheong as he revealed the passion, energy and vitality explicit in the reverberations of Malaysian drums depicted through his rich, evocative canvases.
With influences from Picasso, Cubism and Futurism, Voon Kim Cheong’s art works are reminiscent of those spectacular paintings by master Futurist Umberto Boccioni in their lyrical sweeps of movement and dynamic colouration. Voon Kin Cheong’s latest works have his figures spring with gusto from the canvases, aided by carefully placed colour dynamics and racing shapes which immediately engage the viewer.
Even in the simplicity of black and white, Voon Kim Cheong’s work explodes with a painterly intensity seldom seen in a young Malaysian artist. Whether dancers sway, drummers beat; kites drift, or tops spin Voon Kim Cheong’s works are about delicious movement, vibrant energy, a resounding passion for art and a love for life.
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