Appreciating the visual arts

June 24, 2009

"Go out and see the painting," the salesgirl said after I had spent a few minutes viewing several paintings displayed on the wall behind her small desk. Mrs Aung's eyes widened as she thought that this young salesgirl was being rude to me.

As I was asking her questions about a big painting of a golden pagoda by an artist named Di Pa hanging behind her counter, I thought she wanted me to view this painting from outside her small art gallery of around 150 sq. ft. I could not view this painting as she was sitting down and her desk was between the painting on the wall behind her and me in front of her. The door was just behind my back since this was a very small art gallery. The only one in Peninsula Plaza which is a famous meeting point for all Burmese in Singapore and has various business specialising in Burmese matters.

Mrs Aung thought she was being rude to an old man (namely me). There was no reason for her to be rude. She was trying to tell me something. What was it? Why did she ask me to go out of her office? The oil painting by Di Pa was not that big. In fact, she should have asked me to go behind her desk to appreciate the fine painting.

This personable salesgirl was a Myanmar National and she was probably telling to communicate with me something. But what was she trying to tell me? I don't blame her for not communicating well in English. English is a difficult language to master and unless she had the opportunity to speak English more, she could not be fluent in this language.

As her gallery was so small, I thought that she might want me to view more paintings behind the glass wall of the front of her office.

I exited her gallery in 1 second. It was a 150 sq. ft gallery and so it took 1 second to go out. I was correct in my interpretation of her good intentions. Two very big paintings of the Pao (pronounced as Pa - O) Market occupying nearly 1/3 of the front glass window captured my attention due to its size and composition of people in a market. In one painting, I could see the "KWK" signature. Now, I knew about KWK because I had seen her other vivid paintings. I did not know that KWK did market scenes till now.

"This is the type of painting I appreciate," I said to Mrs Aung. "But it is very big painting and would take up 80% of the wall in my reception room at Toa Payoh Vets.

Mrs Aung had no interest in paintings. Once she said to me that I must be too free or too rich to look at paintings. Many people are struggling to earn a livelihood in this time of severe economic recession.

Mrs Aung said: "All paintings are original as the artist must create them. It is only the quality of paint and the canvas that affects the painting that must be considered."

I ha taken Mrs Aung to see a small painting of a market scene in the Shan State in another office in Peninsula Plaza before we came to see Di Pa's painting at this small art gallery. I loved this Shan State market painting very much. It connected to me instantly. It was also the right size to put in my small reception room of 50 sq ft at Toa Payoh Vets. It looked as if the painter wanted to show a young and pretty rich man's mistress buying flowers from the flower girl at the market.

"It is not the original painting," I lamented. "It is a photocopied painting." I don't want to display photocopied paintings as I don't appreciate them.

Mrs Aung strongly disagreed. "All paintings are original. The artist has to paint them. So how could there be copies?"

It was difficult to educate Mrs Aung as I did not have any other examples to show her. Seeing is believing. "Well," I said. "All paintings of Mona Lisa are copies, except for the original one in a French Museum".

Mrs Aung stared at me. Mona Lisa can be the most famous painting in the world but to Mrs Aung, I was talking Greek to her. She had never heard of Mona Lisa in her 40 plus years of living.

The salesgirl smiled at my mention of Mona Lisa copies. This girl knew her business of Art. She assured me: "All paintings here are certified." The salesgirl showed me a small brochure with descriptions of painting by Di Pa and KWK. I did not know what she meant but I presumed she meant the paintings were not copies. They were originals.

Art education takes a long time. It will be some time before Mrs Aung would be able to tell the differences between original, copies and reproduced versions of art. If she had interest, she could learn fast. Then she could pick up great paintings at low prices in Myanmar. Being a businesswoman, she would have one additional product to sell to people who are "too free or too rich" and make money. To her, art would be a commodity for trading rather than a source of appreciation. However, to be able to sell successfully, she would need to be motivated to know more about the business of art.

A little painting by KWK

I'll pay you $50 for your artwork," I said to Mrs Htay. She had asked me to attend an opening reception of a Burmese Artist hosted by a Art Gallery on a hot Saturday afternoon. Her husband was the guest of honour. He was presented with a small painting signed with the 3 initials "KWK" and he gave this token of appreciation to his wife. I had never met KWK but I saw her paintings at the Art Gallery. I appreciated her type of painting of the Burmese countryside as I love paintings of nature, natives and animals.

That small painting given to Mrs Htay measured around 0.5 foot x 0.5 foot. It was a small painting of 1/4 sq. ft framed by little bamboo sticks. It was a painting that would bring back good memories of my attendance at this Art Gallery. It would bring back memories of Mr Htay who was the guest of honour and Mrs Aung, another Burmese lady who did not want to attend this opening reception but obliged when I asked her. She had told me frequently that art had no appeal to her at all and she just would spend her time on other matters. But most important of all, this small painting by KWK would hang nicely in the very small waiting area at Toa Payoh Vets.

"No, no, no!" Mrs Htay raised her voice as if she sounded insulted. "I want $500". Was she serious or joking?

"Mrs Htay, $50 is a very good price," I said. "It is a very small painting. I value it as $50 per 1/4 sq. ft . It sells at $200 per sq. ft. For $500, the painting must be bigger. Bigger paintings take a longer time to paint and therefore cost more."

Mrs Htay was silent or maybe she was furious. It is hard to know what the female species of the human race think. Females of the homo sapiens are inherently more emotional in their business interactions and I knew intuitively that I had offended Mrs Htay.

"Please accept my offer," I persisted. Mrs Aung who was with me on the day after the visit to the Art Gallery looked at me incredulously as if I had got tick-borne fever. She was surprised that I had offered $50 for that small painting by KWK. She would consider that small painting was not worth the canvas it was painted on.

Mrs Htay must be fuming mad internally as she remained silent. This was my speculation judging from her mannerism.

"Mrs Htay, I don't even know whether KWK, the artist is famous or not and therefore I offer you $50." Paintings can be an excellent investment as well as an object of appreciation but you must buy one from a famous artist.

"Dr Sing, the painting is worth $500" Mrs Htay was adamant but could not support her valuation to justify her selling price. She was not in the art of business and knew nothing much about art. Except as another commodity to sell and get a commission.

"Dr Sing is a miser," she probably thought of me but she was too polite to say so in my face. She would let Mrs Aung know later and Mrs Aung would let me know accordingly. This offer was an easy $50 since the cost to Mrs Htay was zero. She did not know how to do the business of art. So, there was no counter-offer from Mrs Htay. It was $500 or nothing.

Now, Mrs Htay was a very good sales person in her startup tourism business. She had the gift of the gap, sociable and very tenacious in closing sales. She followed up and networked. She faced rejections and was tired out. Yet she persevered and succeeded despite cut-throat competition. She would be persistent, sought out prospect and befriended everybody thus increasing her network and closing some sales out of the hundreds of people she met. This type of outgoing personality is rarely present in many people as rejections are hard to stomach.

Mrs Htay was the type of salesperson all companies would love to employ as she was hardworking and able to close sales.

The only quirky part of her personality was that she would bad-mouth a person without a thought and words would come back to the person affected. I knew this because one Burmese businessman phoned me to tell me to be careful of "people" who would talk bad things about me behind my back. It was unfortunately a part of her personality, a weakness she was not aware of. Part of her extrovert personality and probably nobody had ever confronted her about it.

You could see that she even managed to persuade me to attend an art reception at an Art Gallery on a Saturday afternoon. Saturday is my day off and I treasure it as I work all the other days of the year.

An offer of $50 for a small painting by KWK was in Mrs Htay's hand but she remained silent. I was quite surprised that she did not give a counter offer. That is part and parcel of good salesmanship. The lowest offer may not be the final offer.

If she had countered with "$400", there would be progress in the negotiations. Part of good salesmanship is to counter-offer to close the deal. Negotiate to obtain a win-win solution rather being silent. Most likely she was unhappy that I had the temerity to offer $50 for the small painting by KWK. Maybe she knew something that I did not - the small painting by KWK would be worth much more than $500 if she did not sell it. Maybe I have better do some research before I offer any amount to Mrs Htay.

NOTE: 1 pictures of big paintings by KWK are shown in this picture. Unfortunately for me, I did not take a picture of her small painting. Any reader interested in viewing paintings by KWK, e-mail judy@toapayohvets.com or tel +65 9668-6468.

5. Veterinary Technicians/Nurses Wanted By Toa Payoh Vets

Jun 2, 2009. Veterinary Technician and Nurses for Toa Payoh Vets, Singapore.

Part-time or Full-time. Young adults.
Must love working with animals - first requirement.
Minimum qualifications are: "O" levels/polytechnic diploma with good academic results. Myanmar Veterinary Graduates proficient in English can apply.
Dogs and Cats veterinary nursing experience preferred.

Grooming experience and knowledge of Excel, Access, Photoshop and Outlook an advantage. Able to work some weekends and evenings and speak English and some Mandarin. Lives near Toa Payoh e.g. Bishan, Ang Mo Kio, Novena.

Able to provide 2 character testimonials. State salary previously paid and required in this position.

E-mail resume with details of hours available to work if part-time to judy@toapayohvets.com. No attached files in your e-mailed resume - use copy and paste your resume into e-mail. Short-listed applicants will be notified for interviews.

If you require >45 minutes of bus travel to Toa Payoh, it is not practical for you to work in Toa Payoh as there are evening shifts. Salary from $1,300 depending on experience.

Info about Toa Payoh Vets, goto at www.toapayohvets.com