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.