Yap paints the plants out of admiration

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A FLOWER as common as bougainvillea can be easily overlooked but to artist Yap Kim Boon, its beauty is stunning.

Like others living in this concrete jungle, the 48-year-old did not bother taking a second look at the flower until only two years ago, when he witnessed how this plant had filled the garden of his art buddy in Klang with spirit, grandeur and elegance.

“The shrub has grown into the size of a small tree, greeting every visitor with its burst of blooms,” he said during an interview at his abode in Bukit Antarabangsa.

Beautiful: Yap with a painting of the bougainvillea.

“It was actually the result of two plants intertwined together, and it dawned on me at the very moment the wonder of synergy. The two plants had braved almost a decade of sun and storm together to grow into that size. It spoke of the harmony in nature and it reminded me of the loosening ties between the people of our age,” he said.

Then, during an inter-state journey, when he saw swathes of bougainvillea basking in the Chinese New Year’s dry but merry weather with rapture, prompted him to devote most of his time to painting the plant.

“It is a happy plant, free-spirited and full of life,” he added.

The flower manifests its unique character on Yap’s oil on jute works. Using a handmade bamboo palette knife, he gives the flower bright hues and three-dimensional texture captured in a fluid flow of movement, against a backdrop of verdant landscape or splendid sky.

Pretty: A painting of Golden heliconias swaying in the wind.

Heliconia plants and rural landscapes are two other favourite subjects of Yap, who was a fine art and illustration teacher for 13 years at an art college before becoming a full time artist.

To be able to live off his art works had been his dream, but he quit his job on a sad note as many arts students were losing interest in the manual, painstaking task and turned towards graphic design. He then sold his house, moved into a smaller apartment with his family to sustain his new career.

Likening the path of an artist to “a quest for an oasis in the desert”, the artist who liked impressionism said the knowledge he had in illustration had showed him the direction during the search and struggle.

Natural: Yap’s love for Mother Nature shows in this piece entitled ‘Green Valley

“I have used illustration skills in my artworks, which is in a way blending reality with my visualisation to strengthen the message of that painting. That led to discovering and refining my own style, which soon attracted the attention of many,” he said.

That also explains why his paintings also carry an underlying message on environmental conservation, usually expressed through the colourful backdrop.

Yap’s works of bougainvillea, heliconia and landscape will be featured in his solo exhibition entitled Cadence of Nature, from Sept 12 to 30, at The Artist’s Space, Concorde Hotel Shah Alam, 3, Jalan Tengku Ampuan Zabedah C9/C, Shah Alam, Selangor.