Artist brings the rooster to life in art

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Crowing beauties: Molly showing off the series of paintings she has made to coincide with the Year of the Rooster.

KUALA LUMPUR: Observing the zodiac signs is very much a part of Chinese culture, but for Malay artist Molly Zalani, the upcoming Year of the Rooster is reminiscent of rural kampung life.

“Growing up in Kuala Terengganu, my father would rear chickens. I especially admired the roosters for their cockiness and the striking feather colours,” said the Kuala Lumpur-based artist.

The animal is brought to life in a series of paintings by Molly to coincide with the 2017 zodiac sign.

“I did not want to just replicate images of rooster, so each painting is done in a batik style. It also shows the melding of two cultures, the Chinese and Malay,” she said, adding that all the pieces use the acrylic on canvas method.

She added the rooster was not only associated with Chinese culture but was also a familiar symbol of a Malay rural setting.

“This allows the collection to be relevant and personal to a wider range of audience,” she added.

She infused her distinct rendition of batik style to the artworks.

The rooster’s plumage, for example, is made up of minute individual rose petals, painstakingly painted on while its feet are different types of flowers.

The collection comes in three themes. “I am beautiful rooster of the year” features a powerful colour scheme of black, white and red; the earth-toned “The fire rooster of 2017” and “Rooster Angel”, a blend of the former two themes.

Unifying the entire collection is the rich-red colour of the rooster’s comb, a popular colour in Chinese culture as it symbolises “good luck”.

The exaggerated comb on the roosters grab the viewer’s attention and draws the gaze downward to the other features of the painting. The artworks work well individually or as a set of a few pieces.

Molly said the paintings were relatively smaller in size and would be good as corporate gifts. The paintings currently come in 10x10’, 12x12’ and 15x15’ sizes.

Molly, who is the proprietor of Molly Zalani Art Gallery at The Royale Chulan Kuala Lumpur, has created 17 artworks featuring the animal, but plans to create more should there be interest.