WITH such a small space, Art Deco and Frame has a lot of nice art.
In fact, the whole store is bulging with beautiful oil on canvases,
watercolours and the odd print art here and there.

Paintings sometimes have no space on the walls, and have to be lined on
the floor, in horizontal stacks.

Some are quite too big for the walls of the small shop in One Utama that
having one or two on the walls could cover a substantial amount of the
display space.

And yet, the store still does exhibitions for five artists at a time,
every two months. It's quite impractical, but a novel effort nonetheless.
And the artists they showcase are not half-bad, in modest understatement.

Consider this painting, then. Musicians in colourful swaths of red,
yellow and black oil, capturing the fluid emotions and acidity of the
mood.

To put it simply, artist Lim Ah Cheng is good. Very good, in fact, when
it comes to broad strokes and movements in his oil paintings.

He is one of five artists being given a chance to exhibit their work in
Art Deco and Frame.

Lim's most magnificent painting is, however, that of a horse.

A stallion in motion, captured beautifully in all its grace and pride.

Even a layman could see the beauty of the image that Lim has wrought. At
least, that painting had the honour of being propped up at the centre of a
pile of good art, and is visible to most customers.

And then, there is Pheh It Hao. With magnificently rendered, almost
simplistic watercolours, Pheh's work are quite a delight to view. His
favourite subject seems to be old buildings of the past century and
beyond.

Pheh is quite comfortable with structures, and lines. The abundance of
empty spaces in some of his works are also an added charm.

Definitely for those who love a unique blend of detail and spartan
touches.

The other three are Veronica Tee, Soon Lai Wai and Irma Murni, who use
print making, oil on canvas and acrylic paper mache as their medium.

UiTM lecturer Irma's acrylic paper mache works employ simple, organic
symbols and mesh them together to form a concoction of colours which will
do well in a kitchen or a bedroom. It has that weird homely feel to it.

Veronica Tee's prints, meanwhile, mainly focus on the subject of family
and women, augmented with the excellent fabric patterns in various pseudo-
batik motifs.

Finally, Soon Lai Wai, who will be in Indonesia after the exhibition is
over, chooses lotus leaves as his motif.

The selection of the artists, which may have shown practicality over
theme, is fine. It's neither better nor worse than some of the other
collections in town, but the variety of styles and the sheer beauty of
some of the paintings can only be good news to the proprietors of Art Deco
and Frame.

In such a small space, they have managed to bring together some really
nice works.

* Those who want to see the works of the five artists and also have a
gander at some of the past exhibitionists can make a beeline to Art Deco
and Frame, Lot s.47, 2nd Floor, 1 Utama Shopping Centre. For further
information, call 03 7727 3801. The exhibition will end March 28.