SELF-TAUGHT oil painter Tan Peng Hooi is holding a solo exhibition at the Arts & Cultural Centre USM-ABN AMRO at Lebuh Beach in George Town, Penang until Dec 31.

Dubbed "the painter who preserves Malaysia’s past" when he was interviewed by Reader’s Digest 24 years ago, his paintings inject life into the simple and sometimes harsh realities of the local rural scenes.

Universiti Sains Malaysia’s Museum & Art Gallery curator Zolkurnian Hassan described the 63-year-old Tan as "a painter who brings out peace amidst trials and tribulations in his paintings.

"Tan expresses this paradox in simple subjects such as a chick and its mother looking for food or a fisherman earning his keep in the rolling sea.

"This exhibition seeks to draw the public’s attention to reflect the life of villagers who undergo their daily lives with fortitude."

Tan’s works are much influenced by the early 19th century landscape painters John Constable and Joseph Mallord William Turner, whose styles laid the foundation for Impressionism, an art form characterised by visible brush strokes, ordinary subject matter and unusual visual angles.

Some of Tan’s works apply Piccaso’s Cubism, an abstract art form that illustrates subjects in intersecting angles that show no recognisable depth.

His work "Let’s Sing Rasa Sayang" is drawn using Cubism.

Visitors to the exhibition will see compositions such as "Penang Floating Mosque", "Racing Against Time" and "Family Outing".