AFTER more than a decade, it’s wonderful to meet again with an artist whose works I first wrote about almost 20 years ago. Jansen Chow was then in his 20s and already a skilled watercolourist.
I’ve followed his journey quietly and unfailingly, always admiring the artist’s knack for ‘reinventing’ his works. In his latest show, Sensibility Excursion, Jansen concentrates more on oils and acrylics; his palette of hues, his proclivity for specifics, his orientation towards particular leitmotifs and his readiness to articulate individual sensitivities have ripened passionately.
Inspired by his travels across Europe, Sensibility Excursion is his gift to art audiences. He shares: “My works comes from a feeling of elation; they’re happy thoughts of places I visited, this sense of liveliness and how streets and building and people become so animated at every hour of the day and night.”
You can certainly see, and feel that in his works. The self-professed “very hungry sponge” has arrived to another exciting juncture with his new paintings. Still very much imbued in abstract interpretations, Jansen’s latest foray are now non-specific landscapes which can be interpreted into places almost anywhere, everywhere.
Recreating them from memory, a work suddenly resembles the myriad of canals in Venice or when looked at another angle, it morphs into a busy Hong Kong street or looking yet again, becomes a series of chic boulevards and manicured parks that are Madrid. And the blurred images in the background are the artist’s imaginings of what these cities would bear a resemblance to in the future.
And in saying that, his ever-changing cityscapes brings back vignettes from Alex Proyas’ Dark City, where as critic Roger Ebert observed of the film, “Skyscrapers are extruded from the primordial materials of the underworld, architecture is devised, props set in place.”
Take away the subdued and morose lighting, expel the moody blacks, browns and sallow shadows and focus on Shell Beach, where all is bright and beautiful. And there is Jansen’s paintings — a series of love stories.
GIFT OF COLOURS
What remains true is his style, the fragmented blocks, the vibrant colours and Jansen’s inimitable elegance. His works in the past, during his Art Salon days, as seen in 1997’s Evening Reflections, Last Night, Remember, Remember, and 1995’s moving Relationship 95 bear that signature mark, the deft and beatific Chinese brush strokes learnt from his guru and mentor, Yap Fong Yee.
There was also a passage which (then journalist) J. Anu wrote which stays after all these years: “Chow is able to carry it off (referring to the artist’s gift to play with colours, tone and the very personality of the paper he uses) convincingly through his highly-controlled use of clear colour built up in thin layers of wash, and his ability to pinpoint with exactitude the subtle lines and dots that make up his complex play of detail.”
All true, and then some. Water colour is a tough medium to master; there can’t be any doubts while you are painting. Decisions are immediate, and one just has to intrinsically know where each brush stroke goes, and watch the magic unfold. Jansen has grasped that beautifully. And now the built-up is stronger as the artist gains the confidence to paint straight from memory.
In Sensibility Excursion, Jansen has effectively uncovered the pulsating and chaotic reality of urban settings with his strikingly-twisted cityscapes using ironically, almost zen-like strokes.
June Cheong, who operates Art Accent Gallery with her mother Margaret Lim, has represented Jansen for a number of years. She notes: “Jansen is equally proficient using water colours and oils/ acrylics, and there’s this fluidity in his works which truly entice. His collectors have been very supportive of his latest ‘change’, and what makes his works so appealing is that most people are able to relate to them—he paints places they’ve been to and want to go to or have heard of and read about.”
Sensibility Excursion is simply put, a recollection of happy memories for the artist, of journeys taken and beautiful experiences. And for us, it could be a number of things. It’s like diving under the bedcovers in midday, dancing in the living room to Mark Knopfler’s Monteleone, strumming Simon & Garfunkel’s Kathy’s Song on the guitar, and falling into the deepest sleep, entwined.
And in the spirit of merriment that is deeply ingrained in Jansen’s works, the song Happy Shiny People from R.E.M.’s album, Out Of Time (1991), comes to mind. As Michael Stipe dryly observed when the tune became a global hit: “A really fruity, kind of bubblegum song.”
Shiny happy people laughing
Meet me in the crowd people, people
Throw your love around, love me, love me
Take it into town, happy, happy
Put it in the ground where the flowers grow
Gold and silver shine
Shiny happy people holding hands
Shiny happy people holding hands
Shiny happy people laughing
Everyone around, love them, love them
Put it in your hands, take it, take it
There’s no time to cry, happy, happy
Put it in your heart where tomorrow shines
Gold and silver shine
Shiny happy people holding hands
People, happy people
People
STARDUST SIGNATURE
Born in Kuantan, Pahang, in 1970, Jansen Chow is the sole Asian artist awarded five signature memberships with renowned watercolour associations: Four in The United States of America (American Water Color Society, New York, National Water Color Society, California, North East Water Color Society, New York, Louisiana Water Color Society) and one in Canada (Canadian Society Of Painters In Water Colour, Toronto).
He has exhibited widely in both Malaysia and the international stage. The artist is famous for his signature techniques which include using stardust highlights, sequin effects silver gelatin grains in many of his free-frame stills. His solo shows include Touching The Light (Art Salon KL) 1997, Jansen Chow (Art Salon) 2001, Tranction (XO AS, KL) 2004, Recent Works, 7th Solo and 8th Solo (City Art Gallery, KL) 2007, 2008 and 2011, Spirit From The East (Art Accent Gallery, KL) 2012, City Lights — Rhythm Of Life (Art Accent Gallery, Kl) 2014.
Jansen has also served as a juror for a number of international competitions, including the Water Colour Biennale, Istanbul and Cappadocia in Turkey in 2012 and 2014, 1st IWS International Art Contest Indonesia 2015 and 1st Hong Kong Water Colour Biennale in 2016.