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EXHIBITED
Kuala Lumpur, Galeri Maybank, solo exhibition, 1997, illustrated in catalogue.

This work is part of Peter Liew’s series on bougainvillea, which is shown here growing resplendently by an old Malay kampong stilt house in Kampung Pangsoon in Hulu Langat, Selangor.

Here, unlike the previous two paintings that focus on architecture and heritage, the artist strives to capture the mood of tropical nature with rich and earthy hues. The sheer scale of this monumental painting engulfs the viewer into the landscape, while allowing the viewer to witness his masterfully applied impasto at an intimate distance. The fact that Liew’s works are done plein-air further enhances the sense of immediacy and luminosity captured in the rhythmic strokes and textures of his thick and heavily impastoed oils, applied by brush and palette knife. A dramatic three-dimensional quality is not only portrayed in the forms and shapes but also in his confident control of light and shadow.