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A message on decay, discardment, separation, global amalgamation and search for identity laid out in one canvas, Wrenching symbolises the desire to separate, to change along with the emotional distress and frustration entangled within an individual in a decomposing environment. Thai has been creating works in relation to metal and rust ever since he won the Phillip Morris award in 1997. The award winning piece was painfully and patiently completed in slightly less than a year. Having to research on the oxidation process and progression of rust, he patiently experimented and monitored the decomposition while cutting, sculpting and composing the metal pieces with only regular pliers and his own bare hands.
Having sparked interest in addressing environmental issues in 1992, when it wasn’t the ‘trend’ then, Thai finds that metal is the perfect symbol for him to call for worldwide attention to environmental issues as it is “nature’s response to mankind’s habit and culture”, as quoted from an interview with the artist. The subject matter allows him to look beyond the materialism and consider how one should live, to avoid the rusting and corroding of personal, social and environmental lives.
Thai foresees the consequences of a consumerist society, often consuming at random and accumulating a deceptive numerical net worth and seeks to use his works as a sign of warning of what is to come. Employing colours that are limited to the earth and rust tones, he enhances the outline with fine lines venturing into an infinite space in a well designed composition, realistic and heavy on surface treatment to depict a rapid process of rust.
Penang born Yeoh Kean Thai has garnered international recognition through prestigious awards, including the Phillip Morris Art Award in 1997, the Freeman Fellowship in 2008, the same year he exhibited at the Beijing Olympics and most recently, the Commonwealth Award - International Art Residency. He was also the first artist from Malaysia to have work featured during New York’s Asian Art Week in 2008.
