Ooi Kok Chuen

is an art-writer and journalist, and the author of MAHSURI: A Legend Reborn (Ooi Peeps Publishing), an adult contemporary fantasy “movel” (a novel conceived as a mock movie) spun from a local legend.

152 posts

No Creative Inertia for Malaysian Artists, Thank You

7 min read

WITH MORE PEOPLE getting vaccinated against Covid-19 with a view to achieving herd immunity, art spaces are opening up again, albeit still under SOPs such as we...

Malaysia’s Top 100 Auction Lots Across the Decade

5 min read

Ibrahim Hussein’s Man with Possessions, 1964. Oil on canvas (122 x 122cm).WHO IS THE No. 1 Artist in Malaysia?Going by the market record of prices...

Spotlight on Indian Malaysian Artists

9 min read

WHY ARE THERE so few artists of Indian (including Singhalese) descent in Malaysia?

Confessions of a Framer of Art

7 min read

WOULD YOU BLOW a couple of hundred Ringgit to frame just a small piece of tissue paper?This was one of the curious incidents in the 38 years of arty framing b...

Malaysian Artists Invade the Web

6 min read

ZAS visit to Prof Madya Ramlan Abdullah’s studio-workshop in Shah Alam.Session with Anniketyni Madian and Maxine Xie Xian Xin.IDLE TIME AND re...

A Year Marked by the Passing Away of Artists Across the World

7 min read

THE DEATH FROM coronavirus of China celebrity watercolourist Liu Shou Xiang on February 13, 2020, in Wuhan, marked the annus horribilis of a lethal disease that...

The Freedom Young Artists Can Enjoy

7 min read

Mohd Al-Khuzairie Ali’s Follow The Leader.Gauze sheets hung indoor over a “clothesline” with little wind, little shadows; “moody&r...

Alma Mater to Master Artists

7 min read

Choong Kam Kow. Vitalizing the Qi-4 (Fit For Life 23 - Taiji Series 20). 2013. Acrylic. 122cm x 122cm.“Here’s looking at you, kid.”Thi...

Painting in the Footsteps of Monks

5 min read

Min Wae Aung keeps up a disciplined daily regime of painting with breaks for food, walks and a de rigeur movie.Flip-flap, flip-flap! You can almost hear t...

How are Art Fairs Faring?

7 min read

Latiff Mohidin's Provoke (oil on board, 1964).Pagoda II (oil on canvas, 1964).Malam Merah (Red Night) (oil on canvas, 1968)....

Penang art: Chance, renewal and sustenance

11 min read

Padi Fields by Dr Chew Teng BengAFTER four years in Penang, Pahang-born Liew Choong Ching decided to move back to Kuala Lumpur in August this year. The mo...

Evolution of a museum

6 min read

Hasnul Saidon: “I find it fascinating working with special groups such as classic car enthusiasts or bicycle clubs.”THERE IS A QUIET revolutio...