Sketches of Pulo Pinang Issuu Version

素描老檳城 Sketches of Pulo Pinang

Kiah Kiean has a keen eye for the essential details and essence of things, fortified by his architectural training at the Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang and his flair in graphic design. He is able to distill a chaotic street scene and reduce it to his now distinctive streetscape. Though his subject matter may be rustic buildings, his drawings exude an obvious elegance and stylishness which are most pleasant to the eyes.

Lee Khai

嘉強涉獵的藝術有很多方面，其中最為人津津樂道的即是他的街景速寫。憑著他對建築物的敏感，加上獨特的誇張但不失平衡的構圖，再配以亂中有序的極富情感的線條，筆下的景物都活了起來。尤其是老房子，再怎麼殘破簡陋不起眼的老屋在他筆下總能被注入新生命，然後很驕傲地展示自己。

邱昌仁

Kiah Kiean’s love for the city and its heritage is conspicuous in this book. By representing the nooks and corners often ignored by the passer-by, he accentuates and thus elicits thought-provoking questions from the viewer of his works.

Ambiga Devy

嘉強的素描不是對老街景物寫實的記錄，而是一種有感情的創作。所謂曲則有情，水平垂直的建築物經過誇張的變形，皆成了有情之景。他的素描像是對某一街角或建築物一角撒一團粗粗細細的線索，然後深情地纏抱，以致景物變形得有情有趣，令人感動。

陳耀威

Kiah Kiean experiments with and explores all possibilities of expressing lines with graphite, giving his viewers much thought-provoking experience. As a direct approach to communicating with lines and tones he opts for just black and white sans colours so that his audience
may enjoy his works without other distractions.

Tan Lye Hoe

夢想的力量 The Power of Ch’ng Kiah Kiean’s Dreams

對藝術的熱誠和不懈追求造就了今日的莊嘉強。他持有馬來西亞理科大學房屋、建築及策劃系和建築系雙學位，畢業後卻沒朝本科發展，反而成了一位成功的畫家和平面設計師。這一切只因他對夢想的力量深信不疑。

身為人師最為自豪的莫過於擁有一位勇於追求夢想的傑出學生了。嘉強自小就想當畫家。他小時候跟我習畫時就告訴我，藝術是他的最愛。
身為他的繪畫老師，我從未曾對他想當畫家的志願有所懷疑，因為他的藝術天份、潛力和熱情從小就展露無遺。儘管個性文靜且略顯害羞，他卻勇於將自己的情感和想法透過獨特的風格呈現於畫中。在我的繪畫班上，他總是不怕下苦工勤做練習，靜物寫生時尤其仔細和認真。

如今，他已擺脫正規繪畫訓練的種種羈絆走自己的藝術之路，以敏銳的線條和筆觸呈現出一幅幅啟人思考的素描。文靜害羞的他在藝術創作上無疑有著大膽強烈的風格，《素描老檳城》中的作品就是最好的證明。

嘉強以鉛筆線條進行的各種實驗和探索，往往給觀畫者極大的啟發。他選擇只以黑白線條來表現，如此則觀畫者的注意力就不會分散了。

他通過這樣的表現手法展現了極大的才華與功力，題材和手法也呈多樣化的表現，從街景到建築物，從漁船至海上人家，皆能以不同的手法善加處理。他最擅長寫實主義風格，這與他的建築設計出身不無關系。無論如何，這並不妨礙他趨向更自由和更具表現力的手法，以至趨近印象主義甚至半抽象的畫風，從而充分展現出他對此媒介的掌握和運用能力。

就一個年輕藝術家而言，能將自己多年來對藝術熱情追求的成果結集成這本傑出的《素描老檳城》，是一件值得慶賀的事，更是一項值得贊揚的成就。

陳來和 • 檳城

What makes Ch’ng Kiah Kiean he is today is his aspiration and passion for art. This double-degree holder – one in Housing, Building & Planning; the other in Architecture – departs from his professional training to become a successful artist and graphic designer, all because he believes in the power of dreams.

No teacher could be more proud than to have an illustrious student who wants to go where he wants to and be what he wants to be. He wants to be an artist so much so that at one stage when Kiah Kiean was under my tutelage in art did he declare that his first love was art.

As his tutor and mentor, I have never in any way doubted his intention as he has shown his talent, potential and love for this creative subject. Quiet and shy though he may be, he has on the contrary, displayed a sense of individuality and persistence to express his ideas in his own personal style although when he was in my class, he was always prepared to go though the mills, meticulously doing academic exercises, not leaving out any details in his studies of still-life.

Today, he has freed himself from all the academic inhibitions to take his own route to produce thought-provoking sketches with his sensitive line expressions. Though he might be modest in certain ways, I would say that he is definitely bold when it comes to art as is evidenced in his works in this book of his entitled Sketches of Pulo Pinang.

Kiah Kiean experiments with and explores all possibilities of expressing lines with graphite, giving his viewers much thought-provoking experience. As a direct approach to communicating with lines and tones he opts for just black and white sans colours so that his audience may enjoy his works without other distractions.

Through this approach he has displayed his strength and versatility in expressing a wide range of subjects from street scenes to buildings and from boats to houses on the sea-front, employing different treatment in styles where he has shown to be much at ease with constructive realism which is much reminiscent of his training in architectural drawing. However, that does not deter him from going impressionistic, even approaching the semi-abstract with expressive vigour and freedom, thus asserting his competence in this medium.

This fine collection of drawings put together by Ch’ng Kiah Kiean in one book Sketches of Pulo Pinang, is indeed a great accomplishment for a young lad and is so commendable for the high quality of the labour of love.

Tan Lye Hoe • Penang

素描老檳城序 Introduction, Sketches of Pulo Pinang

我於2005在檳城亞化畫廊為嘉強的畫展策劃時認識他。在短短幾年裡，我們因同時在檳州州立畫廊委員會裡服務而培養了深切的友誼。雖然初識至今才五年，卻仿佛已認識他一生了。

嘉強自小就對素描有濃厚的興趣。我看過他五歲畫的素描，還有小中大學時代直到現今的作品，知道他對繪畫有過人的天份。天份加上後天的勤奮，嘉強已是現今檳州畫壇後起之秀。

我第一次看到嘉強的素描就被它們緊湊優美的線條深深地吸引住了。嘉強的本領在於能夠有效的捕捉他素描題材的精髓，再以他獨特的筆法呈現於紙上。雜亂的街景在他的眼光和筆法下一一變成了藝術精品。嘉強堅持不利用照片輔助他作畫，這本書裡的作品都是他在現場完成的。他已有自己強烈的風格，一眼就知道他不完全寫實的畫法是不能抄襲照片的。雖然如此，他有用相機記錄他素描題材的習慣，所以書裡的作品都有實地照片為證。嘉強這習慣非常有遠見。書裡的許多建築物已被拆毀（第18、19、24、25、28、29、88、105、127、133、144、145、156、157、158、159及161頁），這些作品與照片也就成了珍貴的歷史見證。

嘉強的繪畫導師陳來和及三位知交陳耀威、邱昌仁與AMBIGA DEVY為這本書寫了感言，非常感謝他們。耀威是知名的建築修復家，曾修復榮獲聯合國教科文組織文化遺產獎的韓江家廟。身為檳城水彩畫會主席的昌仁是位建築師，也是位擅長畫街景的知名畫家。AMBIGA DEVY是位熱誠藝術工作者。他們為這本書寫感言自然很貼切。在此也感謝陳耀宗協助翻譯和校對。

能為這本書編輯是我的榮幸，也是份優差。嘉強的作品並不需要多加修飾，原汁原味已十分精彩。這本書讓熱愛檳城的人們又多了一份珍藏品。

李凱 • 檳城

I had the privilege of getting to know Kiah Kiean when I curated his art exhibition at Alpha Utara Gallery in 2005. Since then, we developed a friendship which has been greatly augmented by our service as members of the Penang State Art Gallery and our participation in publishing four art books, him as the designer and I as part of the editorial team.

Though I know him only for five short years, I felt as if I have known him all my life, or rather, all his life, since I am the older one. Kiah Kiean had started drawing early in his life. I have seen his drawings from age five, through his primary, secondary and tertiary schooling years, to the present. His drawings show that he possesses a God gifted talent and I am impressed with how he made use of that talent, with hard work and persistence, maturing into the artist he is today.

I admired Kiah Kiean’s works since I first laid eyes on them. Kiah Kiean has a keen eye for the essential details and essence of things, fortified by his architectural training at the Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang and his flair in graphic design. He is able to distill a chaotic street scene and reduce it to his now distinctive streetscape. Though his subject matter may be rustic buildings, his drawings exude an obvious elegance and stylishness which are most pleasant to the eyes. All his sketches in this book were done plein-air i.e. on the spot, in the open air. None of them is drawn from photographic images. Artistically, Kiah Kiean has developed a visual language of his own, elegantly distorting his subject matter, ruling out the use of a ruler, and demonstrating clearly that he is not reproducing photographic images. However, Kiah Kiean has the habit of taking photographic record of his subject matter. On hindsight, this habit has become an invaluable historic record as a number of the buildings and places found in this book are no more to be found (as at November 2009, the buildings at pages 18, 19, 24, 25, 28, 29, 88, 105, 127, 133, 144, 145, 156, 157, 158, 159, 161 have since been demolished).

I am glad Tan Lye Hoe, Kiah Kiean’s art tutor and three of Kiah Kiean’s comrade in arms lent their support to this book by writing an article each. Tan Yeow Wooi is an acclaimed restorer of historic buildings, whose projects include the UNESCO award winning Han Chiang Temple. Khoo Cheang Jin, the president of the Penang Water Colour Society, is a practicing architect and artist who, like Kiah Kiean, has combined his passion in both disciplines to produce well sought after Penang streetscapes. Ambiga Devy is a fellow State Art Gallery Committee Member and a fervent activist for the arts. I also thank Tan Yau Chong for his editorial contribution.

It has been a great pleasure editing this book. This collection of Kiah Kiean’s sketches lent to itself without much effort on my part. It depicts the Penang we seem so familiar with yet in a very fresh manner. It showcases the Penang we love and preserves the face of Penang which is fast disappearing. This is a book for every Penang lover.

Lee Khai • Penang