A.) Introduction
From the humble beginning of serving as wonderful apparel, batik has found its way to the walls of many homes & offices in recent years. Its popularity has gain momentum especially among the buyers from the economic advanced countries e.g. Europe, U.S.A. , China , Japan , Malaysia & Singapore
This batik trend sets for its potential to become collectibles just like what its counterparts, oil paintings & watercolor paintings do. Batik paintings are real true works of art. No two are exactly alike.
In 2008, Mr. Choo Git Man, an artist cum batik entrepreneur has established an art gallery in Malacca, a town recently declared as a world heritage site by UNESCO.
The correspondence address is as follows:-
53 & 54 Jalan Tokong 75200 Melaka
Tel/Fax: 06-2829892 H/p: 016-7739098
Email: gmchoobatik@gmail.com
Batik is a unique heritage of Malaysia
Mr. Choo takes extra efforts to ensure that the process of producing a piece of batik is special by making every single design uniquely handmade and this has greatly impressed the tourists.
According to him, in order to achieve greater success in the field of art, one must not only have interest and talent, but also the perseverence to excel in his art. He likens batik art to mastering Kung Fu. The success of Shao Lin Kung Fu does not depend solely on the guidance of the masters, but also the extraction of essence from other streams of Kung Fu. Likewise Choo has extracted the essence and humbly learned from other successful artists in producing batik without ceasing to achieve a breakthrough in his skills & techniques.
Mr. Choo has spent his time painting for more than 40 years.
His never ending effort had brought him great achievements in the field of art. His painting techniques which are considered priceless make him stand in a class of his own.
He expresses his love of nature by putting landscape sceneries, fishes, mountains, rivers, flowers, rocks & villages into pieces of batik. Having grown up in a fishing village in Terengganu, he likes to paint fishes especially the Japanese Koi Fish in Batik Color.
B.) Types Of Art
- Oil paintings
The process of painting with pigments that are bound with a medium of drying oil especially in early modern Europe, using the linseed oil.
Oil such as linseed was boiled with a resin – pine resin or even frankincense and these were called varnishes and were prized for their body(density) and gloss. Other oils occasionally used include poppy seed oil, walnut oil & sunflower oil. These oils confer various properties to the oil paint, e.g. less yellowing or different drying times. Painters often use different oils in the same painting depending on the specific pigments & effects desired.
Traditional oil painting techniques often begin with the artist sketching the figure onto the canvas with charcoal or thinned paint. Oil paint can be mixed with turpentine, linseed oil, artist grade mineral spirits or other solvents to create a thinner, faster or slower drying paint.
A basic rule of oil paint application is fat over lean. This means that each additional layer of paint should contain more oil than the layer below to allow proper drying. If each additional layer contains less oil, the final painting will crack & peel. There are many other media that can be used in oil painting. These can aid the painter in adjusting the translucency of the paints.
These Oil paintings could be found from RM200 to RM7,000.00
- Abstract art paintings
Abstract art uses a visual language of form, color, and line to create a composition which may exist with a degree of independence from visual references in the world. Western Art had been from the Renaissance up to the middle of the 19th century, underpinned by the logic of perspective and an attempt to reproduce an illusion of visible reality.
The arts of cultures other than the European had become accessible and showed alternative ways of describing visual experience to the artist. By the end of the 19th century many artists felt a need to create a new kind of art which would encompass the fundamental changes taking place in technology, science & philosophy. The sources from which individual artists drew their theoretical arguments were diverse, and reflected the social & intellectual preoccupations in all areas of Western culture at that time.
Abstract art, nonfigurative art, non-objective art and non-representational art are loosely related terms.
Abstract art paintings are available in this gallery @ RM1,000 – RM2,000.00
- Landscape art paintings
This is a term that covers the depiction of natural sceneries such as mountains, valleys, trees, rivers, forests & especially art where the main subject is a wide view, with its elements arranged into a coherent composition. In other words landscape backgrounds for figures can still form an important part of the work. Sky is almost always included in the view, & weather is often an element of the composition.
Detailed landscapes as a distinct subject are not found in all artistic traditions, and develop when there is already a sophisticated tradition of representing other subjects.
The 2 main traditions spring from Western painting & Chinese art, going back well over a thousand years in both cases. Landscape photography has been very important since the 19th century, and is covered by its own article.
Most early landscapes are cleary imaginary, although from very early on townscape views are mainly intended to represent actual cities, with varying degrees of accuracy. Various techniques were used to simulate the randomness of natural forms in invented compositions: the medieval advice of Cennino Cennini to copy ragged crags from small rough rocks was apparently followed by both Poussin & Thomas Gainsborough, while Degas copied clouds forms from a crumpled handkerchief held up against the light. The system of Alexander Cozens used random ink blots to give the basic shape of an invented landscape, to be elaborated by the artist.
Landscape art paintings are available in G. M. Choo’s shop @ RM40 – RM5,000
- Batik art paintings
Traditional batik, either hand drawn or stamped, requires many applications of wax & dye, but in modern times the process has been simplified by doing some work which the artist called as double process which is the fabric is pre colored. But mostly they work directly on white rayon. When the wax is removed, the lines are white. The art lies in the skillful drawing and the unique painting technique, which is best considered as watercolor on fabric. The artist will be using a metal tunnel (chanting) that has been filled in with boiling wax to follow the sketch on the textile before they color.
- Batik stamping art
Stamping batik requires special equipment. The stamping process requires special skill. In this double process piece, the artist will stamp on the fabric that another artist has already painted. After stamping the piece will be colored again, to create a luminous effect.
C.) Promotion & Exhibition
Sometimes, G. M. Choo will participate in exhibitions in order to promote his
paintings. He is very active in exhibitions around Melaka & Kuala Lumpur. Other
than that, he also asks for his friends’ help to put up his paintings in their galleries.
Besides, his gallery has been promoted in the television channel which was on
The Astro Discovery Channel.
Exhibition Records
1. 09/09/2007 – 30/09/2007 : Malaysian Art Competition 2007
2. 19/08/2009 : Merdeka Fine Art Exhibition
3. 22/05/2010 – 23/05/2010 : Program Mengenang Tokoh Negarawan –
Tun Tan Cheng Lock Di Perkarangan Memorial
Pengisytiharan Kemerdekaan, Bandar Hilir,
Melaka
4. 25/07/2010 – 29/07/2010 : Promosi Kraf Malaysia 2010
Bukit Jambul, Bayan Lepas
Pulau Pinang
5. 06/12/2010 – 24/12/2010 : G. M. Choo’s Art Review 2010
Taman Melawati, 53100 Kuala Lumpur
Besides selling & promoting batik paintings, he performs batik art demonstration to tourists along the Temple Street Cheng Hoon Teng Temple
On top of that, G. M. Choo also conduct batik art painting classes to national & international tourists & students irrespective of ages & races.
Curious tourists would select their favorite batik designs from our gallery. We/ & our artists would guide them to color on the waxed batik fabric to get their desired results.
Interested parties could bring back home their batik master pieces as they have acquired the basic skill & techniques of batik art after painting for about 30minutes.
The fees for the batik painting class is @ Rm15.00 / pax
D.) Prices
The selling prices of G. M.Choo’s paintings are not very expensive. He does put up high prices on his paintings because of his interest in this field.
In G. M. Choo Art Gallery
The prices are as listed as follows:-
No Item Unit Price (Rm) Other Amounts (Rm)
1. Batik Book Marks @ 4.00/pc 10.00 for 3pcs
2. Batik post cards @ 5.00/pc 25.00 for 6pcs
3. Batik handkerchief @ 6.00/pc 15.00 for 3pcs
4. Batik scarves(cotton) @35.00/pc
5. Batik scarves(silk) @45.00/pc
6. Small frame of batik @15.00/pc
7. Batik horoscopes @6.00/pc
What make it very unique is we could not find two same batik paintings on the products which means they are exclusive.
E.) Conclusion
With Mr. Choo’s interest in art & also his determination to achieving greater success in art, we can expect even greater pieces of artworks from him in the near future.
The most important issue he has to highlight on is the way he is promoting the gallery.
G. M. Choo has only one gallery and does not open up any other branches to promote his own products in other places.
On top of that problem, he also does not promote his gallery using the online marketing like the other competitors who have their own websites to promote their products.
However, we wish to promote batik paintings to the general public especially the batik lovers.
Thank you.
My kid has just completed a 3 days batik painting course, and experienced a different dimension of art. We have been patronizing GM Choo for a few years now. Artists are so individual, that there is no duplicate!
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