Kow Leong Kiang
Exhibition & Residency:
September 1-29, 2015

Kow Leong Kiang’s approach to the portrait brings together the technical rigor of both the photographer and the painter. Modeling his subjects from snapshot portraits, Kiang faithfully translates the lively details that mark the work’s contemporaneity. Engaging a rich tradition of portraiture, and honing in on a deft layering of glazes and textured surfaces, he employs a rich tradition of portraiture reminiscent of Northern Renaissance painting. His color palettes are reflective of the unique tint that marks the photographic image and the specificity of a destination.

Kiang received his MFA from Kuala Lumpur College of Art (1991) and won the Grand Prize in the Philip Morris ASEAN Art Awards (1998). In 2004, he was a resident artist at Vermont Studio Center, USA. In 2008, he completed a residency with VWFA and Tembi Contemporary in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. He spent the last three years between Malaysia and Indonesia, where he exhibited regularly.

To date, he has held seven solo exhibitions including: Human, at the Red Mill Gallery in Vermont, USA, Floating World (2003), Silent Conversation (2005), and Other People (2007) at VWFA KL, Jogja Constellation at Tembi Contemporary in Yogyakarta, Indonesia (2009), and Intimate Collisions, at the VWFA KL (2010). He is based in Selangor, Malaysia with a studio in Yogyakarta, Indonesia.