NEW DIMENSIONS IN NEW PERSPECTIVES

Article Featured in Magazine 

Art Malaysia Issue 22 

(page 70 - 79)

on March 2013

Art Malaysia published by Dunia Seni Lukis Sdn. Bhd. (726322-U) is a magazine of contemporary art, culture and travel. It has been published since July 2009 to create an interactive platform to promote the finest artwork of Malaysian emerging & known artists, in order to gain the recognition they deserve. 

For more info, please log on to www.artmalaysia.com.my

IT’S ALWAYS EXCITING WHEN AN 

ARTIST RETURNS TO HER HOMELAND 

WITH FRESH POINTS-OF-VIEWS, AS 

ARTMALAYSIA DISCOVERS WHEN SPEAKING 

TO SHIREEN LEE ABOUT HER YEARS IN JAPAN 

AND HOW HER ART HAS EVOLVED WITH HER 

EXPERIENCES. 

Born 1973 in Kuala Lumpur, art has been Shireen’s passion 

since her schooling days. In the 1980s she studied watercolour 

painting from artists Tan Sik Yaw and Tang Hong Lee. 

“Fundamental study and training in the Nanyang style of 

watercolour painting from Tan Sik Yaw in my early age has 

led me to explore subjects and themes on nature and the 

environment in the beginning of my art career,” says Shireen, 

“However, sketching skill and knowledge gained from the 

study of urban design in the University of Technology Malaysia 

affected the development of my painting techniques and 

concept.” Shireen graduated in 1997, after which she worked in 

the development industry. 

When her career was interrupted by the economic downturn, 

Shireen then opened an art centre in 1999 with her friends, 

until 2004 when she decided to be a full-time artist: “I had the 

initiative to have my own career in art, when I ran the centre I 

didn’t have much time to paint as I spent it mostly to teach. The 

free time I had was used to paint, starting from watercolours.” 

In her early days of exploring the medium, Shireen painted 

sceneries before deciding on a theme of ferns on broken or 

fallen tree trunks in the Life is Going On series. Within those 

paintings she would include insects such as bugs and ladybirds 

as symbols of life: “LIFE is going on, regardless of difficulty. 

It is about the continuity and succession of life.” Things 

changed after a coincidental meeting in 2004: “Artist Tan Tong 

encouraged me to start oil painting and inspired me through 

Western art. He became my mentor in Western art history, 

theory and techniques of oil painting. With influence from Mr. 

Tan Tong’s unique abstract surrealism style, together with 

inspiration from Paul Klee’s Yellow Birds, I have developed 

my ‘Discovery’ series. It depicts nature in a nocturnal mood, 

with the vivid colour of floral and fauna. The concept is of living 

creatures communicating and appearing in their own ways that 

may be beyond human knowledge, to highlight in a positive 

approach the neglect of harmony with our environment by 

modern people.” 2004 was also the year of Shireen’s debut in 

the local art scene, participating in the now-defunct Malaysian 

Artists Association. “The transition of watercolour to oil 

painting to mixed media reflects my thematic transition from 

the literal; scenery, to my own life.” 

City at Night (2008) 

Mix media on paper

 57cm x 76cm 

Shireen then found inspiration in Joan Miró’s The Farm, and 

began to develop her own farm with Malaysian elements: 

“I brought kampung scenes and the nostalgia I had for my 

hometown into my paintings, and added in red rectangular 

boxes to represent a ‘zooming’ of the mind to have a clearer 

focus on memory. It is a series of reminiscence and recall 

of childhood memories of the peaceful and undeveloped 

countryside in my homeland. The red lines bring a different 

tone and depth to my painting.” Shireen is still exploring this 

visual theme of nested red frames and geometrical lines, and 

plans to explore new techniques to further the message of 

‘discovery’. 

From 2009 to 2012, Shireen moved to Japan, following her 

husband who was continuing his studies there. Shireen took 

the opportunity to pick up the Japanese language, and while 

in Fukuoka she began to explore mixed media painting and 

became involved in the Japanese art scene: “I had two solo 

exhibitions there and participated in their city and prefectural 

art competition. I had to learn Japanese to communicate with 

their artists and understand their art, so two years was in fact 

a very short time.” Her two solos in Japan were Life is Going 

On at the Fukuoka Chuo Bank Ltd, and Discovery of Memory at 

ACROS Fukuoka, both in 2011. 

Currently, Shireen’s mixed media comprises gouache on oil 

or acrylic (she has also explored collage mixed with charcoal, 

pastel and pen). There was some contention in her use of 

gouache: “Some say my art has a Japanese influence as 

gouache is not accepted as watercolour in Malaysia whereas 

in Japan it is. As I paint Japanese sceneries, some say my paintings have an 

oriental flavor. I like Ukiyo-e and Nihonga (Japense woodblock prints and 

Japanese-style paintings), with zen lines and simplicity. They have different 

kinds of perspective in Ukiyo-e where the lines are fine and simple, so this is 

something I want to explore and combine with Western art to create my own 

style.” 

On the way to Pagoh (2006) 

Oil on Canvas and Board 

21cm x 30cm 

“The transition of watercolour to oil 

painting to mixed media reflects my thematic transition from the literal; scenery,

to my own life.” 

“My current theme needs thinking; howto construct the space and colour scheme...

it is no longer what you see being whatyou paint.” 

On the left

Your World My World (2012) 

Oil on Canvas 

54cm x 73cm 

On the right 

Above and Beneath the Surface #1 (2010) 

Mixed Media on Paper, 57cm x 76cm 

(Selected in the 67th Japan Fukuoka Perfecture Exhibition 

2011. Artwork was exhibited in Fukuoka Perfecture Art 

Museum, Kyushu, Japan) 

Japan not only played a role in her art, but also her perspective as an artist: 

“The mindset, culture and the art acceptance in Japan is different compared 

to Malaysia. They easily appreciate art, exhibitions are well-attended, and 

although they may not buy art, they support it. Even for large exhibitions in 

museums with high entry fees, the public is willing to queue up to see the 

artworks. Response is terribly good! The Japanese like to explore mediums 

and genres and the public accepts new things easily. Here, people take a 

long time to notice and an even longer time to appreciate it. Japanese manga 

is also very famous, an example of how they bring their culture into their 

artworks. This is especially obvious in Nihonga.” 

“Japan also welcomes international artists; during my two solos there, 

viewers would try to understand my country based on the colours and 

themes in the artworks. Thats why I always use warm and strong colours, 

so they say my country is very sunny and green! I applied for my solos, 

competing with other Japanese artists, so it’s solely based on the quality of 

my artworks. Communication is key in japan, to understand their culture, 

technique and thinking. That’s why I spent a year to learn the language.” 

Shireen enjoys each step of the painting process, “From the starting point 

of the idea to how I’ll express and construct it, to paint it until completed... 

When I paint, I can even forget to eat! It is satisfaction for me to complete a 

piece, but to reach that stage is not easy as it needs a lot of thinking, hard 

work and research. Thats why I wanted a change; to paint scenery is easy 

as long as you have the technique. But my current theme needs thinking; 

how to construct the space and colour scheme... it is no longer what you see 

being what you paint. So it is a process, and the achievement of completing it 

is the prize. I will redo a piece until I can reach my vision. But imagination is 

also based on reality, so it is half-half, we need to combine these elements. 

It is not simply purely what one imagines.” 

“For example, in this Discovery series, I won’t merely draw what I 

see with bare eyes. I will try to change and develop it, starting with 

sketches and concepts, to collecting materials: photos, articles and 

such, then I will sketch the idea before putting it on canvas. All these 

things take time, maybe it is something between art and science; we 

need art and technique, at the same time we also need logic.” 

Shireen has plans for a group show at University Malaya and a solo 

show at the NSTP, either in 2013 or 2014. “Perhaps in the two and a 

half years that I was away, some may see me as a new artist again. 

But once they see my profile and paintings, they will know I’m not 

that new but also not that old! I plan to participate in a lot of events, 

especially with new galleries.” Shireen remains optimistic: “I will 

keep painting, the vision is to create better artworks and be more 

established career-wise. Most of all to do my best. Life experiences 

and growth changes one’s perception and widen one’s knowledge. 

More elements are going to be discovered, experimented and 

developed in my future paintings. I always take my ‘half-self-taught’ 

art background as a challenging starting point towards creating new 

dimension for my artworks.” 

Visit shireenlee.blogspot.com for more details. 

“Life experiences and growth changes one’s

perception and widen one’s knowledge. More elements are going to be discovered, experimented and developed in my future paintings.” 

Left

The Aquarium (2010), Oil on Canvas, 90cm x 110cm 

(Selected in the 45th Fukuoka City Art Competition & Exhibition 2011. 

Artwork was exhibited in Fukuoka City Art Museum, Japan) 

Right

Discovery of Memory (2010), Gouache on Card Board, 64cm x 116cm 

By : Editor of ArtMalaysia, Nikki Liaw.