Tan Wei Kheng – Majestic Hunters

RKFA Singapore is proud to announce the opening of “Majestic Hunters”, a solo exhibition by Tan Wei Kheng (b.1970, Malaysia), on 10 June 2023. The exhibition will showcase Tan’s stunning photorealistic paintings, including a triptych featuring a skull of the Grey Leaf Monkey, also known as Nyakit, and portraits of elderly Penan individuals.

Tan Wei Kheng is a Sarawakian painter who has developed an interest in the Orang Ulu communities, such as the Penan, and their way of life. The Penan are the last of Borneo’s nomadic hunter-gatherers, and Tan’s works serve as a reminder of the fragility of their culture and their environment, threatened by the pressures of capitalist and state-centric hegemony.

“Majestic Hunters” explores the theme of death, both as a fact of reality and as a metaphor for the looming demise of the Penan way of life. The Nyakit triptych serves as a memento mori, while the portraits of elderly Penan individuals are posthumous portraits, rendered from memory and photographs after their subjects had passed on.

The exhibition will be held at RKFA Singapore, 47 Malan Rd, #01-26 Gillman Barracks, Singapore 109444, from 10 June to 1 July 2023. Admission is free. For more information, visit our website www.rkfineart.com or follow us on social media.

Tan Wei Kheng (b.1970, Malaysia) is a self-taught artist from Marudi, Sarawak, Malaysia. Originally a ceramist for a commercial outlet producing tourist objects, Wei Kheng became drawn to the stories, symbolism and traditional knowledge of Sarawak’s interior peoples. Wei Kheng travels regularly into the dense interior of Sarawak where he spends time with friends from the tribes of the Orang Ulu (People of the Interior) such as the Kayan, Kenyah, Penan, Kelabit and Iban. His paintings depict them, their stories and their concerns.

His solo exhibitions include Forgotten Beauty (2018), Rainforest Fringe Festival, Kuching, Malaysia; Language of the Jungle (2014), Richard Koh Fine Art Malaysia; Tong Tana: The Penan Territory (2012), Metro Fine Art, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Public collections include Standard Chartered Bank (New York, USA), Standard Chartered Bank (London, UK), C-Collection (Switzerland), Burger Collection (Switzerland), National Art Gallery (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia), National Art Gallery (Sabah, Malaysia), Galeri Petronas (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia), Shell Malaysia (Malaysia), Pustaka Negeri (Sarawak, Malaysia), Holiday Inn (Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia), Singapore Art Museum (SAM).