Pets’ unconditional love on canvas

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Artist Gladys Teo-Simpson at the launch of her first solo exhibition – ‘Ode to Unconditional Love’ – a 26-piece exhibition at the Old Courthouse.

Artist Gladys Teo-Simpson at the launch of her first solo exhibition – ‘Ode to Unconditional Love’ – a 26-piece exhibition at the Old Courthouse.

KUCHING: It is hard not to grin ear to ear when visiting the provocative ‘Ode to Unconditional Love’, the first solo exhibition of Kuching-born artist Gladys Teo-Simpson.

The exhibition features a shedding of inhibition among sleeping dogs and cats with hindquarters akimbo and in some, with personal assets in full glory. The artist herself prefers to call it ‘provocative’. The rest of us might call the unusual subject matter ‘hilariously cheeky’ but any pet owner will tell you how endearing this innocence is.

“I adopted a shelter dog we named ‘Kuro’. He would always sleep like that. I’ve taken some photos. The idea sparked from there and I decided to do it,” Gladys told The Borneo Post.

She asked friends with pets to send in photos of them sleeping belly-up and they came rolling in.

“Everyone was so proud of their dog’s ‘kangkang’ (legs sprawled) stance. Seriously, there’s so many.”

By a stretch of imagination, with the pets were draped in diaphanous silk, the exhibition may well be an unabashed prelude to George Orwell’s ‘Animal Farm’.

Gladys spent 15 years in corporate advertising, after completing art school in Kuala Lumpur. Between 2005 and 2010, the family packed up and followed her husband to work in the Philippines and Hong Kong. Living abroad triggered her love for painting, but it didn’t occur to her to make anything out of it at first.

“When we moved back to Malaysia, I still didn’t know what I wanted to do,” she said.

In November 2012, her niece sent her a photo of a recently-adopted dog named ‘Milo’. Gladys thought that Milo was so cute that she had to capture his likeness in a sketch, which she did and sent back to her niece. The enthusiastic feedback sparked something in her.

“I decided to draw dogs, try my best, and practise as much as I could. I started off with rough sketches, then it got more realistic.”

Momentum grew when friends saw her work and started requesting commissioned paintings of their own dogs.

“Really? I can make money off this?” was her stark reaction.

Gladys, who credits her father for letting her go to art school when art was traditionally associated with not making money, said that friends were a big encouragement for her to grow as an artist.

“There are friends who help you out. They see something you don’t see yourself. I’m just happy that I have friends who say, ‘Gladys, go for it’.”

Her first love is graphite, eventually moving on to colour pencils and then to watercolour.

“I thought that series I was doing, of provocative poses looked nice in watercolour. I still love pencils. My next exhibition might have more colour pencil pieces.”

The idea of an exhibition came closer to reality when Narelle McMurtrie of ChinaHouse at the Old Courthouse asked if Gladys would return to Kuching to hold an exhibition of her work.

“A common friend told Narelle about my work and she contacted me with the invitation. Three months ago, I told her I had enough pieces, so let’s do it.”

Prior to that, Gladys was toying with the idea of an exhibition, after she was convinced her work was good enough for one. She set a goal to work towards whether this hypothetical exhibition would ever materialise.

‘Ode to Unconditional Love’, a 26-piece exhibition, is a first-every thing for her.

“I’m really glad it’s back home. It’s like homecoming,” she said, adding that her friends in KL had asked about holding her exhibition there as well.

“I hope to exhibit in KL but I want to see how this one goes first. This one was a bit overwhelming but at the same time, if I never put myself out there, I’ll never know.”

Gladys also did illustrations for the book ‘Everything About Us: Readings for Readings 3’, which showcases writers who have taken part in Malaysia’s longest-running literary event Readings@Seksan.

‘Ode to Unconditional Love’ is located at Art Space 1 (above the access archway from Carpenter Street to India Street), China House at the Old Courthouse runs from Oct 23 to Nov 19 and is open from 12pm to 5pm daily.

Pieces are for sale and a postcard collection is also available, with 20 percent of the price going to benefit Artists for Stray Animals (ASA).

Gladys lives in Kuala Lumpur with her husband, two teenage children, two dogs and two turtles.

Visit ‘Bignoselab Designs’ (fb.com/TheAccidentalPetArtist) on Facebook for updates, behind-the-scenes and in-progress videos. Gladys can also be reached at [email protected].