Childhood memories on canvas

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Melton and one of his Yang Abang paintings.

RECOLLECTING childhood memories and putting them on canvas – that’s what Melton Kais has done in his latest series of art works he calls Yang Abang – or Abang River in Bidayuh.

“That river at my home village Bengoh is where I used to swim, frolic and catch fish in with friends when I was a kid. I always have flashbacks of those carefree times – and when they come flooding back, I’d smile as I reminisce about those good old days,” the 59-year-old artist said with a tint of nostalgia.

Melton cherishes those memories by preserving them through his art. It’s his way of telling stories of the past and sharing a beautiful life close to nature.

Melton’s Yang Abang series can be viewed at Galleria, Wesberly House, Lot 2812 Block 195, Rubber Road West in Kuching. The paintings are also for sale.

For his latest works, he used the pastel media, a dry painting technique, involving three types of pastel – soft, medium, and hard. Pastel colours are purer but very expensive. Melton orders the materials from abroad as they are not easily available here.

Some of Melton’s pastel art works in the Yang Abang series.

According to him, one reason why pastel is a less popular medium among artists is that the technique is very tricky and quite difficult to master.

Pastel-handling technique is extremely challenging because the characteristics of pastel are different from those of the paint medium. Pastel has to be mixed and blended directly on the working surface. The different pastel colours cannot be tested on a palette before applying to the surface. So pastel errors cannot be covered up in the way paint errors can be painted over.

For the Yang Abang series, Melton had to produce at least 50 paintings in order to do a solo exhibition.

The Light, The Hope, The Way (acrylic).

He said his latest works were inspired mainly by his childhood days spent in an environment of mountains, rivers and trees, adding that his works could also be influenced by the culture, traditions and beliefs of his ethnic tribe.

“Along the outskirts, especially in the old days, the survival of my tribe depended mainly on shifting cultivation, hunting and fishing. That means the greatest assets of the village folks are the jungles, rivers, streams, and mountains.

“Memorable experiences and vivid memories of all these places as a food source and playground have a very significant role in moulding my perception and interpretation of life – which I’m projecting in my paintings today.”

Melton said his life experiences stemming from living in a natural setting of forests, jungles, rivers, streams, mountains and everything related to his tribal culture, traditions and beliefs, have been etched deeply in his mind.

 

Starting point

Sharing his background further, Melton said after completing a two-year teaching course at a local college, specialising in woodwork, in 1978, he found himself teaching art in a lower secondary school as the subject of woodwork he was trained to teach had been abolished.

Tale of the Forest (acrylic).

He strongly believes this was what got the ball rolling for him – something like the starting point of his life-long relationship with art. He began to think seriously about being a source of inspiration to the students he was teaching. And along the way, he did discover many artists in his class. In fact, he confessed he had also been inspired by some of the works his talented students produced.

After teaching art for nine years, he applied for a one-year advance course in Art Education at a Specialist Teachers’ Training Institute, making painting his major and sculpture his minor. It was at this time that he was invited to participate in his first-ever art exhibition – The Malaysian Young Contemporaries Art Exhibition – at the National Art Gallery in 1987. He has not looked back since.

Melton believes being accepted for that particular exhibition was a sort of endorsement of his artworks by the art masters and the general public. He pointed out that although the recognition was gratifying, it did not mean he could rest on his laurels. Instead, he took it as a cue to delve deeper into all forms of “artistic growth or expression”.

He worked hard to create new artistic expressions to make his works stimulating and exciting – for him as well as the viewers. He said the satisfaction he got from such a deed is his ultimate reward.

Expressing more of his thoughts on art, Melton said, “I learn to see things pictorially, always reminding myself to be aware of natural phenomena such as light conditions, colours, shapes and their relationships with one another. In this way, I believe, creative ideas can come from our subconscious.

Waterfall at Kubah National Park.

“My special feelings and sensitivity for all my subjects and my responses to them are central to all my compositions. I believe a painting should be a creative, poetic expression of the artist’s feelings about his subject or an impressionistic or expressionistic interpretation of it.

“The beauty of this approach is seeing things through my own eyes, tempered by my own skills and experiences as I see them. Occasionally though, something is better left to the viewers’ imagination so that they can respond to the artistic experience.

“Painting is a communication from an artist’s special understanding of the depth, beauty and importance of the subject. It enriches the lives of the viewers when they share the journey of the artist.”

Houses standing on stilts in Sungai Apong.

Melton said from all this, he was reminded of a quote by Vincent Van Gogh, “It is good to love many things, for therein lies the true strength, and whosoever loves much, performs much and can accomplish much, and what is done in love is well done.”

He then came up with a short quote of his own, “Gone are the days of the majestic rhinoceros hornbills that fly freely over Fairland Sarawak.”

 

Permanent art gallery

On art facilities in Sarawak, he said it would be good – in fact, important – to have a permanent art gallery for Sarawak artists to showcase their works, adding that such a facility would make the works of local artists accessible to people from all walks of life, especially art enthusiasts and collectors.

Two portraits by Melton.

“To promote art to the public, especially the young, a strategically located place is needed. This will help spur public interest in art which is also good for artists and the art fraternity.”

Melton noted that not many locals appreciate art. He hoped to see more young people taking up art, pointing out that it was a sad to see the new generation losing their appreciation for beautiful things.

He said greater appreciation of art bode well for artists and the art industry and would also have a positive ripple effect on tourism, thus helping to stimulate the country’s economy.

Melton believes there could be an artist in every one of us – it’s just that the artist has not been given a chance or a venue to exhibit his or her talents. It would be sad to let art die a natural death, he lamented.

“We should create opportunities for art and when art flourishes, more opportunities can be created for artists to flourish as well.”

Melton pointed out that the value of good art works would appreciate with time.

“That’s why there are people who invest in paintings, especially those of famous artists, because the value will always appreciate,” he added.