by Shameera Nair Lin
If you ever find yourself on the 32nd floor of Menara YTL, there is now a fresh sight in view: a mural based on elements of the Malaysian rainforest, with a colourfully minimalist style.
Blending shades of pink, greens and what co-artist Choy Yuin Quan (@quan.creates) – better-known as Quan – calls the ‘happy colour’ of bright yellow, this mural is a return to elements of Malaysian landscapes that form a homing valence, where you immediately recognise the Malaysian-ness of what you see within the full picture. I sat down with Quan, who produced the mural with her sister Choy Yuin Jann, in their second collaboration after a culinary-themed mural at the Four Points Sheraton hotel in Chinatown.
Quan tells me that the mural works – in part – to provide a comfortable work environment that makes a huge difference, and the final product is partly based on a request for ‘a bit of greenery in the office’ and a quest to find ample inspiration from their own ‘Malaysian culture’.
Although asking an artist what the inspiration behind their work was might be a little trite, I genuinely wanted to know what inspired the duo to go with that specific combination of lines and colours. As a graphic designer, Quan draws inspiration from artists such as Matisse – whose exhibition Jazz loosely reminds me of the vibrant blend of colours and lines I see in the mural, upon closer inspection – and the pop art movement, where typically popular and banal elements of a culture are incorporated into art for the sake of flattening elitism in artistic spheres.
I quite like the idea of what Quan calls ‘reducing objects to its most basic form and having people recognise that’; it is comforting to ground yourself to symbols – semiotic associations — you understand and associate with your history. The pokok pisang does that for me, personally, where I remember a lot of happiness and hunger associated with seeing freshly-picked bananas in a huge bunch, nestled on a random chair. But enough about that.
It comes as little surprise, then, when we go into the Malaysian-ness of the piece, that Quan and I begin considering what a vision of ‘Malaysian culture’ means to her. We come to an understanding that it is pieces of Malaysian culture(s) – for Malaysian culture has ‘many layers to it’ – that shape Quan and Jann’s efforts. Drawing from the pop culture philosophy, Quan ultimately pins down her motivations to ‘little details that you may forget or take for granted’, citing their collaboration at Four Points – which consists of ordinary elements such as a packet of Maggi and kaya toast – as the locus that anchors and binds their collective picture of what their idea of Malaysia appears to them. We also discover a common interest in the iconic half-boiled egg cooker, which we’ve both brought over to the United Kingdom. 7 minutes to perfection; trust me.
How does she feel, now that it’s fully finished, out there for those on the 32nd floor to view freely at all times? ‘I liked it by the time I finished it,’ she laughs, admitting to perfectionist tendencies. She concludes firmly: ‘I like it.’
To explore more of Quan’s art, visit @quan.creates on Instagram.
