Yap Hong Ngee: Sparrows in a tree

The Artist and work of art

According to the Youniegallery, Yap Hong Ngee was born in Pahang in 1943. Inspired by his teacher, he began to learn drawing during secondary school. In 1959, he successfully won the grand prize in the National Youth Art Competition held within the country. In 1966, Yap headed to Tokyo, Japan and studied there for 8 years.

Yap is particularly well  known for his watercolour paintings depicting  sparrows (his personal totem symbol)  and  peony flowers.  Yap uses delicate traditional brush stroke techniques to depict the sparrows and he does so that brings across the cheeky characters of these small song birds.

The work of art was created using  traditional watercolours and ink on paper which is rolled and stored in a scroll. Unlike western traditions, Chinese scroll paintings are only displayed on particular festivities and  are not permanently shown on display. In some ways, this makes this Chinese tradition so special.