Story 8

"Story 8", Acrylic & Ink On Canvas, 102cm x 122cm, 2009.

I can't live without imagination... It has become part of my life since young.

Sometimes when I turn on the imagination mode of thinking, I tend to put God aside, because if I put God in my imagination and let him become part of the picture, I feel somehow limited in my day-dreaming and fantasy. Therefore, as you can see in this whole painting, there is no image of God shown.

Recently, I keep imagining that I am an alien-killer (the right-hand side soldier with green uniform). Sometimes it can take me quite a while to think about what kind of weapon I am carrying, any water bottle hanging by my side, how much army food I have and how many army friends to go for so-called 'alien' war with me, and so on...

I also used to imagine that I was the best basketball-player during my school days (shown on the left side of the painting), with a lot of fans supporting me while I was playing...; but in reality, I could not play basketball then and was even afraid to play with my classmates, as they might scold me if I could not handle the ball well (many of them were school-team players)...

Two years ago, I was thinking that I was a 'living-dead'-killer (shown on the left-top area), mainly because at that time I often watched the movies - “28 days later”, “28 weeks later” and some other 'living-dead' shows...” These wild fantasy thoughts seem to leave God out of the picture... I feel a sense of emptiness...

My Favourite Photo (2)

My Favourite Photo (1)

Children In Vietnam (8)

Children In Vietnam (7)

Children In Vietnam (6)

Children In Vietnam (5)

Children In Vietnam (4)

Children In Vietnam (3)

Children In Vietnam (2)

Children In Vietnam (1)

Story 7

"Story 7", Mixed Media On Canvas, 102cm x 122cm, Year: 2009.

Since primary school days, I started to work at my mum's office...

I had to be there after school because firstly, I needed to take care my brother during his school (near the office) recess time: to make sure he had enough food to eat and water to drink; Secondly, I had to help my mum do some printing for her clients' orders. Besides, I also needed to help collect money from other companies... But I guess the main reason that I had to do all these things was that – since I would not be doing any school work at home after school, my mum insisted I had to stay in her office...

Yes, the whole painting shows that though I had been a good boy who helped my mum do this and that (acting like an angel), eventually I still needed Christ to save me...

Testing 21A

Testing 06

Testing 16A

Story 6

During my secondary school days, especially in secondary 4, my complexion was terribly bad, filled with pimples all over. No matter how hard I tried to wash my face (hoping to clear the pimples), they remained
and sometimes even grew more. I was down and depressed at that time.
My school English teacher was very mean then - he always insulted me and even gave me a nickname - “sky filled with stars!” I could also sensed my classmates and other students from different classes always seemed to be afraid of my outlook.
Finally, I decided to leave school because I could not stand it anymore. I mentioned to my mother and one of my school teachers that I wanted to quit school. Of course both of them disagreed with me, so in the end everything went back to 'square one'.
The English teacher continued to 'abuse' me with bad comments, and sometimes I even thought of pointing a knife at him to warn him not to do that to me again, but it was only a thought..! Anyway, my final year in the secondary school was the most terrible year!
Two years ago, I happened to meet one of my secondary school teachers in the MRT. We had a chat and he incidentally mentioned that the English teacher might have already died of cancer.
Hearing this, I pondered and could not help feeling sad for him, despite the unhappy memories he left in my mind all these years...

Testing 12A

Testing 12

Testing 10A

Testing 05B

Story 5

"Story 5", Acrylic & Marker On Canvas, 102cm x 122cm, Year: 2009.

12 years ago I worked at one of the entertainment companies in Singapore.

I had worked as an artist and was working very hard to try to proof to my boss and people who were surrounded me that I was capable. Of course my effort was not in vain because I had my promotion very fast! From then on I began to use money to get what I wanted and what I needed. Deep in my heart I found that money was everything at that time, eg: money could bring me friends, could let me go on holiday, could let me eat and drink , could buy people... ( As you can see in the middle of the painting- my hand was holding a hammer with a word “power” on it, that represented money & high post.) All these thoughts came because many “friends”, some “family member” and “relatives” always looked down on me, kept saying things like - I did not have money, “no money, no face”... things like that, therefore I wanted to show to people that I could use money to control many things...and also at that time I had left God, stopped going to church...
In the end, I felt empty...
And I knew that Jesus was very sad...(The side-view of Jesus is also shown in the middle of the painting.)

Watching

Abraham & Shirley

Colourful World

Fat Boy 12-605

"Fat Boy 12-605", Year: 2009.

故事三

“故事三”，92cm x 76.5cm，混合媒介，2009年。

多年以前我帮人打全职工而月底却拿不到薪水，无奈之下只好到住家附近的一所超级市场打“暂时”工！ 
在那里，老板要我帮他卖鱼-这活虽又脏又腥，但又不做不行（不做没钱！），就只好抱着“试试看”的心理做做看吧！
真正做起来是挺苦的！每天都得扛一桶桶各从其类的鱼，还得从运输车上下载一篮篮的不同菜类，身上的每一寸肌肉都用上了，经常搞得汉如雨下！除外，当时也由于没钱，所以吃的也少，体重严重下跌！（见上图右上角。）
工作期间最为令我印象深刻的要算是在“杀鱼”的时候从鱼的肚子里挖出鱼钩（有的还挺大的呢！）-想必是鱼儿未上钓前连饵带钩都吞到肚子里啦！（见上图中间部分。）
当然最令人头痛的便是经常会与同事出现沟通问题，又或是遭到“老”同事们的欺负！（见上图左上方。）哈哈！顺便在这里提一提，当时老板和老板娘是挺欣赏我的，还有意思想提拔我成为“头手”呢！
做满三个月，我便离职了。

Pink 00173

"Pink 00173", Year: 2009.

Seeking

"Seeking", Year: 2009

Space Adventure

Good Day! Good Life!

故事二

“故事二”， 混合媒介， 102cm x 92cm, 2009年

制作木刻版画虽然不是我的专长，但我却钟爱于它的套色效果。
在这里，我刻意应用胶彩及油性墨笔以期能达至木刻版画之套色效果，尝试后发觉视效还不差！真可谓是异曲同工吧！

这画的内容着重于描绘中学时期的生活状况。
当时的自己常爱打羽毛球，特别是打双打；单打我打不来，因为脚底下的走位步法欠佳-用跑的，总跑得气喘如牛！（见图中绘有羽毛球场和环绕在我周围的“朋友。”）
当时住家周围的“朋友”多但几乎个个都坏心眼！总爱将我欺辱得无地自容方干休！（见图右方：自己遭受欺负后常单独躲在楼梯口哭泣...叫天？天有应吗？）

就读中二那一年，父亲患肺癌去世了（见图左上角）。当时最感到害怕的是那种至亲的人实实在在的从我身旁消失了的那种失去感！
同年，也是我绘画生命的开始。（见图右上角）我画得开心也找到了自信！

故事一

“故事一”，混合媒介，102cm x 92cm，二〇〇九年。

自年少起，我便喜爱听故事。
年长时，我开始喜好讲故事-特别是自己的故事。
上方的画作便是描绘我童年时期各个故事里的小片段。

不知何年何日开始（也许是我四岁那一年吧！），我们一家七口便已经居住在大巴窑四巷七十三号组屋里的一个小单位（见上图左上角）。年岁稍长一点时，祖母偶尔便会在傍晚时分允许我们三兄弟（我家小弟还小，没有参与我们。）在组屋前的草地上尽兴的踢足球。祖母她老人家爱看电视直播的足球赛，也特爱坐在一旁仔细观看我们做出一些大胆的踢球技巧与动作...。

当年我最怕的人便是父亲（上图中间的男孩就是我，而站立在我左边的便是父亲。）他常打我（见图的左方及图的偏右边。），使我童年时的生活蒙上一层阴影。经常在入眠前（见图的上方。）抱着枕头静静的流泪痛哭...。

至于娱乐嘛...最喜爱收看玛丽的歌唱节目（见图下方。），更爱播放她的黑胶卡带并随着她的歌曲独个儿的翩翩起舞...。

基督知道和了解一切发生在我周遭的大小事吗？哪怕是当时的我还是个非信徒。

我坚信他知道也了解并且深爱着我。

跑步...跑步...

认识我的人大都会以为我热爱跑步运动，其实不然！我充其量只是有季候性的五分钟热度而已，并不持久。

但在一个月前开始至今，我突然积极了起来！几乎每天傍晚都会先花二十分钟从住家步行到离岳母家不远处的公共跑道上绕着一个呈长方形状的大沟渠跑上三十或三十五分钟，乐此不疲！

跑毕，除了享受排汗的感觉和借助慢走来平息急促的呼吸外，也会觉得精神松弛许多（哪怕身体的某些部位会出现轻微的酸痛，但不打紧！），咀角也时而会泛起了几分的笑意...那感觉-尤如置身天国般的安宁。

往往这时刻，我会特别花一点小心思留意观察周围的点滴-看看树叶在微风的带动下不太规则的飘移并发出阵阵沙沙声向我宣告着它的翠丽...。一名微胖的暗肤色妇女又出现在那大沟渠边单独的挥动着鱼杆想钓点什么...她还是同样身着白色的有领短袖衣和黑色长裤，打扮非常中性化...。哈！那名年约六十出头的老爷爷依然抱着他那貌似不足一岁的害羞小男孙在跑道边上慢步走着，我迎向他爷孙俩，轻声打个招呼！小男孙跟着笑了！尔后又别过脸去，一副不好意思的样子...。远处那名看似女大学生的高瘦棕发女子正面向着我沿着跑道慢步的跑来，她今天穿了一件满有特色的运动短裤-红底色配上尤如美国国旗般的许多小星形状，煞是好看！这时我想：“明天再看看她的穿着吧！”她几乎每天都会用各种不同色彩与设计的服式搭配“亮相。"

这时我已离开了跑道而沿着马路边的行人道朝熟食中心走去，准备品尝一些冰冻甜品。走着走着，我自问：“到底F先生的车型是什么？什么颜色的车？车牌又是几号？两个星期前他告知我他常在驾车回家的途中透过车窗看见我...。”

我继续的走着看着...。

Workers 2

Workers 1

( MATTHEW 8 : 28 - 34 )

( MATTHEW 6: 16 - 18 )

( MATTHEW 7 : 15 - 20 )

( MATTHEW 4 : 18 - 22 )

Inside & Outside

"Inside & Outside", 102cm x 102cm, marker on canvas, year: 2009.

Water #02

"Water #02", 92cm x 102cm, marker on canvas, year: 2009.

Recently I discover that the only way I can cast my cares to God is: I don’t have to look at the past, and I don’t have to look to the future. In fact I should look at “now” - God is with me now, every second, every minute.

That means, if I talk to you now, I will not think of other things, like: what is going to happen one hour later after meeting, because I believe that all authority (highest into the heavens and deepest into the earth) is already in God hands; or when I am having my lunch, I make sure I enjoy my lunch and never think of how my next month’s sale will perform, because God says He is my shepherd, I shall not lack; similarly, when I go for holiday, I don’t need to think about the mistake I had made yesterday and its possible bad consequences, because God says He puts me under grace, not under law, so grace will take care of everything, and I can rest in God “now”, not “future”.

Therefore, even if I had sinned yesterday and might have put myself into big trouble, I must believe what God says - when sin abounds, grace will super abound and rescue me out from great trouble. So I can rest in God “now”, not “future” - not after the trouble has been solved. If I have a good time with my family, I also don’t need to think of what bad thing the “enemy” may want to do behind me, because God says - if my enemy comes from one way, God will make them flee in seven ways! I can indeed rest in God’s presence now.

I realize when I practise this – living in the “now” moment, my heart will enter the rest easily, and I can be care-less, and smile!

Bad Time

"Bad Time", ink & marker on A3 paper, year: 2009.

Open Heart

"Open Heart", ink & marker on A3 paper, year: 2009.

Fellowship

"Fellowship", ink & marker on A3 paper, year: 2009.

Enjoyment

"Enjoyment", ink & marker on A3 size paper, year: 2009.

The Deep

"The Deep", 76cm x 102cm, marker on canvas, year: 2009.

There is nothing wrong to be sad or sorrowful because it is part of our life.
But some people tend to avoid sorrowful people, as they prefer to spend time having meals and partying with happy people???
Of course I agree that a sorrowful person’s life and words may affect other people’s lives and emotions, sometimes even health… but don’t you think that a happy person’s spirit and words can also change a sorrowful person’s spirit, life and emotions from sadness to happiness too???

Key

"Key", ink & marker on A3 paper, year: 2009.

Water

"Water", ink & marker on A3 paper, year: 2009. (Private Collection)

Thank God for some helpful Christian friends who are so willing to lead those who are lost completely!

Like me, in year 1990, I was thinking of ending my life as I got into great trouble. Fortunately, one of my Christian classmates (showing great testimony in his character), led me to God and finally I got saved in Christ. Right now, whenever I look at this completed art work - “Water”, it somehow recalls of my classmate - a set-free Christian who has living water flowing from his chest and brings faith, love and hope to troubled people...

Free

"Free", ink & marker on A3 size paper, year: 2009.

In The Rock, I Rest #02

"In The Rock, I Rest#02", ink & marker on A3 size paper, year 2009.