AOTM: Jetty by Eston Tan

AOTM: Jetty by Eston Tan

This month, we feature artwork from the collection of Khai and Annie Lee

By Ellen Lee

Eston Tan 陈鎰森, Jetty, 2004, Oil on linen, 62 × 79 cm

Image courtesy of Khai and Annie Lee

March has been wet. The days begin hot and clear before clouds overtake the sun and the first lightning rips open the sky. To tie in with this month’s weather, consider this painting by Penang-born artist Eston Tan (b. 1972), titled Jetty. It depicts one of Penang’s many clan jetties that have turned the state into a cultural landmark, captured in what looks like a post-storm condition. 

In Penang’s heyday as a bustling entrepôt, it saw a wave of Chinese migration into Malaysia. Many of these Chinese communities came together and established clans, erecting these jetties to unite their houses and businesses along the seabed. However, the vision captured by Tan is not as scenic as the ones on the tourism websites! 

In Tan’s painting, the beach is all muddied up and the jetty’s wooden stilts look extra precarious. Heavy impasto strokes evoke the goopy moistness of earth after a storm. The sea is nearly indistinguishable from the land and the water’s surface barely reflects the sky above; instead, it is more of a primordial sludge of browns and blacks, broken up with wisps of blue. On the right side of the painting, a little rowboat lies grounded in the dirt. 

The painting is made in the semi-impressionistic style that Tan is known for as an artist. His paintings tend to capture landscapes, particularly urban ones, which he brings to life using the impasto technique. Tan was educated at the Malaysia Institute of Art and The One Academy and has since brought his vivid, textured landscapes to exhibitions around Malaysia, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Vienna, and Jakarta. He currently lives and works in Taiwan, which is hopefully a little less rainy at the present moment.

Ellen Lee is a writer based in Kuala Lumpur. She is interested in all forms of culture, from fine art and poetry to trap music and anime.