AOTM: Penang Iconic Ferries 3 by Alex Leong Yim Kuan

Alex Leong, born in 1969, is known for his many watercolour paintings of George Town which depict the little island in a romantic, sentimental way, like a scene right out of a Studio Ghibli movie. He sketches many of his paintings on the streets in front of his subject before finishing them up in his studio. His pictures are vibrant but light, capturing passing movements and subtle details that bring George Town to life before our eyes.

This is what makes Penang Iconic Ferries 3, April’s artwork of the month, such a stand out in Leong’s practice. The painting is drained of Leong’s usual colours—drained of life—and is executed in mostly black and white, except for scattered strokes of orange denoting cars, commuters, glints of sunlight. The sky is a patchwork of black watercolour splotches. In his usual paintings, the splotchy sky might represent clouds, but the effect in this painting makes it seem as if the image might dissolve at any moment. 

Moving our eyes to the bottom left corner of the painting, we receive more context: it was created in March 2021, several months after the Penang Port Commission definitively closed down the use of Penang’s iconic car-carrying ferries to be replaced by passenger-only water taxis that can move between the island and the mainland in less than 10 minutes. Farewell to the upper decks, the slow, meandering journey, the spectacle of cars being shipped on a gigantic boat, and farewell to the “Pulau Pangkor” decal (seen here on the ferry on the painting’s right) that must have confused many an unassuming tourist. Instead, drivers are now encouraged to make their journey into the island using the two toll bridges.

In this painting, Alex Leong has moved beyond his usual practice of painting living George Town in a sentimental light to painting an imagined image of the past. The painting’s tone also captures the general mood of the population at the time—of the sadness felt by Penangites forced to reckon with more changes in their state, and being forced to say farewell to a childhood symbol that has contributed greatly to their state’s old-world charm.