We met Ryan Ng a few months back when he dropped by our office to find out more about Perth’s local art community, and we were met by an eager and passionate visual artist hailing from Penang, Malaysia. We sat down with him to chat about how he got into and learned visual arts, what he’s learned from Chinese brush painting, how he admires the attitude and approach of his mentors, the Penang art scene and finding a particular visual arts style.

Ryan Ng. Photo credit: Aref Rashidan.

We met you a few months ago when you  stopped by the office after messaging us about wanting to get involved in the Perth’s art scene, and it was  really great  to meet you. Since then you’ve joined a couple of youth arts panels, and now here we are,  let’s start with who you are and what you do. 

I’m a Malaysian-Chinese illustrator from Penang, Malaysia. I’m a visual artist, and I do anything to do with visual art: drawing, painting, anything within that area. I’ve experimented with various mediums but right now I’ve currently taking a liking to graphite and pencil work, and I hope to do something like an exhibition or a project with them soon. 

 How did you get into visual arts? 

It’s actually a funny story, but before visual arts, I was into public speaking and debating. I did that all my life; I mean I haven’t lived a very long life, but I did that all my life till that point. When I was 15 there were several national level competitions that I was planning to compete in, but that year was a particularly rough year for me because I sacrificed a lot of study time for my competitions, but they didn’t turn out well because of a lot of internal issues. I didn’t perform well, and I was really bummed because I gave up months of academic study to prepare for them. At that time, I did little doodles and fan art because I couldn’t study after that, and I posted it on a Facebook group and that’s how I got some response and friends as well. I was like hey, this is pretty cool, this might be something I can get into.

I decided to take art seriously when I was 17. I was introduced to The Urban Sketchers which is a global community of artists with chapters all over the world. Not all of them are visual artists, some of them are architects, engineers, interior designers, but basically it’s a group of people who meet and sketch on location. The model is to see the world, one drawing at a time. That was how I was introduced to the community aspect of visual arts. I make an effort to make a connection with a new Urban Sketchers chapter whenever I visit a new place. There's one in Perth as well, they come out and draw once a month, it’s very casual and social.   

You moved to Perth for university, how’s student life going, especially with the current COVID situation?

I study Finance and Economics, and I’m currently three semesters into my degree. Student life... it’s something. I had plans to go home and my parents had plans to come over, but none of that went to plan obviously. I’m trying to make the most of my time here. I started doing a series during quarantine, which were several drawings of my dorm room. These were exhibited at Paper Mountain’s Exhibition Open Sea back in September. I’m working mostly in graphite now, and I find it very therapeutic because of recent times and student life. It’s a really nice way to pen everything including your thoughts down.

Did you  learn  art at school or professionally? 

I did take art classes at school, but it was different from being an aspiring artist which is a whole other story.  When I was 16 or 17, I took lessons from an artist outside of school, he’s a very established watercolourist but during that time I realised that I didn’t enjoy learning art lesson after lesson.

Why was that? 

I enjoy learning art through experiences, through the things or people I come across, and I realised that lessons weren’t really for me. That’s not to say that he wasn’t a good teacher, he was a wonderful teacher. I just realised that art was something I wanted to explore on my own. I got into Urban Sketchers, and I was really inspired by all of the different sketchers, it also meant I could experiment with different styles. I think that’s why art is constantly fun for me, it changes what or how I do things according to the things I experience and the people I meet, I think that's why I like it so much, it doesn’t follow a set program.

I’ve also noticed that you’ve been experimenting with different mediums and styles, do you think you’ll eventually settle on one  particular style?

Aw man I sure hope I do. I think a key quality of being a good artist is to have your work recognisable. The most established artists will have their work recognisable regardless of medium. They could use graphite or ink or combine that with watercolour, and you would still know that it’s their work. I don’t think it’ll happen anytime soon though, but I do hope that I will achieve that quality and character in my work some day. Before that, I think I need to know who I am first, as clichéd as that sounds. For now I’m getting into reading, attending art events, experimenting with different styles and methods of working and eventually I’m hoping to find something that’s for me and something that sticks. 

Do you think you’ll go into this as a career? Would you like to? 

Yes, for sure, that’s the dream! That’s the end goal. I have sort of worked as an artist in Penang, doing exhibitions and several projects, an artist in residence, and all of that. It made me realise just how difficult it was to make a living in the arts. I was very privileged to get lots of opportunities but a lot of it was because I was young and new. It was great but then what? A few years later what am I doing to do? I really do hope to have a proper career in the arts, I hope to make a living out of it. But I’m not sure how to get there at this point, but I suppose I’ll just take it one step at a time, produce more works, network a little, and try to be open to every opportunity to improve. 

What is the Penang art scene like compared to Perth’s?

I don’t think I’m in a good enough position to comment on the Perth arts scene because I’ve primarily been involved in youth panels. I think I’m still making my way around here. I’m hoping to attend more arts gigs this summer like poetry and music.

The Penang arts scene is very visual arts heavy, so I was very surprised when I came to Perth and saw how many people were into theatre. Theatre is huge here but not Penang, so this was very new to me in a good way.  

I know Penang is very visual arts heavy and what I like is the very strong sense of community and togetherness. The more established artists back home are generally very generous in terms of knowledge and experience, and even of materials. They will even take you to their studio, and if you put yourself out there as an artist, you will receive opportunities to exhibit. Of course, the arts scene is not huge, geographically Penang is not huge, so there are just a handful of people who manage all the events. These people are always on the lookout for new talent, and to provide them with new opportunities and resources, and I think that’s lovely. I got a lot of help from people who have more experience than I have, and that makes me really want to give back.   

How do you do art? 

I think I’m not consistent in my practice, and that boils down to personality. I think an artist works entirely dependent on their personality. I’m more spontaneous, less organised, and I get tired of things really quickly, and that really shows in the way I work, which is not always good. Bursts of inspiration can only sustain you for so long, so I hope to become more consistent. Generally, I'll have an idea in my head and then I'll take or Google some reference pictures. Recently I’ve been taking my own reference pictures, and I think it gives my work a more personal touch. I then go to my desk and lay papers out, no drafts, no thumbnails, and just get into it. I try to finish it as quickly as possible while that feeling is still fresh in my head. That’s been the case for all my drawings, I find that the more I plan something out or the more I think about something, the harder it is to finish it in the way I want to.

Whilst you’re currently into graphite and pencil work, you’ve also done some work with Chinese brush painting. How do you find Chinese brush painting compared to  more typically western forms of artwork? 

I enjoy all of them. They're very different working practices, Chinese brush painting is very water heavy with some colour, and it’s done very quickly. It's very unforgiving and you can’t go back. For example, a single lotus leaf is done in one stroke. It’s something I picked up before coming to Perth. I’ve learned composition, space and balance which are all important elements in Chinese brush painting. Another thing is line quality, a single line can balance or unbalance a piece. I’ve learned a lot from Chinese brush painting and it has informed my own art practices. Even in graphite I make sure that I leave white space and to balance everything with my signature.

I did notice that, I really like your signature by the way. 

That makes me happy. I use a seal as well, it’s the last character of my Chinese name and it means war. One of the main things Chinese brush painting has taught me is how to balance things with a signature and seal. Artworks looks complete without the signature in most western art, the signature is just there to signify ownership, which is fair, but for my art it would be incomplete without the signature. The absence of my signature would throw the whole thing out of balance. What I've learned from Chinese brush painting is to have balance and to leave space, signing off on my work has become part of the drawing and my work looks very incomplete without it.

Do you have artist you admire or gained inspiration from? 

So many artists, Dato Chong Hon Fatt, Rosalynn Teoh, Peter Liew, these artists have helped me a lot in the past. I also have to especially mention Kiah Kiean. He’s a friend and mentor, and inspiration. I meet up with him in his studio every now and then for a chat, and he gives me pointers. He’s one of the few people I have this sort of relationship with. He’s also an Urban Sketcher, and is very experimental with his art. He’s always experimenting with different mediums, he distorts proportions, experiments with different subjects. His compositions are also very much influenced by Chinese brush paintings. What I admire most though is his attitude towards art, he’s extremely passionate and curious, and very humble and generous. He’s always learning and experimenting.

Another artist is Koay Shao Peng who I took lessons from in Penang. He’s a wonderful watercolourist and teacher. I draw inspiration from his attitude. When I was in his studio, he always encouraged me to experiment with different mediums even though he was a watercolourist. He encouraged me to constantly explore, and he was supportive when I told him I didn’t really like watercolour. When I told him that, he was like “That’s ok, just do your own thing.” Whenever I need help or assistance in art, I can always go back to him. He was that willing to teach me what he knew. These people have really shaped me as a person and as an artist, I really want to be like them. 

Do you have any advice for young people wanting to get into visual arts? 

A few days ago, I was interviewing people for Perth Festival, there was this guy who was like 16-17 who was very passionate about art, and he also asked for advice, but to be honest I don’t think I'm qualified to give advice. Anyway, what I told him and what I would probably tell other young people is to be open to new experiences, to keep your eyes open. Talk to people who are better than you, if you admire someone's work go talk to them, you have no pride to lose, just go for it. Attend events, get to know friends, expose yourself to different things. Don’t just use Instagram but get on Pinterest. Really expose yourself to more art. I think that’s how you form connections, and you can sort of identify a sort of direction you want to head towards. Also, receive help, always accept help when given to you, but at the same time always help others. That’s honestly it, be open to more experiences and be nice to people. 

To keep up to date with Ryan’s work follow him on Instagram.

INTERVIEW BY: YOSHIKA KON WITH HELP FROM MAGGIE LEUNG.

INTERVIEW: Ryan Ng