In Being.Here, Wong Perng Fey invites viewers to reflect on what it means to be fully present—within the layered, often contradictory forces that shape identity. The exhibition signals a moment of arrival. Through its measured vocabulary of colour, form, and material, Being.Here quietly asserts that to remain—attentive, grounded, and unguarded—is a radical act. In doing so, Perng Fey affirms his place within an evolving conversation around contemporary abstraction and the politics of self-representation.
Artist Statement
“I have always been captivated by the evidence people leave behind in living spaces, whether it is graffiti, a scratch mark on a wall; a room and its tiles, wall papers or posters exposed when the adjacent house is being torn down. These manifestations are what I catch first when I arrive in a new city. They evoke a sense of nostalgia, of human existence, of living, of belonging to a place. When time goes by, a deeper layer of imagery emerges, both from the unfolding of the memories buried in me, and the emotions kindled from experiences acquired in the new environment, and I use paint to emulate these emotions on canvases. Through the medium of paintings, I explore the relationship between permanence and change. These works also investigate the mental landscape and consciousness in a particular living environment and are inextricably entwined with the memories of these places.
While living in Beijing, I discovered new freedom in expression by amplifying certain characteristics in material: tension is created by applying different layers of paint to form a surface that is coherent to the emotions I am experiencing. Thought is given to how material can project a sense of strength, power and vulnerability. Throughout the years, the canvases become the visual tapestry capturing the intangible, the feelings harboured in my daily life.”
About the Artist
Wong Perng Fey (b. 1974, Kuala Lumpur) is a multidisciplinary artist whose practice spans painting, sculpture, and installation. His work explores the psychological and cultural dimensions of memory, place, and identity—often drawing on personal transitions and the subtle traces of lived environments. Trained at the Malaysian Institute of Art on a full scholarship, Perng Fey first gained recognition in the early 2000s for his gestural canvases that captured the tension between abstraction and figuration. A decade spent living and working in Beijing deeply influenced his visual language, embedding a sense of existential urgency and diasporic complexity into his practice.
His works have been exhibited widely across Asia and Europe, with solo presentations at Richard Koh Fine Art (Kuala Lumpur, Singapore), Contemporary by Angela Li (Hong Kong), and Art Seasons (Beijing), among others. His paintings and works on paper are held in notable public and private collections including Khazanah Nasional, the Singapore Art Museum (SAM), Bank Negara Malaysia Museum and Art Gallery, and Galeri Petronas. Perng Fey currently lives and works between Austria and Malaysia.
