Galeri Sasha is pleased to present Perfect Imperfection, the first solo exhibition by Ong Pei Yee (b.1999, Selangor). It takes its cue from the Mandarin phrase tang ping (躺平) — “to lie flat” — a term that has come to describe a carefree rhythm of life among Gen Z’s who are content with simply getting by . For Pei Yee, it reflects a kind of ease: an instinct to move without urgency, to let things remain slightly undone.
The paintings turn this reflection inward, into domestic space. Each work depicts a modest improvisation — a bucket used for washing, a cardboard sheet propping a table, a Styrofoam box turned planter. These small adjustments speak to a kind of everyday resourcefulness: practical, unselfconscious, and deeply familiar in Asian homes. Within these scenes, Pei Yee finds not neglect but a steady attentiveness to how life continues.
Her palette is drawn from the colours of sunset — pinks, ochres, and soft violets she observes and photographs. In these tones, she echoes the mood she associates with her generation. The light of dusk, with its mix of warmth and detachment, mirrors a relaxed, unbothered, almost careless state of mind — suspended between day and night. It becomes a way to hold stillness on the surface, to let the familiar feel momentarily distant. Beneath this calm, each painting is carefully built, its ease achieved through slow attention and restraint.
Perfect Imperfection sits within Pei Yee’s ongoing exploration of memory and youth. Her earlier works examined how time and absence leave subtle marks; here, that sensibility turns toward the present, tracing the adjustments that hold daily life together. These paintings pay attention to what often goes unnoticed — the quiet order within disorder, acknowledging that the imperfect, the makeshift, and the unfinished can feel complete in their own way.
Born in Selangor in 1999, Ong Pei Yee graduated from Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), Penang, and received the Bronze Prize in the Emerging Artist Category at the UOB Painting of the Year (2022).