Tan Wei Kheng Paintings & Artwork for Sale | Tan Wei Kheng Art Value Price Guide

Dec. 08, 2024
Tan Wei Kheng (b. 1970) Portrait Of Kelabit Lady, 2016
Est: RM20,000 - RM35,000
The intrepid artist Tan Wei Kheng goes deep into the rainforest interiors of Sarawak to put faces to indigenous tribes-people eking a living with resources of the land. He met this Kelabit elder in a longhouse in Bario in 1995. He had also painted other Orang Ulu tribespeople like the Kayan, Kenyah, Penan and Iban from other settlements including Sungai Asap, Long Tugan in Ulu Baram, Long Napir in Ulu Limbang near the Brunei border. This regal portrait of the Kelabit woman was brilliantly captured with her weather-beaten look, accentuating the finely etched lines of ageing. But she had kind eyes, a good set of teeth and silver peach earrings hung prominently at the end of her elongated ears. She was also adorned with bead necklaces. The work was shown in the Forgotten Beauty exhibition in 2018, first at Richard Koh Fine Art in Kuala Lumpur (April 10-24), and the Old Court House in Kuching (July 6-15). "I felt sad that this beauty is slowly vanishing and being forgotten," the artist was quoted as saying. Miri-based Tan Wei Kheng, a self-taught artist, started going on expeditions into the Sarawak interiors in 1992, when he ferreted out and more than fleshed out these great indigenous people, hinting at their struggles. He had his first solo in 1991 at the Miri Boat Club but he shot to fame in a sold-out exhibition, Nostalgia of Tribal Borneo, at the Gallery Avanthay Contemporary in Zurich, Switzerland, in 2009. Since then, he had featured in major international events like the Kuala Lumpur Biennial (2018), Art Stage Singapore (2016), Beijing Biennial (2015), and the Singapore Biennial (2013).
Henry Butcher Art Auctioneers
Dec. 08, 2024
Tan Wei Kheng (b. 1970) Untitled, 2011
Est: RM18,000 - RM34,000
Tan Wei Kheng is a true modern-day Penan warrior. It is through his portfolio of portraits that one gets to know about the itinerant Penan tribes living in the jungle interiors of Sarawak. Wei Kheng makes regular visits not only to paint individual portraits - whether they be ordinary members or chiefs, men or women, adult or children - but also to take clothes, medicine, food provisions, reading and writing materials for them. Sometimes, they also help out with small infrastructural jobs. The portraits are realistic, compassion and even affectionate. Wei Kheng's exquisite black and white portrait captures the inner life of the figure, as he depicts the side profile of a bearded Penan man with an expressive gaze. Through the works of Tan Wei Kheng, the world is appraised of the lot of the Penan, Kenyah, Kayan, Kelabit, Iban and other tribes, in the flesh, all eking a living in the deep Sarawak interiors. Wei Kheng found fame in 2009 in an exhibition in Zurich, Switzerland (Gallery Avanthay Contemporary), when all his portraits of the indigenous people in Sarawak were sold out. Self-taught, he held his first solo at the Miri Boat Club (1991), followed by Hilton Hotel Kuching (1992), Holiday Inn Miri (1993), Rihga Royal Hotel Miri (1994), Hornbill House Miri (2001), Art House Gallery Kuala Lumpur (2003), Panaga Club, Brunei (2009), Metro Fine Art, Kuala Lumpur (2012). His solo called Vanishing Jungle Childhood was held at RKFA in July 2020.
Henry Butcher Art Auctioneers
May. 19, 2024
Tan Wei Kheng (b. 1970) Untitled, 2006
Est: RM22,000 - RM35,000
Tan Wei Kheng, the intrepid artist-guest warrior of indigenous tribes in Sarawak, met his elderly Kayan warrior in a Kayan longhouse (long liam) in the upper Baram River. He was in full tribal regalia, doing a ritual dance of ngajat with the carved totem. Long knife in hand and with a decorated shield in defence, the wizened warrior is poised for any eventuality, or incursion by rival tribes or animals. A Norma Desmond, perhaps, reliving the glory of a head-hunting past long gone? In the harsh survival of the jungle, the hunter can become the hunted, and they live life on tenterhooks. The minority Kayan, who are part of the larger Dayak group, are concentrated in the middle reaches of the Baram, Bintulu and Rajang rivers, and especially in Sungai Asap in Belaga, and much displaced by the construction of the Bakun Dam. They were previous head-hunters and had learnt to live and let live with the others like the Ibans. It is estimated that they are some 43,000 Kayan left in Sarawak. Some have embraced Christianity, but they still observe their festivals like the Do Ledoh harvest festival honouring their deity Bungan in May. Tan Wei Kheng, in his regular expeditions into the interiors of Sarawak, put the faces of indigenous tribes with their itinerant lifestyles and old-world charm on to the world stage. It all started from a hugely successful exhibition, Nostalgia of Tribal Borneo, at the Gallery Avanthay Contemporary in Zurich, Switzerland, in 2009, followed by solo exhibitions in Brunei, Sarawak and Kuala Lumpur, and through Richard Koh Fine Art, art fairs in the region, making for extraordinary anthropological and fine art studies.
Henry Butcher Art Auctioneers
Jun. 25, 2023
Tan Wei Kheng (b. 1970) Old Lady; Penan Boy, 1992
Est: RM2,000 - RM4,000
Tan Wei Kheng brilliantly captures the beautiful portrait of an elderly woman and young penan child in this set of works. The kind expression and details of the wrinkles further enhance the soulful expression of the lady, and the boy's eyes are well captured. Through the works of Tan Wei Kheng, the world is appraised of the lot of the Penan, Kenyah, Kayan, Kelabit, Iban and other tribes, in the flesh, all eking a living in the deep Sarawak interiors. Wei Kheng found fame in 2009 in an exhibition in Zurich, Switzerland (Gallery Avanthay Contemporary), when all his portraits of the indigenous people in Sarawak were sold out. Self-taught, he held his first solo at the Miri Boat Club (1991), followed by Hilton Hotel Kuching (1992), Holiday Inn Miri (1993), Rihga Royal Hotel Miri (1994), Hornbill House Miri (2001), Art House Gallery Kuala Lumpur (2003), Panaga Club, Brunei (2009), Metro Fine Art, Kuala Lumpur (2012). His solo called Vanishing Jungle Childhood was held at RKFA in July 2020.
Henry Butcher Art Auctioneers
Jun. 25, 2023
Tan Wei Kheng (b. 1970) Untitled, 1994
Est: RM1,500 - RM3,000
This work centres upon the architectural features of a traditional home, which provide a safe dwelling for the tribal community of Sarawak. It features the rugged surface textures of wood, with carefully modulated effects of light. The artist chose to paint scenes from everyday life of the tribes, and this work depicts a young child at the entryway near the steps, executed in earthy tones which unify the painting. Tan Wei Kheng is a self-taught artist from Marudi, Sarawak. Originally a ceramist for a commercial outlet producing touristic objects, Wei Kheng became drawn to the stories, symbolism and traditional knowledge of Sarawak's interior peoples. Wei Kheng travels regularly into the dense interior of Sarawak where he spends time with friends from the tribes of the Orang Ulu (People of the Interior) such as the Kayan, Kenyah, Penan, Kelabit and Iban. His paintings depict them, their stories, traditions, culture, concerns and plights.
Henry Butcher Art Auctioneers
Mar. 27, 2022
Tan Wei Kheng (b. Sarawak, 1970) Untitled, 1992
Est: RM1,500 - RM2,800
Executed in charcoal and pencil on paper, Tan Wei Kheng brilliantly captures the beautiful portrait of a woman flaunting her traditional earrings confidently. The details of her wrinkles further enhance the beauty of this piece. Through the canvas of Tan Wei Kheng, the world is appraised of the lot of the Penan, Kenyah, Kayan, Kelabit, Iban and other tribes, in the flesh, all eking a living in the deep Sarawak interiors. Wei Kheng found fame in 2009 in an exhibition in Zurich, Switzerland (Gallery Avanthay Contemporary), when all his portraits of the indigenous people in Sarawak were sold out. Self-taught, he held his first solo at the Miri Boat Club (1991), followed by Hilton Hotel Kuching (1992), Holiday Inn Miri (1993), Rihga Royal Hotel Miri (1994), Hornbill House Miri (2001), Art House Gallery Kuala Lumpur (2003), Panaga Club, Brunei (2009), Metro Fine Art, Kuala Lumpur (2012). His latest solo called Vanishing Jungle Childhood was held at RKFA in July 2020.
Henry Butcher Art Auctioneers
Mar. 27, 2022
Tan Wei Kheng (b. Sarawak, 1970) Untitled, 1993
Est: RM2,000 - RM3,500
Tan Wei Kheng is a self-taught artist from Marudi, Sarawak, Malaysia. Originally a ceramist for a commercial outlet producing touristic objects, Wei Kheng became drawn to the stories, symbolism and traditional knowledge of Sarawak’s interior peoples. Wei Kheng travels regularly into the dense interior of Sarawak where he spends time with friends from the tribes of the Orang Ulu (People of the Interior) such as the Kayan, Kenyah, Penan, Kelabit and Iban. His paintings depict them, their stories, traditions, culture and concerns.
Henry Butcher Art Auctioneers
Nov. 15, 2020
Tan Wei Kheng (b. Sarawak, 1970) Penan Man Of Sungai Asap, 2011
Est: RM15,000 - RM25,000
There is no telling how one’s fortune can change overnight, even for the nomadic Penan who had regular bases in a once uninhabited jungles in Sarawak but now encroached by increasing development. Tan Wei Kheng, an artist who regularly joined a charitable group into the habitat of the tribes people espied this Penan man in 2010, newly resettled in Sungai Asap. The Penan and his tribe were displaced by the massive Bakan Dam construction, covering the size of Singapore, and were herded into a place with no access to hunting and fishing, or good farming land. And the allotment of land was reportedly too small for their extended families, what more fallow. Some of the estimated 10,000 nomads have since left Sungai Asap because they could not sustain their livelihood. Their old homes had been flooded and they had to start everything anew. Wei Kheng, a superb self-taught portraitist, has captured well the expressions of the Penan man, though in profile, enigmatic, a bit troubled but stoic and as fabled of the Penan warriors, capable of surmounting in their own way the changes brought about by others who now rule their lives. Through the canvas of Tan Wei Kheng, the world is appraised of the lot of the Penan, Kenyah, Kayan, Kelabit, Iban and other tribes, in the flesh, all eking a living in the deep Sarawak interiors. Wei Kheng found fame in 2009 in an exhibition in Zurich, Switzerland (Gallery Avanthay Contemporary), when all his portraits of the indigenous people in Sarawak were sold out. Self-taught, he held his first solo at the Miri Boat Club (1991), followed by Hilton Hotel Kuching (1992), Holiday Inn Miri (1993), Rihga Royal Hotel Miri (1994), Hornbill House Miri (2001), Art House Gallery Kuala Lumpur (2003), Penanga Club, Brunei (2009), Metro Fine Art, Kuala Lumpur (2012). His latest solo called Vanishing Jungle Childhood was held at RKFA in July 2020.
Henry Butcher Art Auctioneers
Nov. 03, 2019
Tan Wei Kheng (b. 1970) Suraya, 2015
Est: RM3,000 - RM4,000
Tan Wei Kheng is a self-taught artist from Marudi, Sarawak, Malaysia. Originally a ceramist for a commercial outlet producing touristic objects, Wei Kheng became drawn to the stories, symbolism and traditional knowledge of Sarawak’s interior peoples. Wei Kheng travels regularly into the dense interior of Sarawak where he spends time with friends from the tribes of the Orang Ulu (People of the Interior) such as the Kayan, Kenyah, Penan, Kelabit and Iban. His paintings depict them, their stories and concerns.
Henry Butcher Art Auctioneers
Mar. 24, 2019
Tan Wei Kheng (b. 1970) Penan Woman With Grandchild, 2011
Est: RM16,000 - RM28,000
The superbly accomplished monochrome painting looks like a black-and-white photograph. An elderly woman with a homemade cheroot rolled with leaves in mouth, carrying a toddler in a strapped sarung cradle, the background looking like a dark interior of a spartan abode. This has nothing to do with adults passing second-hand smoke to children, but something more sombre. The woman and grandchild were among the hordes of Penans displaced forcibly by the massive Bakun and Murum dam project, which submerged several villages of the indigenous people. A cultural genocide. They were resettled into makeshift longhouses. This caused problems like schooling, loss of livelihood, access to water and food. Tan Wei Kheng goes into the interiors regularly to bring provisions, medicine and educational materials to these Penans, and has been dubbed a true modern-day Penan warrior. Ã paint portraits of the unseen heroes of the nomadic Penan tribe and other indigenous tribes of Sarawakâ¦ A large number of indigenous people in Borneo are struggling to live in their forest homeland, with the encroachment on modernization, logging and deforestation; they are fast losing their homeland and their unique way of life.â Self-taught Tan Wei Kheng worked as a ceramist until he took up painting and has a great aptitude for painting portraits, specializing on indigenous people in the interior habitats, and he has been doing it for more than a decade. After several solos in Sarawak, Kuala Lumpur and Brunei, Wei Kheng got international attention in his Nostalgia of Tribal Borneo exhibition, at the Gallery Avanthay Contemporary in Zurich, Switzerland, in 2009. All the works were sold out. 121 x 92cm
Henry Butcher Art Auctioneers
Oct. 28, 2018
TAN WEI KHENG (b. 1970) Kenyah Woman, 2009
Est: RM16,000 - RM28,000
There is something about this elderly Kenyah matriarch that moved Tan Wei Kheng to paint her when he saw her at Long Tugan in Ulu Baram in 2005. Her grey mane with the elongated earlobes give her a regal aura, and there is a serenity in her face like one who had experienced the odds and hardships. The stacked sacks behind, probably of cereals, suggest a surfeit of needs despite her simple nature, clad in only a sarong and adorned with a necklace and carved earrings. Perhaps, it's the simplicity and kind look that add to her obvious beauty. Wei Kheng started out as a ceramist but found his calling in portraitures soon enough, and has established himself as a major artist of the indigenous tribes of Sarawak like the Kayan, Kenyah, Penan, Kelabit and Iban. With a group of volunteers, he regularly goes into the deep interiors not only to paint the people, some nomadic and inaccessible, but also brings food supplies and medication. His breakthrough was in 2009 when his Nostalgia of Tribal Borneo at the Gallery Avanthay Contemporary in Zurich, Switzerland was sold out. From his first solo at the Miri Boat Club (1991), he was featured at Richard Koh Fine Art in a solo called Language Of The Jungle.
Henry Butcher Art Auctioneers
Nov. 12, 2017
TAN WEI KHENG (b. 1970) BERAOK LIMUN, 2011, Oil on canvas
Est: RM11,000 - RM20,000
Tan Wei Kheng is a true modern-day Penan warrior. It is through his portfolio of portraits that one gets to know about the itinerant Penan tribes living in the jungle interiors of Sarawak. Wei Kheng makes regular visits not only to paint individual portraits – whether they be ordinary members or chiefs, men or women, adult or children – but also to take clothes, medicine, food provisions, reading and writing materials for them. Sometimes, they also help out with small infrastructural jobs. The portraits are realistic, compassion and even affectionate. The Penans are nomadic hunters who live off the natural resources of the rainforests and mountainous areas. Wei Kheng brings up the nobility of character and dignity in his detailed renditions with dramatic poses. Here, a hunter by the name of Berok Limun from Long Balau in Ulu Limbang, is caught in pensive mood as he rests in his spartan home. He first met this Penan in 2009 but painted him only in 2011.Wei Kheng, 47, a self-taught artist from Marudi in Sarawak, originally worked as a ceramist for a commercial enterprise. When he took up painting, he found he had an aptitude for portrait-painting, and the Orang Ulu like the Kayan, Kenyah, Penan, Kelabit and Iban have been immortalised on canvas. In 2009, Wei Kheng had a sold-out exhibition called Nostalgia of Tribal Borneo in his first international solo foray at the Gallery Avanthay Contemporary in Zurich, Switzerland. His first solo was at the Miri Boat Club (1991), followed by Hilton Hotel Kuching (1992), Holiday Inn Miri (1993), Rihga Royal Hotel Miri (1994), Hornbill House Miri (2001), Art House Gallery Kuala Lumpur (2003), Penanga Club, Brunei (2009), Metro Fine Art, Kuala Lumpur (‘Tong Tana,’ 2012). In 2014, he was given a solo by Richard Koh Fine Arts in Kuala Lumpur in an exhibition called, Art Language of the Jungle.
Henry Butcher Art Auctioneers