User talk:Artburma

Ko Soe Naing was born on 26th July 1961, in South Okkalapa, Myanmar. His parents are ‘U Aung Than Kyaw’ and ‘Daw Tin New’. He is a Myanmar Buddhist. Among his relatives, he is the only artist and therefore had to make his own path for the future. Soe Naing started his school life at South Okkalapa training school. When he was six to seven years of age, he was frequently ill. He experienced swellings around his neck, suffered from TB disease and as a consequence he went through several operations.

‘Doctor U Saw Lwin’ treated him when he was 10 years old. The doctor arranged for a blood test and x-rays of his hand and skull. He had eventually discovered that the child lacked hemoglobin and than he was suffering from thalassemia. The pediatricians ‘U Tin Oo’ and ‘U Shwe Ban’ also helped to treat the illness. Perhaps Soe Naing’s vigorous brushwork expresses the movements of his hemoglobin molecules struggling to construct themselves!

He went through stages of peculiar behavior during his childhood. “When I was a child, I loved to cut paper, to make toys with mud and to draw cartoons. I liked to plant trees and to feed the birds and kittens. I loved to change the arrangement of the furniture frequently. The adults didn’t quite like it when I played with scissors. They thought that although I seemed quiet, I was actually very playful. I liked to dig a hole in the garden and hide myself in it, and I liked spaces that are canopy like. I didn’t have many friends due to my poor health. I hated violence and I hated people who ill-treated others. When I was in 10th grade, I tried to learn martial arts, being afraid to be bullied, but later I found myself unable to master it. I began drawing since I was in 8th grade.”

He passed 10th grade in 1980, in the South Okkalapa training school, and completed his high school education. The boy of 19 years of age who had bright eyes and a pale face was full of thoughts; he was like an active volcano. He had spent his college life in Hlaing campus for 2 years. His major was zoology and he drew inspiration from the topics and created many pictures of insects, fish, frogs, rabbits and other animals. Hence, the appearances of animal figures on his canvases were not from his fantasies. He graduated with B.Sc in Zoology in 1985 from the University of Yangon.

Campus life was very memorable for Soe Naing. He finished the first year course in Drawing at the University art club. His teachers were famous artist ‘U Lun Gywe’ and ‘Saya U Thein Han’. He had to learn systematically about drawing with pencils and painting in monotones for one year. He was not patient enough to finish the lessons on mixing colors. As, at soul he was always a free artist, there were too many steps in the theory of mixing the ratios of water and colors. He gave up the course as he had the desire to create something on his own. After his graduation, he drew many pictures and illustrations for magazines, however he was not satisfied doing that. He has since drifted far from those experiences in his works of art. His first exhibition was held in Bogyoke market with ‘U Aung Myint’ and other modern artists. Later, he attended a 10-day workshop called “History and Method of Art and Drawing” at the ‘American Center of Yangon’. The speakers were the artist ‘Suzane Reese Horvitz’ and sculptor ‘Robert Roessh’. His solo show “The Recent Works of Soe Naing” was held in the Olive Gallery from October 15th to 31st ,1994. There were two other solo shows in 1996; from April 22nd to 28th and from July 29th to August at Lokanat Gallery in Yangon. He has presented his works in several international exhibitions. His paintings were featured in the Omnibus Gallery in Tokyo in 1995. In 1996, his works were part of the ‘Weather Report project’ and were toured around Bangkok, Yangon, Jakarta, Hanoi, Hi Chi Minh City, Beijing and Singapore.

His technique when painting is very rapid but strong strokes; he still manages to create an external ambience, from the audience’s point of view, as though it is very lightly done. His style of painting has brought out the public to compare it with that of famous artists such as ‘Arshile Gorky’, ‘Willem De Kooning’ and ‘Jackson Pollock’. In contrast, however, his paintings express Myanmar’s sensibility and political mayhem. Although that was the main inspiration of his, he has also incorporated positive aspects of the country, such as the beauty of the untouched areas and traditional festivals. His schizophrenic mind has also led him to stroke mythological creatures such as dragons, owls and unusual beings with bright eyes. In addition to that, his creative strength in art is also expressed through his mud sculptures.

He said: “They call me a painter, because I use canvas and paints. But if the media of clay work becomes more advanced here, I would work more with clay. I have not become a writer but I read many books on Literature and appreciate western cultures. I adore the papers of ‘Thake Pan Maung Wa’ and wish I could write like him. I am not against the theories of painting that were established by the early artists. I would really love to work freely with any paper, mud or paint. I mean, I love to create freely using any kind of material. It expresses the freedom of our minds.” It is clear that despite the area where Soe Naing grew up, he has great depth in his way of thinking and soul.

Naing Zaw Yangon 1997 (Translated to English by Junior Win and grammatically corrected by Anna Yavorskyy.) — Preceding unsigned comment added by 125.24.140.173 (talk) 07:16, 16 July 2015 (UTC)