KUCHING: What is considered as the largest batik painting would be unveiled at La Promenade Mall late yesterday.
The largest batik painting would be unveiled by veteran art expert, Lee Hock Kia at 7 pm, Level 3.
He revealed that the process of making the batik took two months to complete, and it needed a high level of precision and skill to get done.
“The process of making the batik art needed full focus and care because a simple mistake would require me to redo the whole process.
“It needs to be done layer by layer and I would spend hours and hours in a day to do it,” he said.
Elaborating further, Lee used batik dye, a wax and a brush, among other things.
He said that most of the materials and products used were bought locally in Kuching.
He was speaking to New Sarawak Tribune in an interview at his residence on Wednesday (Dec 16).
Meanwhile, the art expert has urged young people to take interest in Malaysian batik art and develop it further.
Lee, 86, with close to seven decades of experience, hopes that more young artists can take up the mantle of taking up his legacy as a batik art expert.
Adding further, he said that he learned batik art from his lecturer when he was a trainee in Batu Lintang Teachers’ College in 1966 and his interest took off from there.
“I wish that my batik artwork can inspire and attract more people to be more interested in batik painting.
“In recent years, there has been less and less people taking up the interest in batik art; it is much more common to do watercolour (painting) and oil painting,” he said.
He hopes that batik art can be developed into a Malaysian artwork where people can come to Malaysia for.
“I encourage the younger generation to develop the Malaysian batik artwork and to pursue it wholeheartedly,” he added.
