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Karin Weber Gallery presents Masters of Myanmar: New Works by Aung Myint and Min Wae Aung. Long associated with Myanmar and its contemporary art scene, the gallery has showcased the works of these celebrated Burmese artists on several occasions over the past decade. Min Wae Aung, a true traditionalist in style and form, is well known for his contemporary portrayal of Burmese monks and nuns performing their simple daily rituals. Aung Myint, an abstractionist working in the Cubist style, explores social themes in the form of his well-known ‘Mother and Child’ subjects.

The Burmese art movement is a unique testimony to the courage and conviction of local artists, who continued to persevere with their art and dared to create social commentaries despite an oppressive political environment and scarce resources. In this milieu, both Aung Myint and Min Wae Aung played pivotal roles as pioneers, chroniclers and mentors, both by inviting outsiders across the globe to look in and understand the ‘Soul of Myanmar’, and by providing a living example to younger local artists to express their visions in a modern, contemporary style.

A pioneer of the Rangoon Modernist Movement, Aung Myint has been painting in a distinct semi–abstract Cubist style since the early 1970s. Aung Myint’s paintings have always been spontaneous reactions to the canvas and have emphasized three elements – dimension, line and colour. It is from these elements that he inputs subconscious, and as he prefers to say, unconscious emotional value into each work.

Says the artist, “I am working spontaneously, using black and red to paint faces. For faces, black and white is not attractive to an audience. Yet I like it. It has purity for me. Black and red are fierce, and attract the audience. The faces are random, unintentional. It is my inspiration, unconscious. The paintings are all spontaneous, without planning.”

Min Wae Aung, a true traditionalist in style and form, is well known for his contemporary portrayal of Burmese monks and nuns performing their simple daily rituals. His pre-occupation and mastery over light and shade is legendary, and the simplicity of composition a signature stamp. In his latest body of works, his focus continues to be on people, with travel a recurrent theme. The people of Myanmar are depicted in scorching reds and golden yellows, drawn with an uncompromising attention to the details of their individual movements. He also explores the subject of the power of groups. The powerful energy of people grouping together for a common cause – farming or land issues, or family disputes – and common issues of survival are packed into the narrative of each painting.