A professor who lives in Malaysia has found a lifelong passion for art and temples throughout Southeast Asia — including temples in Singapore. He has, over the course of last few decades, amassed around 400 paintings of the temples he’s passionate about. Normally, those paintings are kept in his home, displayed on walls and every available surface with the support of the professor’s wife. However, the professor decided to share a portion of his admirable collection with the rest of the world in a special exhibit that celebrated both Malaysian artists and the temples they painted. The 77 paintings displayed at the event represented just a sliver of the professor’s complete collection.
The professor first became interested in art during the last part of the 1980s. He visited the United States to complete postgraduate work at a university there and spent much of his free time touring art museums. That passion for art returned back to Malaysia with him, where he continued to visit art museums on at least a monthly basis. But his fascination with Hindu temples began in the 1990s, during a pilgrimage he made in the Himalayas with his family. The trip was a difficult one — an hours-long climb up a tall hill, and then a cold, overnight wait at the top. However, the trip made the professor realize just how many Hindu temples there were in the world — including many closer to home in Malaysia that he hadn’t yet visited. His wife was supportive of his project, going so far as to accompany him and drive him to his subsequent pilgrimages. And collecting paintings of temples was a perfect way to commemorate his visits to the temples themselves.
The paintings were painted by both local artists who lived near the temples the professor visited or interpretations completed by international artists who also found inspiration at the temples. About ten years ago, a book was published based on the professor’s extensive collection of temple art. The professor said he initially received guidance on collecting art from a friend who was also a gallery owner.
Art is a wonderful way to explore your passions — or express your feelings about the things you’re most interested in. Have you ever kept an art journal? Art can be an easily accessible method for working through challenging life moments, as well as developing the coping skills necessary to process these moments and get past them. Visit SGArtClass.com today to get in touch with experienced art teachers who can lead you on art journal entries, helping you develop the artistic techniques necessary for exploring your feelings through paint and canvas or other methods. You might find yourself less stressed about your family, job, or school, or even happier with circumstances that might have caused you pain prior to your art practice. Art just might be a hobby that will help enrich parts of your life you wouldn’t have thought possible.
To read more about the professor’s painting collection, go to https://www.nst.com.my/news/nation/2018/08/397516/rampals-temple-arts-collection.