True Romances II

A scene straight out of modern life, True Romances II (Lot 617) presents us with a young woman lounging on her bed in the midst of reading a romance novel. Known for her characteristic style that exaggerates and emphasizes the fluid physicality of her female figures, Malaysian artist Chong Ai Lei deploys a strong painterly technique to depict the distinctly contemporary. Surrounded by the paraphernalia of everyday life, True Romances II is an introspective and intimate portrait executed on a grand scale. Portraying the contorted postures of her subjects, Chong captures them in moments of complete absorption and focus in their present task. With the proliferation of technology through laptops and phones, the artist comments on the rapid digitalization of our lives as True Romances II features the simple contentment of reading a book, complemented by the downward facing analogue camera that lies, recently used, on the bed.