A Yellow Diamond

As one of the most promising contemporary Malaysian artists, Ivan Lam is recognised for continuously searching for perfection in his technique. Yellow Diamond (Lot 215) is a recent work which exemplifies the artist's current interest and exploration in media and processes. Seeking a perfectly finished surface, Ivan Lam painted the canvas without leaving any trace of brushwork and veneered the canvas with a layer of resin to give a polished glossy look, creating a perfect and sophisticated finishing. More than on the surface level, Ivan Lam thinks deeply of the meaning of his work and in Yellow Diamond, he questions the idea of perfection itself. The perfect surface finishing of the triptych echoes the quality of the yellow diamond. The painting is flawless but it is rather impossible for any human or even machine to create an object of perfect flawlessness. At the same time, the yellow diamond appears perfect, brilliant and alluring, however, what give the yellow colour to the diamond is in fact the impurities trapped in it. Ivan poses a question, applicable to us all, about the (im)possibility of aspiring to achieve perfection in our daily lives.