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Date:   29 November, 2009  
Focus: Small animals - dogs, cats, hamsters, guinea pig & rabbits.

Toa Payoh Vets Clinical Research
Making veterinary surgery alive
to a veterinary student studying in Australia
using real case studies and pictures

Buying An Original Painting  
Dr Sing Kong Yuen, BVMS (Glasgow), MRCVS
First written: Nov 29, 2009.

 
"I will present you a painting," Khin Khin said to me one day. She had considered paintings as a waste of time. "You can't make money out of selling paintings," she used to tell me. She presumed that I wanted to buy Myanmar painting at a low price to sell in Singapore. She knows that selling paintings of unknown artists is no walk in the park. As a business, she deems it a completely waste of time in Singapore.

I had been asking her to look out for me an original  painting of the wet market by a Myanmar artist and had shown her an example in a shop in Peninsula Plaza. This example was a reproduced painting of a young lady buying flowers from a flower seller in a Myanmar market. It was selling for $300. However, I do not appreciate copies of paintings even if they are free of charge.  I wanted to buy a real original painting to brighten the wall of the living room in my Surgery. Not to get a present from Khin Khin.  

As she had made a prior appointment for me to visit her friend's art gallery, I obliged. I had KWK, the Myanmar artist in person at one of the art exhibitions. She is a professional painter passionate in her art. But I have never thought of asking whether she paints market places as her recent paintings were of landscapes. Therefore I ask Khin Khin to look out for me a good painter and painting when she went home to Yangon in September.

Myanmar painting. Pao Market by KWK. Toa Payoh VetsI wanted a painting uniquely expressing the action in a market scene in Myanmar. Not Vietnam, Cambodia or Laos. I was surprised to see a small painting out of 3 by KWK fitted my criteria. I met the artist and gave my 2 cents' worth of comment. That there should not be a dark figure in blue to the right of the painting as it was distracting. I guessed KWK wanted to balance the right and the left. The oranges should be the one in focus. The Myanmar orange seller with the local facial make up makes this painting uniquely Myanmar. 

Khin Khin negotiated the price and paid for it after some hard bargaining.

"Khin Khin," I said to the business woman who had just started up her new business with little sales. "Why should you buy me a painting as a present? I will pay for it."  Khin Khin knows how to win my heart. But it was not fair to get her to part her savings for a painting that cost so much more than the handbag I presented to her when I visited Myitkyina in North Myanmar. This handbag cost me around Singapore $10.00 to buy. It had some threads coming out  from the handle due to poor workmanship. I knew I should not give her this handbag as it was not branded and cheap. But I could find nothing better. One day, she said in her usual moment of frankness when I talked about branded handbags of a certain brand that her lady friends seem to be using, "Your present is a cheap and lousy handbag. Cost only $10.00!". "How much do you expect me to buy a handbag for you?" I asked. "$200!" she replied.  I learnt a lesson. Never buy Khin Khin unbranded handbags as a present.  It would be better to buy some chocolates or peanuts. Or not buy anything. 

But in Myitkyina, there were no better handbags than that. No S$4,000 Louis Vuitton handbag in Myitkyina. Myitkyina is like a Singapore town in the early 1960s as regards the lack of handbag varieties and shopping.  

The KWK painting costs many times more. So, I did not want Khin Khin to present me since I gave her a cheapskate present.  This is how I ended buying a lovely original painting by KWK for my appreciation. "Appreciation for what?" Khin Khin would ask me. "Why waste money buying art? In Myanmar, artwork is so cheap," she would ramble on. "You can buy them off the wet market and in the villages." I would not want to correct her. Good artwork is not cheap, even in Myanmar.   

Myanmar. Lake Inle Dances a tour group. Waterfront Accommodation. Asiahomes.com Travels and ToursVillage ladies in Myanmar use a local plant to produce a paste for their facial make-up.

Yangon's office ladies seldom use it. Therefore paintings with such images are uniquely reflecting the village culture of Myanmar ladies

TIPS FOR BUYING ORIGINAL PAINTINGS
1. Read a lot about paintings in magazines and attend art exhibitions.
2. Know the artist and his or her experience.
3. Meet the artist. Good paintings are seldom inexpensive.
4. Copies are so well reproduced in China, Vietnam and regional countries that they look like the original. They are not for you if you appreciate originals.
5. Buy from a reputable art gallery dealer.
6. Paintings from unknown artists are seldom good investments in the short term. But who knows some 50 years later. 
7. Know the quality of the canvas and paint. Paintings painted on poor quality canvas or paint will not last long.  

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