Visual artist Yip Yew Chong’s, 55, masterpieces have a knack for winning over hearts across nations, languages and cultures.
The Singaporean’s mural, on the wall of a four-storey building in Ukkadam, located in Coimbatore city in Tamil Nadu, has recently been doing the rounds on social media.
The mural, 18m long and 14m wide, consists of larger-than-life images of vadai, thosai, oothappam and piping hot tea emitting vapour.
Yip also drew the images of a coffee-seller, a thosai-maker and animals such as a goat and a cat.
With the help of a gondola and an assistant, he took nine days to paint the mural.
“I was invited by Start India Foundation to paint the mural, having previously been invited in 2019 to paint in Delhi,” he said.
“I saw that there were many colourful walls in the area, but none of them was about food. Wanting to add more colour to the area, I decided to use food as a subject.”
He decided to draw South Indian breakfast dishes such as thosai, uthappam, vadai and idli, superimposing them on a giant banana leaf. “The images were relatable to me as I eat those dishes often,” he said.
Yip also managed to communicate with the residents, using either simple English or through a translator.
“Several passers-by exclaimed ‘super, super’ in English. I replied nandri, nandri (thank you in Tamil),” he said.
Yip, who left a career in finance after 25 years to pursue painting full-time, is no stranger to India or Indian subjects.
“I have been to India on business and personal trips. Even my honeymoon was in India,” he said.
Yip has painted a mural in Singapore’s Chinatown, opposite the Sri Mariamman temple, in which an Indian Muslim “mamak shop” is depicted. “(Those shops) were where, as a boy, I first learnt to say ‘kalai vanakkam’ (good morning in Tamil),” he said.
Last year, he was commissioned to paint a mural on the walls of the Arya Samaj building in Syed Alwi Road depicting North Indian culture in India and Singapore.
He has also drawn Indian cultural motifs – a flower shop and a provision shop – on the walls of Changi Airport, and an Indian wedding on a rock in the Botanic Gardens.
“My biggest worry is that the faces in my murals do not look Indian enough,” said Yip. “At least in the case of Malays, their facial features are closer to the Chinese.”
Mr V. Jeevananthan, a painter with the Start India group, expressed his admiration for Yip’s work in Coimbatore.
“Unlike other artists, Mr Yip did not use a projector for basic sketching,” he said. “Instead, he used freehand drawing, which is a great risk as it may not bring out the exact proportions.
“But he brought out the right proportions of the human models and the eatables. It was a feast for our eyes watching the ever jolly Mr Yip painting.”
