The Art of Khik Weng Keat

The Watering Hole,  acrylic on canvas, 2021. 30" X 24" The painting depicts a large group of African animals gathering to drink at a watering hole. The overall composition of the animals' activity in the painting is based on the idea of the "waterhole truce" put forward by author Rudyard Kipling (author of The Jungle Book ), where animals observe a sort of truce around watering holes and prey animals do not have to be on guard from predators in the vicinity, as they share the watering hole.  The African animals featured are elephants, giraffes, lions, zebra, rhinoceros, impala, ostriches, Cape buffalo, wildebeest, baboons, cheetah, leopard, warthog, meerkat, aardvark, hippos, crocodile, shoebill and red-billed hornbill. Flamingoes and storks frequent African waterholes as well. Giraffes spread their legs when drinking to increase their stability when lowering their head down. Predators like lions normally use watering holes as prey gathering sites before hunting...

 FANTASTIC BESTIARY "Monsters are tragic beings. They are born too tall, too strong, too heavy. They are not evil by choice. That is their tragedy. They do not attack people because they want to, but because of their size and strength, mankind has no other choice but to defend himself. After several stories such as this, people end up having a kind of affection for the monsters. They end up caring about them." — Ishir⁠ō Honda Minotaur Half Man, Half Bull , acrylic on canvas, 2021 The word minotaur derives from the Ancient Greek Minotauros , a compound of the name Minos and the noun tauros  "bull", translated as "(the) Bull of Minos". This monster had the head and tail of a bull and the body of a man or, as described by Roman poet Ovid, a being "part man and part bull". He dwelt at the center of the Labyrinth, which was an elaborate maze-like construction designed by the architect Daedalus and his son Icarus, on the command of King Minos of Crete....

  G7: You Can Count On Us , acrylic on canvas, 2021. 60" X 36" Production period: 23 June - 29 July 2021 INTRODUCTION This painting is loosely based on a satirical cartoon made by Chinese government-appointed propaganda cartoonist cartoonist Bantonglaoatang entitled "The Last G7", which is based on Leonardo da Vinci's "The Last Supper". The original cartoon's intention is to mock the organization's "malicious" attempt to rally its allies and lay a siege on China's global status, and it went viral on Chinese social media during the 47th annual Group of 7 (G7) summit which was held in June 2021 in Cornwall, UK.   Because the countries were represented by animals in the cartoon, the artist is inspired to jump in and apply his talent to paint a slightly changed version of the cartoon.  SYMBOLISM FROM THE ORIGINAL The countries are represented by the following animals (left to right): ⦁ Germany = Black hawk-eagle (changed to a black...

BLASTS OF THE PAST An early dinosaur portrait series made by the artist. Blasts of the Past , acrylic on canvas, 2020. Set of 9, each piece 8" X 8"  Spinosaurid Spinosaurid head , acrylic on canvas, 2020. The Spinosauridae is a family of carnivorous dinosaurs. They lived primarily in the Early Cretaceous period and are known to have eaten fish. This reconstruction of Spinosaurus makes this dinosaur a dangerous and deadly predator.  Torosaurus Torosaurus head, acrylic on canvas, 2020. Torosaurus (name meaning "bull/pierced lizard") is a three-horned herbivorous dinosaur from the late Cretaceous period. Looking quite similar to its contemporary cousin, the Triceratops , these dinosaurs were thought to have been the same species. Parasaurolophus Parasaurolophus head, acrylic on canvas, 2020. Parasaurolophus is a plant-eating dinosaur which is a member of the hadrosaur family. Like some hadrosaurs, Parasaurolophus had a bony and hollow crest on top of its head, which mi...