Image size: 43.5 x 55.0 cm
Born in Danubyu, Myanmar in 1960, Min Wae Aung attended the State School of Fine Arts, Yangon, in 1979 and studied landscape painting and portraits. After participating his first overseas exhibition in New York City (Niagara Frontier Watercolour Society, 2nd National Exhibition) in 1990, and The 4th Asian Art Show at Fukuoka Art Museum in 1994, his iconic paintings of Burmese monks and nuns in precession in photorealistic style has met with intense popularity worldwide. ‘Monks against Tiger’ is a rare early example of watercolour by the artist. Novice monks stand in front of a cage with a tiger inside, with the monk on the far-left raising a fist and the most junior monk second from the right carrying an umbrella that almost resembles a gun. The work was made one year after the 8888 Nationwide Popular Pro-Democracy Protests also known as the People Power Uprising, which comprised from a series of nationwide demonstrations, marches, protests and civil unrest. A political undertone in this work demonstrates an aspect often overlooked in Min Wae Aung’s practice.
