THREE friends with different styles and techniques showed their art work at an exhibition, Wild Flower, at Insight Art Gallery from May 1 to 7.

All 15 of Myo Set’s acrylic works reveal the beauty of nature in a realistic style. His favourite, a portrait of the Lord Buddha in rich gold and blacks, was sold before the show began.

“This was the first time I drew the portrait of Buddha,” he said as his eyes lit up from excitement. “My mood while making it was not the same as the other times I painted. My mind was at peace…I feel happier selling this one than selling other paintings.”

His piece Feeling Refreshed depicts the sun hitting part of a tree’s leaves on a hot, dry afternoon. A water pot sits above the green grass on a shelf attached to the tree trunk.

“This was one of the scenes in Monywa in the summer,” he said. “I used hot colours such as yellow and red as background colours to represent the heat. For the pot and tree, cool colours - dark and light greens.”

Nanda Hlaing’ works were painted in either impressionistic or modern style and feature wild flowers.

“They are all wild flowers, no particular flowers. You can see them anywhere. They had no names. They grow and bloom naturally as they do. I like the ordinary flowers very much,” he said.

In his work Wild Flowers, from afar you see clusters of flowers, but cannot differentiate any one flower. When you step up close, you only see a mix of different colours – red, blue, yellow, green and black spots.

Nanda Hlaing explained how he expresses emotion in his pieces. About his painting Pride, he said: “Pride makes us hot, doesn’t it? So I used red and brown – angry colours – with big strokes.”

An interesting one was called Hope for Dream, in which a little girl’s head was drawn among many colourful drops.

“What does that girl want to be?” Nanda Hlaing asked rhetorically. “She has many thoughts.“

The third artist, Min Nyo Maung, showed 29 oil and acrylics paintings. He said he likes to draw nature. Most of his paintings feature scenes of dawn, sunset or the countryside.

His painting Paradise Forever looked unusual. It shows children among wild animals.

“It is about the new world. The Bible said that there is a day when all creatures including human beings will live together peacefully,” said Min Nyo Maung.
Another religious painting, called Not Delaying Time, reveals an open Bible and an hourglass. The sand appears to be slowly slipping through the neck of the hourglass.

“According to the Bible,” he said, “it is said we are now living in the last period. Everything will end one day. These days, human beings are no longer very much with love and kindness. The end of all things is coming near. So before it does, we must stop doing for ourselves and should do good deeds and merits.”