Bold color and form define the variety, vitality, and immense creativity of painting on canvas in Myanmar today. Because of the restricted political environment, Myanmar’s traditional culture has remained relatively intact compared with neighboring countries. As a result, the art has too often been described as only representational in mode and traditional in subject matter, lacking the contemporaneity in both subject and execution found in the best of today’s Asian art.
A look through the art work in this section will tell a different story. Some of the work is highly aesthetically informed, with subject unique to Myanmar rendered in contemporary formats. Other works are totally abstract, with no indication of culture of origin. In yet others, in spite of heavy censorship, political commentary is indeed present in symbolic form or in double meanings.
