DAP's Tony Pua talks about his first love, painting

There have been a lot of reports regarding Damansara MP Tony Pua’s “Langkah Sheraton” painting. In an interview with Malaysiakini, the lawmaker said that he was selling the painting, not copies of the painting.

There are 8,888 digital tokens or non-fungible tokens (NFTs) that were sold or minted within 28 hours of the painting being launched on Merdeka Day.

DAP raised RM1.3 million for the 15th general election through the digital sale of the “Langkah Sheraton” painting.

"Langkah Sheraton" is a 121cm by 152cm oil artwork, drawn on canvas painting.

Pua said it took about 10 months to do the painting. 

“I started on the painting when MCO 1 (movement control order) started on March 18, 2020.

“Then that ended, I stopped and went out to carry out other activities. When MCO 2 started, I went back to my painting,” the DAP MP said.

He said it took so long because he was rusty and also because he had his full-time job taking care of his constituency.

Based on this much-talked-about painting, it was pretty obvious that Pua is a talented artist. Also, this is not his first artistic piece.

“I painted a lot in school. I love painting. Painting is my first love,” said Pua, who also said he loved drawing superheroes such as Spider-Man, Superman and Captain America when he was about four or five years old. “I loved art lessons in primary school. My parents sent me for art lessons outside of school, at an art academy. People go there for art tuition.

“I went there because I enjoy it.  I did art all the way through to A-levels. It was one of my subjects. I was studying in a secondary school in Singapore. I used to enjoy art because I got to skip classes,” he recalled.

He would often be asked to design the backdrop for school events, such as Teacher’s Day, or help create banners for sports events. Pua also helped design T-shirts and paint murals for the school.

“When I was 15, the school interviewed me for our yearbook and my mural painting was on the cover,” Pua said.

“I have always liked art and the closest I came to having a career in the arts was when I was doing my O-levels and wondering if I should take up architecture as a degree programme.

“But three weeks after I started my A-levels and I took up economics. I fell in love with ‘someone else’,” said Pua when asked why he left art for a career in the corporate world.

“I always had the plan that at some point in the future, when I have made enough money, when I have done my part for the society and my community, art will be what I would fall back on,” he added.

Caught up in his work

Pua described art as time-consuming and said he usually ends up completely absorbed in what he was doing. He said that art is something that can take him away from the internet and social media for up to six hours straight.

“I can’t do that now when I am an active MP nor did I do it when I was an entrepreneur,” he said.

And it turns out the “Langkah Sheraton” artwork was special in more ways than one.

“This is the first time I have done oil painting since high school. In between, I have done a handful of artwork, but not in oil.

“Mostly in acrylic, which mainly dries faster. The last significant one was the quick one I did for Hannah Yeoh (Segambut MP) for her charity auction in 2015 (Shackled Not Broken),” Pua said.

He has also done some portraits of family members now and then.

As for his latest piece, 15 politicians were depicted in “Langkah Sheraton”.

“I think when we look at each of these characters, I wanted to show their positions relative to what was taking place at ‘Langkah Sheraton’.

“Azmin (Ali) was on his knees because he was on his last desperate move before (PKR president) Anwar Ibrahim was to be made the prime minister and he (Azmin) was becoming irrelevant.

“So, he had to strategise, he had to plot and make calls to the other side,” said Pua.

In the case of Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, it was as though he was praising the Almighty because he was facing corruption charges.

“Najib (Abdul Razak) has a box of treasures from Jho Low waiting for him to open. He is hoping that with the change in government, he can escape the charges levelled against him,“ Pua said, in explaining the former prime minister’s gleeful expression.

Essentially, everyone in the painting has a story concerning what took place during this historical moment that saw a legitimate government brought down due to backdoor dealings.

“I wanted to reflect on the essence of it. Lim Kit Siang was not part of the Harapan cabinet, but he was furiously issuing a lot of statements preaching to the leaders to unite and focus on delivering the manifesto that Harapan promised the people.

“He had hoped that by focusing on the manifesto, it would glue together the various parties in Harapan and not result in the breakup,” Pua said.

Lim’s efforts to remind the leaders of what they achieved in 2018 were futile, as everyone knows by now.

As of now, Pua sees himself eventually going back to becoming a full-time artist.

“I have done two private pieces since ‘Langkah Sheraton’. I do see myself going deeply into art, depending on my time.

“Currently, I have fewer responsibilities within the party, which allows me to do a little bit more. In the future, when I am no longer an MP, perhaps, I will do even more.”

He did not discount the possibility of a full-blown exhibition of his artworks in the future.

“That has been something on my mind for years. It was something I dreamt about, well before I did ‘Langkah Sheraton’,” Pua added.

He has yet to find inspiration for any recent political events as a follow-up to the “Langkah Sheraton” event.

One painting, many owners

Instead of selling the painting the conventional way, Pua opted for the digital tokens or non-fungible tokens (NFTs) route.

“If I were to sell the painting at an auction, maybe some towkay will pay RM500,000 for it. The limitation is that only a handful of supporters can afford that price and it will only have one owner.  The owner may keep it in his storeroom and not put it up.

“By doing it this way, the smaller guys can get to own a piece of it. They can say I have a piece of it. They can say it is an important painting, I like it very much and I have a share in it,“ explained Pua.

“This is like owning shares in a company and you vote on decisions in regard to the painting,” said Pua. He said this applied to matters such as buying insurance or selling off the painting.

“Or perhaps, at some point in time, after I pass away and the value of the painting goes up. Some people will decide to cash in on the painting.

“One person can propose and the proceeds will be distributed to all the NFTs owners because they each own a share of the painting,“ he elaborated.

It is like selling shares on the stock market. Only in this case, it is sold in OpenSea.

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