KUALA LUMPUR – Heritage and nature artist Siva Nair has always had a fascination with the graceful movement of fish in the water.
The former advertising industry veteran loves fishing and has always been captivated with the way fish move in the water.
“Just watching fish in my home aquarium gliding through the water helped me de-stress and unwind after a long day,” he said.
His fascination for koi fish kicked in several years ago as he watched the colourful varieties of koi fish swimming in a pond at his daughter and son-in-law’s home.
“I was fascinated at beautiful colours and the way these reflected off the water in different light conditions, as the fish swam in a graceful manner through the pond,” he said – likening this to a ballet performance.
This prompted Siva to spend some months studying koi fish. This included research into the various varieties and the cultural significance of koi to East Asian communities – in particular the Chinese and Japanese.
“For the Indian community we would probably spice it up and make a curry out of it,” he joked.
Much of Siva’s research was also time spent observing the movement of the koi, the colours and patterns on the different varieties and how the light reflected off the bodies of the graceful koi as they swam through ponds and aquariums at different times of the day and in different light conditions.
Siva’s paintings depart from the traditional Chinese brush painting technique, which in some ways inspired his interest in painting koi fish.
However, Siva applies a more realist European technique of painting koi to give it a more lifelike appearance – which was the reason why he spent much time researching the fish.
As he started painting, he also learnt that the Chinese community in particular revered the koi and pictures or paintings of the fish – but there was also some cultural significance attached to the number of fish in each painting.
For some, they want to make sure that the whole school of fish is all within the frame.
“The expectation is that every fish in the frame has to be visible in full, and the number of fish in a frame also has significance,” said Siva.
“If there are three koi fish, this signifies growth and is usually a painting one would present to someone who is starting a business or building a new home,” he said.
Six koi fish symbolises prosperity or “lok” in Cantonese, so this would be a painting or picture you give someone who has been managing a business for over a few years because it signifies growth, he added.
Siva said the next stage would be nine koi fish that usually signifies longevity, prosperity and health and therefore suitable for well-established businesses or gifts to be given to elders or matriarchs of a family.
Koi rearing can be a time-consuming and expensive hobby. Some varieties, particularly the pure-bred Japanese varieties, can cost up to a few hundred thousand ringgit, said Siva.
His paintings seem to be the easier and more affordable alternative in the long term – at least where feng shui and cultural symbolism is concerned, with its realist technique which somehow captures and transmits the graceful movements of the koi and the gentle ripples that these leave on the surface of the ornate ponds they are usually confined to.
Siva, who also produces natural and heritage-inspired paintings, can be contacted via Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/primashankara/, where some of his work can be viewed. Some of his paintings are also exhibited at the Purplehouz Fine Arts Gallery in Petaling Jaya.
Siva is currently in the midst of a project to capture the history and heritage of the former tin-mining town of Gopeng in the state of Perak, via murals in selected parts of the town. – December 9, 2023