Fine art on tap

By Nicole Williams
BERWICK artist Ian Chong started painting to keep his hands busy after he was diagnosed with muscular dystrophy and had to stop working as a plumber.
He is now an established artist whose fourth exhibition will be the ADEC (Action on Disability in Ethnic Communities) ArtAbility Exhibition next month.
The exhibition showcases art by ethnic artists living with disability and this year will be the second year Mr Chong will take part.
“For me, it (last year) was the first time I had sold a painting and I received great feedback from people in the art community,” he said.
The connections he made led to his first solo exhibition in September.
Mr Chong, 58, said the art by young people living with disability at last year’s ADEC exhibition was inspiring.
“I got inspired by the young kids with cerebral palsy or autism who have no other way to communicate,” he said.
“They were young kids in ethnic communities who yell and scream because they can’t control their bodies but art is one way to express themselves.”
Mr Chong was a full-time and active plumber until muscular dystrophy stopped him working.
He said going from a seven-days-a-week plumber to a full-time, stay-at-home-dad eventually drove his daughter to enrol him in folk art classes to get him out of the house.
The self-taught artist soon traded in folk art for canvas and hasn’t looked back.
“I do it for the enjoyment of painting, especially as I get more limited in my abilities with my legs and arms,” he said.
And now he is painting more and more. The ADEC ArtAbility exhibition will be held at The Atrium at Federation Square, Melbourne, from Monday 6 December to Tuesday 14 December, from 9am to 5pm.
Mr Chong is also part of the Patmos Art Group, which will have an exhibition at the Old Cheese Factory, Berwick, on 26 to 7 December.