This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on March 14, 2016.

A preview of the artworks that will go under the hammer at the upcoming The Edge Auction 2016 was launched at the White Box in Publika last Friday, providing art lovers and potential art investors with a sneak preview leading up to the public auction on March 20. Among the attendees at the preview event were IJM Land’s Grace Foo and Wendy Kok, The Edge Communications managing director Au Foong Yee, art collectors Ruby Loo, Felicia Chan, Dr Lim Hock Leng, Dr Tan Loke Mun and Shaik Rizal.

The artworks that will be up for bidding are a mix of paintings, drawings, etchings and sculptures by both senior and contemporary artists. This year, a prevailing cautious market sentiment in the region throughout the last quarter of 2015 has led to more attractive price estimates at the auction, an event supported by IJM Land.

The sale of Malaysian works is led by well-known artists such as Datuk Syed Ahmad Jamal, Dzulkifli Buyong, Yusof Ghani, Awang Damit, Khoo Sui Hoe and Jolly Koh. Other highly collectible works include paintings and drawings by early artists in Malaysia, such as Lee Cheng Yong, Yong Mun Sen, Chia Yu Chian, Kuo Ju Ping, Tan Choon Ghee as well as Peter Harris.

There will also be a selection of batik art by Datuk Chuah Thean Teng, Ismail Mat Hussin, Datuk Tay Mo Leong and Chuah Siew Teng, and sculptures by Mali Ali Mat Som and Raja Shahriman Raja Aziddin. For collectors of portraiture, there is Paris-based Malaysian artist Ken Yang’s The Malaysian Mona Lisa. The sitter for this fine painting is Malaysia’s leading Malay songstress Datuk Siti Nurhaliza. Limited-edition prints by leading Malaysian photographers include a rare piece by Ismail Hashim as well as signature works by Eric Peris.

Some of the highlights of the auction are the acrylic on canvas, Memory of Bintan, by modernist Datuk Syed Ahmad Syed Jamal, a quintessential modern composition with an auction estimate of between RM350,000 and RM450,000 as well as Singapore’s celebrated Chinese ink master Chen Wen Hsi’s Wisteria (circa 1971) with an estimate of between RM230,000 and RM300,000.

As for local contemporary artists, bidders can expect to find works by Zulkifli Yusoff, Ahmad Zakii Anwar, Jalaini Abu Hassan, Chong Siew Ying, Yusof Majid, Ahmad Shukri Mohamed, Fauzul Yusri and Southeast Asia’s leading watercolourist Chang Fee Ming.

The auction will also offer works by distinguished Southeast Asian artists like Goh Beng Kwan and Jimmy Ong of Singapore, U Lun Gywe and Min Wae Aung of Myanmar, Bui Xuan Phai and Hoang Dinh Tai of Vietnam as well as Popo Iskandar, Made Wianta and Arie Smit of Indonesia, to name a few.

The preview runs until March 18 from 11am until 7pm at White Box @ Publika Shopping Gallery, Level G2, Block A5, 1 Jalan Dutamas 1, Solaris Dutamas, Kuala Lumpur. For the online catalogue as wll as more information on the auction can be found at www.theedgegalerie.com.