Kuala Lumpur is a familiar subject for Malaysian artist Chin Kong Yee, although his interpretation of the city is anything but conventional. Streets curve unexpectedly; buildings appear inverted and familiar urban landscapes take on an almost dreamlike quality. Yet beneath these distorted perspectives lies a city that remains firmly rooted in reality.
This distinctive approach forms the basis of Time Marks, an artwork adapted for the Martell Cordon Bleu × Kong Yee Limited Edition. Produced in just 450 units, the collaboration sees Chin’s interpretation of Kuala Lumpur transferred onto the cognac bottle and its accompanying presentation box.
It also marks Martell’s third consecutive collaboration with a Malaysian artist, following earlier editions featuring textile artist Marcos Kueh and contemporary painter Ivan Lam.
Kuala Lumpur Through An Artist’s Lens
Born and raised in Kampung Baru Ampang, where he continues to live and work, Chin has spent more than three decades developing his Actuality Accorded Painting (AAP) methodology. Combining fisheye perspectives with panoramic compositions, his paintings challenge conventional ideas of space and perspective.
In Time Marks, a Kuala Lumpur intersection becomes a complex visual landscape. Buildings and streets fold into one another, while the skyline appears simultaneously above and below an open expanse of sky.
Despite the surreal appearance of his work, Chin maintains that every object he paints must have existed in reality. His compositions are therefore less about inventing imaginary worlds than reconsidering how familiar places are experienced and remembered.
“The city remembers our movements: the hesitation, the turning, the pauses. When I paint, I am listening to what is already there,” he explains. It is this relationship between memory, movement and place that gives Time Marks its significance beyond the limited-edition release.
Art Beyond The Gallery
For the collaboration, Time Marks extends continuously around the Martell Cordon Bleu bottle, requiring it to be turned to reveal the complete composition. The accompanying presentation box incorporates a transparent panel that illuminates at the press of a button, bringing the artwork’s colours and architectural details into focus.
Developed in partnership with Wei-Ling Gallery, the project also reflects a broader intersection between contemporary art and luxury, where artists’ work increasingly finds expression beyond traditional gallery spaces.
Martell’s collaborations with Marcos Kueh, Ivan Lam and now Chin Kong Yee bring together three distinct artistic approaches, from textiles to contemporary painting. While each edition remains closely associated with the cognac house, the choice of Malaysian artists introduces different interpretations of local identity and visual culture.
For Chin, whose work has long explored the relationship between perception and reality, the collaboration offers another medium through which to examine a city he knows intimately. And in Time Marks, Kuala Lumpur becomes more than a recognisable backdrop. It emerges as a place shaped as much by personal experience and memory as by its physical surroundings.
