Arising I is a grim abstract composition that evokes a sense of devastation. Perng Fey’s gestural strokes create the impression of a rocky outcropping against a streaky sky. The painting is awash in colours of the apocalypse: barren brown, sludgy grey-green, and toxic orange. Several thin red lines in the centre of the painting seem to connect in a wedge-like shape, bringing to mind architectural drawings. The straight lines appear as a contrast to the impressionistic style of the landscape. The painting is consistent with the works the artist made two years before, during his time as an artist-in-residence at Rimbun Dahan in 2002, during which he produced a series of landscapes elegising the impact of modern development on the natural landscape.