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Lot Essay
As part of a generation of artists painting in the "Nanyang Style", preeminent Singaporean artist Cheong Soo Pieng wished to create art that was radically Singaporean: demonstrative not only of Singapore's cultural and geographical identity, but also of its artistic and philosophical potential. Just as he strove to continuously search for the best means to portray what he felt was the essential beauty of the indigenous peoples of the country and its region, Cheong's abstract period represents a desire to convey the essence of its landscapes.
The 1950s saw the artist's increased experimentations with the concept of space on a flat plane. By the end of the decade, Cheong had begun to do away with the figurative in his portrayals of the landscape, while still maintaining a sense of depth to the scene. Painted in 1959, Landscape (Lot 305) is a striking example of Cheong's interest in the ideas of spatiality. The work visually resembles the cubist structures of Mondrian with their geometrical forms stacked and overlapped. Yet while Mondrian works are purely non-representational, Cheong's works remain grounded in reality. Landscape can be considered a particularly striking example. With a line that cuts across the horizon, the geometric stacking in the upper half of the painting resembles a row of narrow shophouses squeezed together along the riverside. A spot of yellow glows from the upper right, perhaps signifying the setting tropical sun. In the foreground, the river glistens with Cheong's less defined markings of colour, like a rippling reflection in the water. Establishing depth through his choice of colour, a bright area of blue jumps out of the picture plane, resembling the sail of a fishing boat. Cheong's fragmentation of the familiar local scene allows him to capture its essence through simplified shapes and strong colour.
The abstract works from the 1960s, more than any other period in Cheong's work, are part of the most significant stylistic break that Cheong would bravely embark upon. His trip to London inspired an entirely new means of artistic expression completely separate from the figurative tradition that Cheong had primarily been focused on up till that point, and it is to his merit that he was able to seamlessly integrate both Western and Eastern forms of abstraction into his own distinctive style. Buildings in Orange (Lot 301) continues his abstraction of local landscapes, the spare background of the painting combined with the predominant use of black ink places the work in line with traditional Chinese ink painting. Though Kelong Scene (Lot 302) is clearly more realistic in style, it is the artist's forays into Western abstraction that allows him to return to such scenic depictions with a more expressive handling of colour and lines.
Painted in 1966, Abstract (Lot 303) and Village Sunset (Lot304) are important pieces in the artist's oeuvre, for they are demonstrative of his interest in experimentation with abstract forms, and creative nuances. The expressive brushstrokes in the present painting, alludes to his classical training with watercolours as a young artist. By embracing vivid colours and textures as means to intensify the mood of the landscape, Cheong Soo Pieng succeeds in capturing the subtle poetic feeling of space and depth that exists within the narrative. Within these two works, he has already begun to redefine the landscape as a series of abstract shapes within the narratives. The present lots ultimately represent a period in Cheong Soo Pieng's career that signals the emergence of his favoured styles that would come to populate the later works.
The 1950s saw the artist's increased experimentations with the concept of space on a flat plane. By the end of the decade, Cheong had begun to do away with the figurative in his portrayals of the landscape, while still maintaining a sense of depth to the scene. Painted in 1959, Landscape (Lot 305) is a striking example of Cheong's interest in the ideas of spatiality. The work visually resembles the cubist structures of Mondrian with their geometrical forms stacked and overlapped. Yet while Mondrian works are purely non-representational, Cheong's works remain grounded in reality. Landscape can be considered a particularly striking example. With a line that cuts across the horizon, the geometric stacking in the upper half of the painting resembles a row of narrow shophouses squeezed together along the riverside. A spot of yellow glows from the upper right, perhaps signifying the setting tropical sun. In the foreground, the river glistens with Cheong's less defined markings of colour, like a rippling reflection in the water. Establishing depth through his choice of colour, a bright area of blue jumps out of the picture plane, resembling the sail of a fishing boat. Cheong's fragmentation of the familiar local scene allows him to capture its essence through simplified shapes and strong colour.
The abstract works from the 1960s, more than any other period in Cheong's work, are part of the most significant stylistic break that Cheong would bravely embark upon. His trip to London inspired an entirely new means of artistic expression completely separate from the figurative tradition that Cheong had primarily been focused on up till that point, and it is to his merit that he was able to seamlessly integrate both Western and Eastern forms of abstraction into his own distinctive style. Buildings in Orange (Lot 301) continues his abstraction of local landscapes, the spare background of the painting combined with the predominant use of black ink places the work in line with traditional Chinese ink painting. Though Kelong Scene (Lot 302) is clearly more realistic in style, it is the artist's forays into Western abstraction that allows him to return to such scenic depictions with a more expressive handling of colour and lines.
Painted in 1966, Abstract (Lot 303) and Village Sunset (Lot304) are important pieces in the artist's oeuvre, for they are demonstrative of his interest in experimentation with abstract forms, and creative nuances. The expressive brushstrokes in the present painting, alludes to his classical training with watercolours as a young artist. By embracing vivid colours and textures as means to intensify the mood of the landscape, Cheong Soo Pieng succeeds in capturing the subtle poetic feeling of space and depth that exists within the narrative. Within these two works, he has already begun to redefine the landscape as a series of abstract shapes within the narratives. The present lots ultimately represent a period in Cheong Soo Pieng's career that signals the emergence of his favoured styles that would come to populate the later works.