Cheong Soo Pieng

Private Asian Collection

Soo Pieng, Summer Times Publishing, Singapore, Colorplate 7

The work is in good condition overall, as is the canvas, which is clear and taut. Upon close observation there is evidence of light wear and handling around the edges of the painting, along with minor discoloration due to aged touch-ups on the top portion of the right margin. Framed.
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“Like his contemporaries who came from South China and built their lives and communities in Singapore and Malaysia, Cheong Soo Pieng came and created visions –visions that have become part of our cultural heritage.”

Kwok Kian Chow, Director of National Art Gallery, Singapore, Cheong Soo Pieng: Visions of Southeast Asia

Recognized as one of the most crucial figures in the art and culture of Singapore, Cheong Soo Pieng devoted his lifetime to painting those humanistic qualities that touched him deeply during his journeys in Southeast Asia. Drawing inspirations from the rich cultures and verdant landscapes of the region, the paintings of Soo Pieng evoke an inexplicable utopian sentiment; themes of family, community and offerings are prevalent subject matters in his oeuvre. Revered as an incredibly versatile artist who challenged himself to explore new mediums and to experiment with new modes of expressions, Soo Pieng’s stylistic breakthroughs defined Singaporean modern art by actively pushing the traditional boundaries of the country’s creative expression. Spanning from Chinese ink paintings to Western oil works, watercolours, metal reliefs, batiks and more, Soo Pieng’s artistic practices reflect an intellectual synthesis of Asian and Western modes of expression. Paul Signac and Gustav Klimt both had an influence upon Soo Pieng's works, notably with their brush techniques and/or depictions of the human form. His works are “about a way of thinking and expressing modernity, [and a] conscious effort to make new art for a new kind of belonging, a new way of seeing the world.”¹ The fresh naturalism and immediacy in his figures, forms and expressions have encapsulated a distinctive vision and spirit associated with the ‘Nanyang Art Movement’.

The expression of ‘Nanyang’ characterizes an important, time-specific aesthetic that coincided with the dawn of Singapore modern art. While its reference a mixture of styles and techniques derived from the Chinese pictorial traditions and the School of Paris, ‘Nanyang’ is in fact the geographic zone beyond the South China Sea consisting of a melange of ethnic communities, such as the Javanese, Malay, Indian and Chinese. Art historians T.K. Sabapathy and Redza Piyadasa first conceptualized the term in 1979 during a retrospective exhibition of the first-generation Chinese migrant artists in Singapore.

These sojourning artists painted during the years when Singapore was on the cusp of political and cultural independence. Their works captured the local cultures and lifestyles of the Southeast Asian region with fresh new idioms, demonstrating an unprecedented cross-fertilization of art during the latter half of the twentieth century. Cheong Soo Pieng, Chen Wen Hsi, Liu Kang and Chen Chong Swee, known as “The Big Four Artists,” were the pioneering artists who embarked on a landmark journey to Bali in 1952 that enstamped lasting impressions on their respective artistic careers and thus inspiring succeeding generations of artists.

The present painting Malay Boys with Goat exemplifies a distinctive visual style marking the mature and final phase of Soo Pieng’s fruitful artistic career. Towards the late seventies and into the eighties, he revisited Bali with a special effort to re-examine his Balinese experience. Among the trove of sketches, drawings and complete works are iconographies recalling the repertoire of Sarawak and Sabah. “A return to Bali 25 years after the landmark sojourn contextualized what Soo Pieng was reaching for initially. That is, to rediscover timeless elements within a localized landscape and community that would translate effortlessly into his ever-new art"².

Malay Boys with Goat is composed of his signature iconography, which is one that embodies his reverence and praise for the Southeast Asian beauty. The aggregation of stylistic elements here is a reflection of the active assimilation of symbols, imageries, and cultures he extracted and distilled throughout his lifetime. By the completion of this canvas in 1981, Soo Pieng had already held milestone exhibitions in Europe and revisited Bali and China, all the while challenging himself to an extensive range of styles and mediums unparalleled to the common artist. The Malay boys here are sitting face-to-face amidst a dreamy landscape inhabited by local plants and flora. Their elongated limbs and bodies recall his famous elegant Balinese maidens inspired by the wayang kulit. An abundance of greenery constitutes the backdrop in varying shades of greens, blues, violets and white. The intricate brushwork captures the luxuriant thickets amidst the lush, tropical atmosphere.

For a brief moment, Soo Pieng draws us into a realm beyond the real. There is always a chimerical dimension in his later works that extricates the audience from banality. The bird-houses sitting atop the tree trunks symbolize the season of spring— a time for a fresh start or a new beginning. Perhaps, this painting could be interpreted as Soo Pieng’s own spiritual sanctuary. Malay Boys with Goat affords us a window into not just another landscape, but another life where harmony and humility reign supreme, a place far-removed from the materialism and pollutants of modern society.

¹Soo Pieng, Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, Singapore, 2013, p. 143

²Refer to 1, p. 130