Cheong Soo Pieng

Private Collection, Singapore

The work is in good condition overall, as is the canvas, which is clear and taut. There is evidence of minor wear and handling on the edges of the painting, but the paint layers are healthy and well-preserved. Examination under ultraviolet light shows no sign of restoration. Framed.
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 “For Soo Pieng, art is the beginning, the end, and the meaning of all life. He has no other interest.” ¹

Cheong Soo Pieng is one of the most prolific artists from the Nanyang art movement. His brushstrokes explore the core of native cultures and record the details of local norms. He likes to employ a wide range of materials in his arts such as metals, varnishes and paints, and each one has been appropriated in the artworks throughout his career. In 1952, along with Chen Wen Hsi, Liu Kang and Chen Chong Swee, Cheong Soo Pieng set foot in Bali. The trip marked the first time the idea of “the artist as [an] ethnographer”became an important aspect of his career².

Similar with many of the Nanyang artists from his generation, he often presented the outside environment in his works. He was particularly fascinated with the Balinese culture, especially with the local landscape and people. In his early paintings, Cheong did not only use rich colours to record his experiences in Indonesia, but also to reflect his passion and enthusiasm in encountering a new chapter in his life. Completed in 1976, Riverside is reflective of this appreciation towards the Balinese culture. The elongated limbs and almond shaped eyes seen in Riverside are common facial features that Cheong Soo Pieng continuously used in his figural paintings. Again a telltale sign of profound insight into the cultures of people that he greatly respected. The use of neutral tones and the artist’s visual representation of the natural environment do not only present the beauty of Southeast Asia, but also suggest his desire in preserving the freedom that he could not experience from the Second Sino-Japanese War.

The work Riverside is in many ways a revelation of the artist’s ideas and visions. He composed the painting with a simple earthy tone, as a means to arrest the viewer’s attention detailed narrative. The interactions between the young and mature figures are evident in showing the importance of filial piety in the typical Asian family, and the tight connection between the figures also highlight the significance of communication in uniting together as a community. Filling the background in a soft brown, Cheong Soo Pieng layers his composition with a bold yellow sun and gently spreads and blends the colour with the skyline. The sun is a symbolic metaphor in reflecting his state of being, while the earthy skyline together with the bold expressive sun reflects his present state of mind. The peaceful skyline juxtaposes with the flowing river, which further enforces the cycle of life, and also celebrates the very core of the Balinese Hindu religion: destruction and recreation, as well as illusion and imperfection.

¹Frank Sullivan, The Art of Cheong Soo Pieng: An Exhibition of Paintings by Cheong Soo Pieng Exhibition, 1956

²Hal Foster, The Return of The Real: The Artist as Ethnographer, Cambridge: The MIT Press, 1996