Cheong Soo Pieng

Acquired directly from the Artist
Private Collection, Singapore

This work is in excellent overall condition as viewed, as is canvas which is clear and taut. Examination under ultraviolet light reveals small spots of restoration along the edges and corners of the work, and few sporadic and scattered small spots at the surface of the canvas. Framed.
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As one of the founding members of the Nanyang art collective, Cheong Soo Pieng’s body of works provides the audience with an excellent survey of the history of modern art in Singapore. Well known for his appropriation of East and West creative styles that were then reconfigured in the artworks, Cheong Soo Pieng’s visual vocabulary was inspired by cubism, abstract expressionism, post-impressionism, and classical Chinese painting. The artist’s oeuvre is evident of all of these different schools of thoughts and trends. It may be said that each stage of his life unveiled a brand new mode of artistic expression, thereby Cheong Soo Pieng’s paintings can be read as a visual narrative of his own self-development as an artist.

The present lot was created late in the artist’s life, and reveals the key influences, motifs, and painterly techniques that have garnered him much respect and admiration as a pioneering Singaporean artist. Untitled is demonstrative of the abstract aesthetics that Cheong Soo Pieng discovered during his travels to Europe in the 1960s, and ultimately brought back with him to Singapore. A great admirer of Paul Klee and Picasso, the artist sought to apply their creative principles and techniques into his own artworks. However as per his own ideology and favored aesthetics, the paintings were a visual celebration of the Singaporean and Malay landscapes and people. It can be said that Cheong Soo Pieng’s oeuvre changed dramatically from the 1960s and onwards.

 Another important trip in the artist’s career was a trip to Bali in 1952. From that trip Cheong Soo Pieng brought back memories of the tropical landscape, the vibrant culture, as well as the human connections that he established during his travels to Indonesia. All of these images found themselves rebirthed in the paintings, the island a new source of inspiration for the artist. Within this light Untitled is a culmination of the artist’s journey to Bali, paired together with the abstract language learned during his visit to Europe. An homage to the natural landscape as remembered by the artist those many years ago.