Cheong Soo Pieng

Private Collection, Singapore

Soo Pieng, Summer Times Publishing, Singapore, Colorplate 6
Ho Sou Ping, Ma Peiyi, The Story of Cheong Soo Pieng, Singapore, 2015, p. 189, fig. 9.13

This work is in very good overall condition as viewed, and the paint layers are healthy overall. Examination under ultraviolet light reveals no restoration at surface, but some areas at the far edges have been repainted. Framed.
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Much of the origins of Singaporean modern art stems from the paintings of Cheong Soo Pieng. He is highly regarded as being a pioneer Nanyang artist in the country’s artistic legacy. His body of works boasts a vast array of styles and differing aesthetics that introduced brand new modes of thinking into existing paradigms from the 1950s and onwards. Actively experimenting with opposing mediums and motifs, Cheong Soo Pieng produced an oeuvre that was an innovative blend of Asian traditions with Western schools of thought. The artist’s career had a lasting influence upon the country’s creative maturation and his opus serves as a concise study of Singapore’s appropriation of modernist aesthetics set into an Eastern framework.

Each period of the artist’s life welcomed in new and exciting elements into the paintings. He was well versed in Abstract Expressionism, classical Chinese painting, Cubism, Fauvism, and figurative works. He was influenced by numerous Western artists such as Picasso, Paul Klee and Monet. The present painting entitled Chattering was created late in his life, and represents the culmination of favored motifs and aesthetics that subsequently connected all of the paintings together in his oeuvre.

During the early fifties, Cheong Soo Pieng and other Singaporean peers traveled to Bali for the first time. While many European artists were enthralled by the lush landscape and rich culture of Bali and created romanticized depictions of the island, Cheong Soo Pieng drew inspiration from the archipelago in other ways. Though he was a Chinese artist whose education was predominantly influenced by classical Chinese calligraphy and painting, Cheong Soo Pieng instilled a new, notable complexity in his artistic expression after having gone to the island of Bali.

Images found in the local culture, such as the patterns in batik textiles and wayang shadow puppets, frequented Cheong Soo Pieng’s paintings. These motifs would essentially be adapted into an Asian context. With his attention to composition and mood in the paintings, Cheong Soo Pieng’s creative outlook after this trip changed dramatically and would have a permanent influence on his career. Chattering perfectly exemplifies the artist’s application of certain hues, as well as a pointillist brushstroke technique, that would represent the figurative works created from the late seventies and onwards. Alluding to the vibrant patterns found in Indonesian fabric, the stylized portrayal of the women and the natural landscape, together with how the artist has positioned their interaction, all establish a depth to the painting that captivates the audience’s attention.

Within the present painting there are remnants of Cheong Soo Pieng’s foray into Cubism, for there is a slight angular depiction of the women’s bodies, their huddled postures and expressive facial expressions reminiscent of the geometric shapes that were the hallmarks of this Western school of expression. Within the work the artist has embraced every detail of the figures, showing how they are in harmony with the external environment. Like Cubist ideology that sought to reconstruct and redefine the existing landscape with a fresh vocabulary, Cheong Soo Pieng’s rendering of the Balinese leans towards experimentation with the human physique, how to adapt flesh and shadows into a distinct compositional layout. The painting conveys a certain ambience that arises from these people’s interaction, and inspires in the viewer a universal understanding of human reciprocity.

It should be noted that as an Asian artist who was looking at another Asian culture with artistic intent, Cheong Soo Pieng produced a collection of works dedicated to Bali that are vaguely anthropological in content, not revolving solely on the natural beauty of the archipelago and the proud traditions of local rural life. Unlike the Western artists who were enamored with the “other” and would therefore contextualize the locale through rose colored glasses, Cheong Soo Pieng preferred to depict the familial relationships and daily activities of the inhabitants of Bali. As a Chinese who immigrated to Singapore and reestablished himself in a new country, he applied this same cultural understanding to another country that was not his own.

The scene shown in Chattering is a classic narrative in the artist’s Balinese inspired paintings. The appreciation for their feminine nature, further accompanied by a child and domestic animal, are all reflective of the artist’s appreciation for village life and the hardships that build in such people a primal want to survive. This human need to exist mirrored his own desire as an individual who embraced artistic expression to anchor himself within a new culture, and subsequently leave his imprint upon Singapore’s creative legacy.