Chen Wen Hsi

Private Collection, Singapore

This work is in good overall condition as viewed. There is evidence of wear along the edges of the work, due to abrasions with the frame. The paint layers are healthy overall. Examination under ultraviolet light reveals some spots of restoration along the edges of the work and a few minor spots on the surface of the painting. Framed.
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"...An artist would inevitably be influenced by tradition, but following tradition slavishly should be his goal. He must break away from the tradition to create his own style".

Chen Wen Hsi

Convergences: Chen Wen Hsi Centennial Exhibition, Singapore Art Museum, 2006, pg. 65

Chen Wen Hsi is highly acclaimed for his ink and watercolor paintings that are the products of his Chinese heritage paired with the artist's personalized view of the world. His renditions of gibbons were revered for their lifelike depictions that accurately conveyed the animal's playful nature, while the works dedicated to cranes and herons are where he was able to combine his interest in cubism with classical Chinese painting.

The artist's interest in cubism carried onwards to his works with oil, and the present painting Sawmill perfectly exemplifies his transition from painting with ink and watercolor to oil. Interestingly it is his oil paintings where he allowed himself to fully embrace Western aesthetics and styles. The composition in the present painting alludes to cubist styles, for the attention to lines and shapes of the sawmill and its surrounding landscape transforms the rustic ambience of the outdoor scene.

Chen Wen Hsi was very much drawn to colors in his oil paintings, for perhaps the medium enabled him a flexibility that ink and watercolors did not provide for him. In Sawmill the use of a bold color scheme further enhances the energy felt by the audience when looking in and imagining the story that inspired the artist to paint this particular narrative. Save for the presence of the two men chopping wood, the focus of the painting is the building, tractor, and scattered pieces of wood that govern the foreground.

Though the artist experimented with oil paintings, there are not many works of such kind in his oeuvre, marking each one a rare piece from his career. Therefore each oil painting that he created reflects a moment in his life where he chose to use this medium, for it would better convey his creative intent for a specific place and time. Sawmill is one painting that was created in this frame of mind. As per the artist's keen eye for detail, the painting is a sweeping narrative that contains within it all the elements that has established Chen Wen Hsi as one of the pioneering artists in Singapore's art canon.