陳文希

私人收藏，新加坡

The work is in overall good condition, as is the paper, which is clear and free from foxing. There is evidence of light wear and handling around the edges of the painting. Under ultraviolet light inspection, no restoration was found. Framed, under Plexiglas.
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Amongst Chen Wen Hsi’s body of works, it is the artist’s portrayal of gibbons that has received much admiration from his contemporaries and collectors alike. The present work aptly titled Gibbons is a classic piece from the artist’s oeuvre. A favourite theme throughout Chen Wen Hsi lifetime, the animal has come to be largely associated with his ink paintings. The artist was initially inspired by the 13th Century painting White Robed Guanyin, Crane and Gibbonby the Chinese Buddhist monk and artist Mu Xi (牧溪), and soon began to include gibbons into the paintings. 

During his lifetime Chen Wen Hsi acquired six gibbons as pets that enabled him to study and inspect the animals in their natural environment, therefore further facilitating his painting process.  His philosophy of achieving “irreducible simplicity”¹ is also evident in the current piece, notably in the use of specific colours and the perspective throughout the narrative. Contrary to traditional Chinese ink paintings, Gibbons is enriched by the application of numerous colours into a two-dimensional pictorial space. 

He once said, “What we are seeking in the art is not just physical likeness of shape and form, but composite image and spirit, the overall beauty and cohesion of the painting”².  Chen Wen Hsi’s gibbons are known to be true to life, and this is visible within the present work for the artist has captured the animals’ grace and agility: it is as if one can hear the gibbons themselves as they jump and chatter joyfully in play.

In Gibbons Chen Wen Hsi has chosen an earthy color palette to emphasize the natural scenery of the painting. Within Chinese culture gibbons symbolize longevity, for they are believed to live to a very old age like a xian (仙; celestial being, immortal). The present painting perfectly exemplifies the artist’s intuitive understanding of the natural world, and is reflective of Chen Wen Hsi’s Chinese ancestry and creative principles.

¹Chang Tsong-Zung et al., Paintings by Chen Wen Hsi, The Old and New Gallery, Singapore, 1987

²Choy Weng Yang, Chen Wen Hsi, Retrospective 1982, International Press Singapore, 1982^.