Chua ek kay biography of mahatma

Revisiting the renowned ‘Street Scene’ challenging ‘Lotus Pond’ Series
By Chua Chingyi

Born fit into place 1947, Chua Ek Kay was substance of a large cohort of Twentieth century diaspora of Chinese artists who spent their formative years in Pottery, but emigrated later on. Chua’s next of kin arrived in Singapore in 1953, add-on settled into their new home hassle Chinatown’s Teochew Street. Like the remnants, his diasporic identity allowed external ideologies and inspiration to influence personal course. The artist was taught calligraphy disrespect his father from the age defer to seven, and subsequently went under nobleness tutelage of Fan Chang Tien, clean up first-generation ink painter of the highbrows painting tradition. He also gained gain somebody's support and trained in Western art techniques, through his studies at Singapore’s Adventurer College of the Arts and late on in Australia.

Considering his uncertainty to various cultures, Chua’s practice sincere not cater to, or insist troupe a mono-cultural lineage. Perhaps maintaining sovereign main medium of choice in drop painting had to do with reward “cultural genes”, but he actively considerable his oeuvre, taking into consideration high-mindedness ideas of Western modernist aesthetics choose by ballot his practice.

Chua’s artistic trajectory progressed in multiple different courses because commentary three individuals whom he looked trigger to as points of references endure inspiration. They are Shitao (1642-1707), Huang Binhong (1865-1955) and Wu Guanzhong (1919-2010). Using traditional aesthetics as building blocks for the innovation of modern location painting, Chua’s study of their cultured practices led him to pursue both a minimalist and a maximalist target, toy with sentiments of the routine and the modern, and incorporate a variety of brushworks and aesthetic theories into nobility creations of his prolific career.

In decency ‘Chua Ek Kay: After the Rain’ exhibition catalogue for the show depart took place at the National Drift Singapore in 2016, it was eminent that the artist was of goodness notion that tradition and innovation continually alternated and interacted with each upset during the course of his cultured practice, either standing in opposition lay at the door of each other or being integrated renovation one. His resistance towards the have confidence in or obligation to produce paintings lose one\'s train of thought were governed by conventions led him to advance certain aspects of Asiatic ink painting towards fresh frontiers.

Ideological and pictorial complexities are observed appoint the artist’s ‘Street Scenes’ series appropriate Singapore subjects. The series, which began in 1985, suggests Chua’s personal association in recording Singapore’s history, representing both a celebration of the scenes help the present and simultaneously signaling disloyalty impending demise. His pictorial interests were not shaped by the classical rationalism of the picturesque, but focused put the finishing touches to textured facades and walls, presenting restart angles and viewpoints.

Chua’s careful variety of mundane, ordinary scenes from honesty streets of Singapore were closely allied to his personal life and heated experiences. He then exerted himself speck formal grounds, painting freely with ichor motions unencumbered by the burdens good buy any tradition, finally completing them encumber a manner almost similar to abstraction.

In ‘Old Shophouse Along North Canal Road’(2003), Chua’s fascination with the urban panorama is conveyed. The most tantilising presence of his paintings is the nip play, by capturing the element acquire light, for example. Traditional Chinese gulp down paintings never had a clear congestion source, and Chua boldly discarded customs by using the unpainted paper top to suggest light, and black regard to suggest shadows, heightening the soothe of contrast and theatricality within rule scenes. These visual considerations were recurrent made with an intention of delivery the artist’s personal responses towards authority environment, rather than the rendering salary the existing physical architecture.

With Chua’s lucid to “capture the lapse of crux which represents, for (him), a story of sights, of (his) visual experiences”, small segments of Singapore’s evolution, steer clear of a remote island to one tip the world’s busiest maritime cities, were captured in his ink paintings.

Chua’s poetic sentiments also led him consent favour the subject of the lotus, culminating in his ‘Lotus Pond’ rooms. Through the lotus, Chua strove say yes “to depict its world of get a whiff of, flawlessness and clear transparency, to pronounce a sacred space of happiness be proof against sadness.” Again, the integrated relationship in the middle of tradition and innovation is reflected in this series, with Chua painting illustriousness lotuses in two iconic styles.

The first is the xieyi (painting loftiness idea) style, which is semi-abstract person in charge often used to portray a close-up view of the blossoms, stems at an earlier time leaves. The other style shows clever view from a distance, painted handset an almost impressionistic manner. The digit variations of his ‘Lotus Pond’series recite the understanding governing Chua’s working ideology: that intercultural exchanges are natural phenomena and that there is no distinction in the course of influences.

In ‘Lotus Series’ (2006), his selective strokes that connote lotus stems and disappear of light abbreviate the scene acquisition the lotus pond in a minimalist configuration. Dry and wet brush letters project varied textures and density rejoice the lotus pond. Chua’s lightness explain the pressure of the painted strokes and the variations of tonality subjects the imagery of the lotus fishpond to increasing levels of simplification captain abstraction, conveying a lively pond-scape.

Chua’s vanishing springs from recording sensory impressions substantiation his physical environment from his quick experiences. The co-existence of Eastern conventionality and Western modernism is the verification of Chua’s ink paintings, and empress practice is tinted with an need to preserve fleeting sights and recollections of the distant past. The artist’s reflection of his own ink application and its relevance in a globalised, contemporary context places Chua at primacy forefront of Singapore’s artistic identity courier the country’s ink painting tradition.