.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
Born in 1917, Xiamen, China, Cheong Soo Pieng studied Chinese ink painting in the Xiamen Academy of Fine Arts, and later combined this with Western concepts in the Xin Hua Academy of Fine Arts in Shanghai. By the time he migrated to Singapore in 1946, he had a solid grasp of Chinese ink and Western oil painting history, techniques, pictorial formats. In 1963, the London-based Redfern Gallery organised two exhibitions by two up and coming Asian-Chinese artists: Cheong Soo Pieng and Zao Wou-ki. The works produced and displayed throughout Cheong's Europe trip reflected a consistent aesthetic: masterful abstract landscapes with dense painterly intersections of orange, red, and black, rendered with calligraphic intensity. Cheong showed a distinct preference for the intersection of earth and sky, with a rising or setting sun clearly in evidence - the insignia of cyclical birth and life.
Abstract (Lot 240) is a perfect representation of Cheong's endeavours during his European sojourn. Like other works of this period, it depicts a landscape composition; with powerful surges of paint creating the emblematic sun, a dense black mass to represent the sky and other distant landforms; and finally the warm gold-orange of the background, contrasting with the other hues, which evokes the color theory utilized by Western artists such as Mark Rothko to diminish figurative or objective presence in favor of aesthetic essence. The dynamic, almost turbulent nature of the centrifugal details creates a powerful force within the work. It recalls the essence of Chinese calligraphy, in which the motion and life energy of the painter is imbued into the actual composition through deeply gestural strokes and the rapid laying of paint.
Displaying a more experimental format, Abstract Landscape (Lot 239) also dated to the 1960s, reflects Cheong's interest in modernist interplay between abstraction and representation. The artwork displays a traditional longboat navigating into a narrow channel, hemmed by a sandy bay. Using moulded, round shapes, Cheong superbly creates the visual impression of the trees, sky, and inlet, without articulating specific details or features. The vertical perspective and pictorial balance suggests Cheong's classical, as do the muted colors which evoke Chinese wash painting. However the geometry of the composition is primarily modern and keenly progressive, reinforcing Cheong's role as an artistic pioneer.
Abstract (Lot 240) is a perfect representation of Cheong's endeavours during his European sojourn. Like other works of this period, it depicts a landscape composition; with powerful surges of paint creating the emblematic sun, a dense black mass to represent the sky and other distant landforms; and finally the warm gold-orange of the background, contrasting with the other hues, which evokes the color theory utilized by Western artists such as Mark Rothko to diminish figurative or objective presence in favor of aesthetic essence. The dynamic, almost turbulent nature of the centrifugal details creates a powerful force within the work. It recalls the essence of Chinese calligraphy, in which the motion and life energy of the painter is imbued into the actual composition through deeply gestural strokes and the rapid laying of paint.
Displaying a more experimental format, Abstract Landscape (Lot 239) also dated to the 1960s, reflects Cheong's interest in modernist interplay between abstraction and representation. The artwork displays a traditional longboat navigating into a narrow channel, hemmed by a sandy bay. Using moulded, round shapes, Cheong superbly creates the visual impression of the trees, sky, and inlet, without articulating specific details or features. The vertical perspective and pictorial balance suggests Cheong's classical, as do the muted colors which evoke Chinese wash painting. However the geometry of the composition is primarily modern and keenly progressive, reinforcing Cheong's role as an artistic pioneer.