Between 1st and 23rd August 2024, Confluence Art Space will showcase 15 ink paintings by two Cultural Medallion recipients, Chua Ek Kay and Lim Tze Peng, in an exhibition titled “In August Company”. The word “August”, which is the month the show will be held in, is also an adjective that can be used to refer to an individual respected by and of great importance to society. Visitors to this exhibition will be In August Company, a fitting description for the late Chua Ek Kay, hailed as the bridge between Eastern and Western art, and Singapore’s oldest living artist at 102 years old, Lim Tze Peng.
In this exhibition, Chua is represented by a special selection of paintings from his lotus series. Chua’s lotuses have evolved from figurative illustrations of the lotus pond to full abstract expressions that evoke the emotions from interactions with lotuses, such as observing their movement in the wind, the blooming of flowers, or the glistening water surface under the moonlight. A highlight of In August Company is Reflections (top), a painting that was completed in 2007, one year before the artist’s passing. Over 1.5 meters long, Reflections depicts the water surface of a lotus pond using a combination of fine and expressive brushwork, masses of colour and ink, as well as the skilful use of imaginary, white space. While the presentation of Chua’s compositions is heavily influenced by modern Western art, his artistic endeavours always embody the essence and spirit of his subjects, the key emphasis of Chinese ink painting.
The highlight of In August Company representing Lim Tze Peng is Street Hawkers in Chinatown (right), a detailed illustration of an alley between shophouses painted in the early 1980s, prior to the Singapore government’s efforts to move street hawkers into hawker centres. Street Hawkers in Chinatown belongs to a rare series of early yet mature paintings by Lim that documented an era of Singapore we can no longer see today.
Venue: Confluence Art Space, 2 Havelock Road, #02-29 Havelock 2, Singapore 059763.
When: 1 - 23 Aug 2024,
