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Actions Displays	Details Remove from selection Add to selection CollectionSouth & Southeast Asian Collection Object numberS2015-0001-002-0 TitleBorobudur Image 婆罗浮屠像 CreatorChua Ek Kay 蔡逸溪 (1947–2008) DescriptionChua Ek Kay was born in Guangdong, China. In 1953, Chua arrived in Singapore with his family and settled on Liang Seah Street, an urban landscape that would in years come to influence his life and art. Chua showed keen aptitude for art as a child, and learned calligraphy from his father from aged seven. He was schooled in the foundation of Chinese art and culture and honed his skills with local calligraphers. Chua also learned painting from the Shanghai-style painter Fan Changqian (Fan Chang Tien), to whom he attributed the greatest influence on his artistic journey. In 1985, at aged 38, after a series of various jobs, Chua decided to become a full-time artist, and held his first solo exhibition in 1988 at the Chinese Chamber of Commerce. Through the 1990s, Chua studied at the Lasalle-SIA College of the Arts, then in Australia. With his Chinese art foundation and Western art training, Chua became adept in reconciling the two philosophies of art, creating new works that are poised between tradition and innovation. His most endearing subjects are the Singapore landscapes, not of mountains and rivers but of shophouses, streets and the looming skyscrapers that defined the changing face of Singapore in the 1980s. His well-loved works include depictions of the neighbourhoods in which he grew up such as Upper Serangoon Road, and Queen Street, where he studied at Catholic High School. For the next 20 years, Chua painted what he called “localised” shanshui (literally mountains and water, or landscape). Chua was awarded the Cultural Medallion in 1999. ‘Borobudur’ is one in Chua’s series of landscapes featuring the ancient temple complex in Java, Indonesia. As with his street scenes of Singapore, this contemporary imagining of landscape in ink illustrates Chua’s courage in remoulding Chinese and Western concepts yet his deference to both at the same time. Production date 1990 - 1990 Object categoryChinese painting MaterialChinese ink on paper Dimensions H: 95 cm W: 90 cm Credit lineGift of T K Sabapathy

CollectionSouth & Southeast Asian Collection

Object numberS2015-0001-002-0

TitleBorobudur Image 婆罗浮屠像

CreatorChua Ek Kay 蔡逸溪 (1947–2008)

DescriptionChua Ek Kay was born in Guangdong, China. In 1953, Chua arrived in Singapore with his family and settled on Liang Seah Street, an urban landscape that would in years come to influence his life and art. Chua showed keen aptitude for art as a child, and learned calligraphy from his father from aged seven. He was schooled in the foundation of Chinese art and culture and honed his skills with local calligraphers. Chua also learned painting from the Shanghai-style painter Fan Changqian (Fan Chang Tien), to whom he attributed the greatest influence on his artistic journey. In 1985, at aged 38, after a series of various jobs, Chua decided to become a full-time artist, and held his first solo exhibition in 1988 at the Chinese Chamber of Commerce. Through the 1990s, Chua studied at the Lasalle-SIA College of the Arts, then in Australia. With his Chinese art foundation and Western art training, Chua became adept in reconciling the two philosophies of art, creating new works that are poised between tradition and innovation. His most endearing subjects are the Singapore landscapes, not of mountains and rivers but of shophouses, streets and the looming skyscrapers that defined the changing face of Singapore in the 1980s. His well-loved works include depictions of the neighbourhoods in which he grew up such as Upper Serangoon Road, and Queen Street, where he studied at Catholic High School. For the next 20 years, Chua painted what he called “localised” shanshui (literally mountains and water, or landscape). Chua was awarded the Cultural Medallion in 1999. ‘Borobudur’ is one in Chua’s series of landscapes featuring the ancient temple complex in Java, Indonesia. As with his street scenes of Singapore, this contemporary imagining of landscape in ink illustrates Chua’s courage in remoulding Chinese and Western concepts yet his deference to both at the same time.

Production date 1990 - 1990

Object categoryChinese painting

MaterialChinese ink on paper

Dimensions

H: 95 cm
W: 90 cm

Credit lineGift of T K Sabapathy

Details