Dettagli

Birth:1947-11-21 Guangdong, China

Death:2008-02-08 Singapore

Bibliography:Having moved to Singapore in 1953, Chua Ek Kay's initial encounter with calligraphy was from his father who subsequently had him tutored under the calligrapher Chua Tim Huang. During his secondary school education at Catholic High, Chua was introduced to various mentors such as Shui Tit Sing, Li Huai Qiong and Ma Zhong Siang who all played roles in furthering his education in various artistic and cultural pursuits. 8 years after his graduation in 1967, Chua came to train under Fan Chang Tien (1907 - 1987) and furthered his understanding and development of traditional ink painting. It was under Fan's influence that Chua learn to apply the traditions of the Shanghai School literati painters. Towards the later part of his life, Chua sought to expand his artistic oeuvre beyond the boundaries of traditional Chinese art and sought further education in Laselle-SIA College of Arts and Australia. Despite deriving inspiration from works of Jackson Pollack, Matisse and Picasso, Chua made it a point to also apply the traditions of Chinese traditional art as a reflection of his development as a Singaporean contemporary artist. These artistic developments were came to culmination in his 1992 exhibition at the National Museum Art Gallery in which art critic T.K Sabapathy described Chua' s work "Yellow Door (Chan Shan) at Kreta Ayer" in his essay "Duality and tension in Chua Ek Kay's paintings" as "not devoid of difficulties...the relationshop between image and word is unclear; the function of the expanse of white surface in the right hand scroll is not consistently determined or clear throughout. Still, Chua has chosen to deal with scale and imagery on an unprecedented level; the hand quivers with strenuous effort. The Yellow Door marks a watershed in Chua's practice.'