The Journey of Lim Tze Peng

FRONT COVER ART Extracted from Singapore River Series This book is printed to accompany Lim Tze Peng’s Solo Exhibition at Ode To Art in November 2009

ODE TO ART Ode To Art Raffles City 252 North Bridge Road, Raffles City Shopping Centre, #01-36E/F, Singapore 179109 T +65 6250 1901 Ode To Art Kuala Lumpur 168 Jalan Bukit Bintang, The Pavilion, #06-24E/F, Kuala Lumpur 55100, Malaysia T +603 2148 9816 E sales@odetoart.com W www.odetoart.com

COPYRIGHT 2009 ODE TO ART All rights reserved. No part of this publiation may be produced in any form or means without prior agreement and written permission of Ode To Art Pte Ltd

‘Journey’ is an insight into the artistic passage of the cultural medallion winner and much respected Singaporean icon Mr. Lim Tze Peng.

Ode To Art is pleased to present a retrospective

collection of art from Lim Tze Peng that spans over fifty years

of the artist’s career. This book features a spectrum of his works from his depiction of Singapore landscapes in the early years of his life to his most recent calligraphy works.

‘Journey’ illustrates the skill and talent of an artist wielding a traditional medium in a contemporary style,

and more importantly his ability to tell a Singaporean story.

Mr. Lim Tze Peng Artist Portrait

About Lim Tze Peng Mr Lim Tze Peng was born in Singapore in 1923. Largely selftaught, Tze Peng drew from the available traditions evident at the birth of Singapore’s artistic scene in the 30s and 40s. Even though Lim was born and educated in Singapore, his diligent studies and daily dedication to practising his craft enabled him to excel in the Chinese ink tradition.

His new ink works are deeply rooted in tradition, yet they have a palpably contemporary feel, and can be enjoyed by those who are schooled in other traditions. Lim’s creative impulses for his new works is clear, where previously it was “I see and I paint, now it’s I reflect and I paint”. Lim is a man of gentle disposition, yet the sheer physicality entailed in his work is astonishingly manifested. His latest series of calligraphic works reveal a new level of artistic maturity - their raw energy reflect an aggressive swiftness and decisive ferocity, injecting the calligraphy with an invigorating tension.

Lim shows by example that Singapore’s multi-cultural environment may provide a context in which artists can respond to a variety of influences without being rapped in a defensive form of traditionalism or a superficial form of cosmopolitanism.

Even as a recognised artist whose artistic practice has spanned over 60 years, Lim reminds artists of the need for continuous exploration, examination and experimentation.

By his own admission, Tze Peng’s artistic forays begin and end, invariably with the brushstroke. He says, “ Using the Chinese brush to paint requires one to have a good foundation in calligraphy. I myself have spent several decades perfecting the art of calligraphy.”

Exhibitions Selected Solo Exhibitions 1970 : 1st Solo Exhibition, Singapore.

1991 : 2nd Solo Exhibition, National Museum Art Gallery, Singapore.

1995 : Moments by Lim Tze Peng, Takashimaya Gallery, Singapore.

1998 : Meeting Places in Fleeting Spaces, Singapore Art Museum, Singapore.

2003 : Tze Peng, Singapore Art Museum, Singapore.

2009 : Inroads, National Art Museum, Singapore, National Att Museum of China, Beijing Selected Group Exhibitions 1977 : Royal Overseas League Exhibition, England.

1978 : Singapore Historical Monuments Exhibition, Singapore.

1978 : Singapore Artists Group Exhibition, Moscow, Russia.

1980 : Fifth Festival of Asian Art, Hong Kong.

1982 : Seventh International Artists Art Exhibition, Taiwan.

1986 : ASEAN Art Exhibition, various ASEAN countries.

1987 : Three-man Art Exhibition, Ginza, Tokyo, Japan.

1988 : Salon des Artists Francais, Grand Palais, Paris, France.

1989 : New York Art Expo 89, New York, USA. 1989 : 1st Bru-Sin Art Exhibition 89, National Museum Art Gallery, Brunei.

1989 : Contemporary Art in Singapore: Where East Meets West, Tropenmuseum, Amsterdam; Deutsche Bank AG, Dusseldorf, Hamburg, Nuremburg; Mannheimer Kunstverein, Mannheim; Federal Republic of Germany.

1990 : International Chinese Calligraphy Exhibition, Seoul, South Korea.

1991 : International Chinese Calligraphy Exhibition, Beijing, China.

1993 : Tze Peng by Himself, Art in Asia, Singapore Art Fair 1993, Shenns Fine Art Gallery, Singapore.

1993 : CAP III Inkscape, Singapore Artist Directory Exhibition , Empress Place Museum, Singapore.

1999 : Singapore Art Society 50th Anniversary Exhibition, Singapore.

2000 : 65th Anniversary Exhibition of The Society of Chinese Artists, Singapore.

2004 : Crossroads: Collective Works of Second-Generation Artists, NUS Museum, Singapore..

2005 : The Society of Chinese Artists 70th Anniversary Commemorative Exhibition, Singapore.

2005 : Style & Imagination: Art in the Nanyang Academy, Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, Singapore.

2006 : Highlights of Southeast Asian Collection, NUS Museum, Singapore.

Awards 1963 : National Day Award (PPA), Singapore.

1977 : Special Prize, Commonwealth Art Exhibition, England.

1981 : National Day Award (PBM), Singapore.

2003 : Cultural Medallion Award, Singapore.

Art Style Lim Tze Peng recently completed a series of successful exhibitions in Singapore, Beijing and finally in Shanghai. Hosted by Singapore Art Museum, National Art Museum of China and Shanghai Cultural Development Foundation Lim’s ink paintings of the Great Freehand Style (daxieyi), which lingered somewhere between abstraction and the figurative, appeared to be populated by indistinct images of old trees and cloud-shrouded mountains.

These came in an amazing variety of forms, their structures quite out of the ordinary. Furthermore, the artist’s strokes were bold, freewheeling, shrewd and full of a relentless vigour; his was an integral symphony of spots and lines, pigments and ink–in every way a manifestation of subjectivity that flowed out of his very psyche and sentiments, and even leaned towards abstraction. In terms of general composition and character morphology, his calligraphy was almost painterly, special in its own way. In the larger works in particular, Lim the calligrapher was dynamic, spontaneous and outstandingly uninhibited, as a certain sense of virility and boundlessness came through in the midst of thick inkiness and hollow strokes.

Early Works

Kampongs by the River 1050 x 1050mm, Ink on Paper

Chinatown Scenes I 1050 x 1050mm, Ink on Paper

Through the Alley I 1050 x 1050mm, Ink on Paper

Chinatown Scenes II 1050 x 1050mm, Ink on Paper

Market Scene 1050 x 1050mm, Ink on Paper right Early Day at the Market 1050 x 1050mm, Ink on Paper

The River Between 1050mm x1050cm, Ink on Paper

Chinese Home 1050mm x1050cm, Ink on Paper

Setting shop 1050mm x1050cm, Ink on Paper

Through the Alley II 1050 x 1050mm, Ink on Paper

top All in a Day’s Work 1050 x 1050mm, Ink on Paper right Lunch at the Coffeeshop 1050 x 1050mm, Ink on Paper

The Hawkers 1050 x 1050mm, Ink on Paper

Temple in Chinatown 1050 x 1050mm, Ink on Paper

Market Scenes II 1050 x 1050mm, Ink on Paper

The Vegetable Seller 1050 x 1050mm, Ink on Paper

Behind the Shophouses 1050 x 1050mm, Ink on Paper

Chinatown Scenes III 1050 x 1050mm, Ink on Paper next page left The Provision Store I 1050 x 1050mm, Ink on Paper next page right Chinatown Scenes 1050 x 1050mm, Ink on Paper

Chinatown Scenes IV 1050 x 1050mm, Ink on Paper

Dusk in Chinatown 1050 x 1050mm, Ink on Paper right Hindu Temple 1050 x 1050mm, Ink on Paper

Shophouse Living 1050mm x1050cm, Ink on Paper

The Fruitstalls 1050 x 1050mm, Ink on Paper

top The Foodstalls 1050mm x1050cm, Ink on Paper right Pottery Stalls 1050mm x1050cm, Ink on Paper

By the River I 1050mm x1050cm, Ink on Paper

The Provision Store II 1050mm x1050cm, Ink on Paper

The Fruitstalls II 1050mm x1050cm, Ink on Paper

top By the River II 1050mm x1050cm, Ink on Paper right By the River III 1050mm x1050cm, Ink on Paper

Recent Works

Singapore River Scenes I 1050 x 1050mm, Ink on Paper

Singapore River Scenes VIII 3300mmx1300mm, Ink on Paper Singapore River Scenes IV 1050mm x1050mm, Ink on Paper

Singapore River Scenes II 1050 x 1050mm, Ink on Paper

Singapore River Scenes IX 1050mm x1050mm, Ink on Paper

Singapore River Scenes III 3300mmx1300mm, Ink on Paper

Singapore River Scenes V 3000mmx1350mm, Ink on Paper

top Singapore River Scenes VI 1050mm x1050mm, Ink on Paper right Singapore River Scenes VII 1050mm x1050mm, Ink on Paper

Singapore River Series XI 1050mm, x 1050mm Ink on Paper

Singapore River Series XII 1050mm, x 1050mm Ink on Paper

Singapore River Series XIV 1050mm, x 1050mm Ink on Paper

Singapore River Series XIII 1050mm, x 1050mm Ink on Paper

Singapore River Scenes X 3300mmx1300mm, Ink on Paper

By the Coconut Trees 1050 x 1050mm, Ink on Paper

Jars 1050mm x 1050mm, Ink on Paper

Kampong Living I 1050 x 1050mm, Ink on Paper

Kampong Living II 1050 x 1050mm, Ink on Paper

Villages Scenes III 1050mm x1050mm, Ink on Paper

Villages Scenes I 1050mm x1050mm, Ink on Paper

Villages Scenes II 1050mm x1050mm, Ink on Paper

Calligraphy Series

Quietness Ink on Paper

Calligraphy Series VI Ink on Paper

Calligraphy Series I Ink on Paper

Calligraphy Series III Ink on Paper

Calligraphy Series VII Ink on Paper

Calligraphy Series IV Ink on Paper

Calligraphy Series II Ink on Paper

Calligraphy Series V Ink on Paper