Expressionist Gesturesof Wong Keen |
| By Usha Nathan | |||||
 17 - 20 August 2007 at The Gallery, The Arts House Wong Keen demonstrated a flair for art from an early age. In a family of gifted calligraphers, it was not seen as unusual. He developed his interests further under the tutelage of veterans like Liu Kang and Chen Wen Hsi. Later, he held his first solo exhibition in the National Library in Singapore in the year 1961, and subsequently set out to New York with 200 dollars in his pocket. In the new continent, he persevered through various jobs - he worked at restaurants, framed paintings and later opened a gallery, without giving up his penchant for painting. Eventually, he became a full-time artist with the encouragement and support of his wife. Wong Keen’s journey follows a long arduous path to the eminent position he holds today as an accomplished artist spanning aesthetic realms of the East and the West. And his works continue to offer new spaces of dynamic expression and fluid, sublime form. The veteran artist has won critical acclaim for his brilliant abstract expressionist compositions in the US and elsewhere. Wong Keen’s idiosyncratic style, that infuses the sinuous grace of Chinese calligraphy with the energetic, individualistic brushwork of the New York school, has resulted in the construction of refreshing and emphatic artistic spaces. However, the artist has constantly evolved in a career spanning more than 40 years, and it may be time to look beyond abstract expressionism. The upcoming exhibition marks a transition of sorts in the illustrious career of this Singapore born artist, as the artist himself remarks, “Abstract expressionism is done. Now I continue working as an expressionist.” “Expressions by Wong Keen” will showcase the recent artworks by the artist. The show is organised by Galerie Belvedere at The Arts House from 17 to 20th August. These works depict comparatively more visible forms and subjects while the style retains the expressiveness of abstract expressionism. The artist’s palette includes a plethora of hues, adding to the expressive depth of the artworks. For instance, the luminous sparkling blue of 'Fantasy in Blue', his abstract lotus composition, has a sublime quality quite unlike the muted greys and earthy tones encountered elsewhere. The latter evoke the feeling of standing under an overcast sky. In the various abstractions, colours of different moods balance each other and combine the intensity of mirth and sadness, lending emotive strength to his compositions. The new works showcased at The Arts House offer a wide selection. In the more expressionist and figurative works, the streets and the banal of Singapore come alive in the artist’s confident yet meager brushwork. Elsewhere, the familiar motifs of the lotus and the female nude are rendered in deft, habitual strokes of a mature painter. Speaking of the move away from abstraction, the artist tells us about his need to evolve and grow as an artist. The choice of the subjects for his paintings, he observes, is incidental. The artist’s works have always embraced forms, often subtle and revelatory, which he derives through keen observation and a staunchly grounded realism. “You have to confront the reality you live in, and the things you see that affect you.” he says. This sensitivity to his subjects is evident in the insistent strokes that depict his affective response to the world around him. The exhibition celebrates this expressive flair of Wong Keen, and his familiar depictions of local and personal spaces. In the spirit of expressionism, these works have to be experienced, not witnessed. Exhibition: 17 - 20 August 2007
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