Strokes of Life: The Art of Chen Chong Swee

Chen Chong Swee is acknowledged as one of the earliest artists to have explored depicting Southeast Asian scenes within the medium of traditional Chinese ink painting. Published on the occasion of a retrospective exhibition at National Gallery Singapore, this catalogue bears witness to Chen’s explorations across the mediums of ink and oil, the influence his immediate surroundings had on his art, and his insistence, above all, that it was impossible to divorce art from life. Full-colour image plates, newly commissioned essays and a biographical timeline of the artist within the catalogue flesh out the inflections of Chen’s oeuvre.

Publisher: National Gallery Singapore
Author Biography: Cai Heng holds a PhD in Art History and Theory from The University of Sydney and is currently Curator at National Gallery Singapore. She has played key curatorial roles in exhibitions including Seeing the Kite Again Series II: Wu Guanzhong Donation Exhibition (2011), Chua Ek Kay: After the Rain (2015), Siapa Nama Kamu? Art in Singapore since the 19th Century (2015) and Wu Guanzhong: Beauty Beyond Form (2015). Her research interests focus on modern and contemporary ink, and the issues of Chinese modernity and the art of the Chinese diaspora.
Language: English and Chinese
Country of Origin: Singapore
Page count: 212
Binding: Flexibound
Search words: Chinese ink, ink painting, Chen Chong Swee