작품 상세

While the late Dato' Chuah Thean Teng was simplicity personified in his pioneering batik paintings, two of his children namely Siew Teng and Seow Keng were adept at creating labyrinthian forms and textures. Here, Siew Teng delved into a matrix of intricate forest-like connections while infusing a transparent cubicle bottling two curled foetal-like female figures vulnerable in adumbrated jaundiced yellow tints. With a bent of surrealism, even if the women were to escape the geometric enclosures, they need to make their way out of the jungle thickets. After winning a slew of art prizes in his 20s, Chuah Siew Teng honed his art education in England, first at the Ravensbourne College of Art, now university, and then the City & Guild Art School. The eldest of batik doyen Dato' Chuah Thean Teng's three artist sons, Siew Teng developed his own distinctive style especially achieving a mock stained-glass effect in his batiks. Like his father, an image of his work, one entitled The Monkey, was used by UNICEF in its greeting card. In the earlier years, he had solo exhibitions in London (1967, 1969), United States (1971), Australia (1972) and Japan (1975).