Ho Chee Lick
Coming 30 May 1999, Soobin Art
Gallery will present 58 beautiful oil paintings on Pulau Ubin by Ho Chee Lick.
Ho Chee Lick, a PhD in Linguistics, is currently an assistant professor in the
Department of English Language and Literature, National University of Singapore.
He is also known as a bilingual (English-Chinese) poet and translator, and a
musician (singer and pianist). Not many know that he paints, and paints
seriously.
Ho was taught by Chen Wen Hsi and Chen Chong Swee at Chinese High School in the
60s, and later studied under the former in his studio for two years. Since then,
art has remained his lifelong passion. When he was in graduate school in the US,
a group of painters sponsored a solo exhibition for him on his sketches of
student life.
Today he visits Pulau Ubin religiously with his mentor and friend Lim Tze Peng
in search of subjects. Each Saturday, equipped with only the most basic of
materials, they would spend hours prolifically painting the rural island, which
holds for them the last vestige of Singapore's past. Ho sums up his experience
of "expressing Ubin" in these words: Houses and boats
Come and go
The sky remains
Rocks and trees
Utter not a word
The sea speaks "People sometimes ask me, seeing the dark colors, as well as the
deserted houses and abandoned jetties in my paintings, whether I am depressed.
Not at all, I tell them, I am a very happy person. The darkness in my paintings
expresses not sadness but the heroism of life."
Ho finds it painful having to replicate the objects out there in Ubin, and
prefers to paint from the heart-as he interacts with Ubin freely and
spontaneously. The artist is continually seeking changes and breakthroughs in
his art, which is evident in this series, completed within a one-year time
frame. His earlier works are somber reflections of the subjects; his later works
are alive in their own rhythm of life. "Expressing Ubin" ends on 13 June 1999.
Exhibition Venue:
Soobin Art Gallery
Date: 30 May - 13 June 1999
Gallery Hours:
Mon to Sat 11am to 7pm
Sun 11am to 5pm
(Public Holidays by Appointment only)
Enquiries:
Tel: 3922066
Fax: 3922366
Website: http://www.sobinart.com.sg
Art Education
1962-67 Student of Chen Wen Hsi and Chen Chong Swee at Hwa Chong, Singapore
1965-67 Student at Chen Wen Hsi Studio, Singapore
Exhibitions
1992 Joint Hwa Chong Alumni Art Exhibition, Singapore
1990 Solo Exhibition, Locust Street Gallery, Lawrence, Kansas, USA
1965 Joint Hwa Chong Students Art Exhibition, Singapore
Art Instructor
1989-90 Traditional Chinese Painting, Lawrence Art Centre, Kansas, USA
NUSIAN SHOW 2004
Organised by NUS Museums, "NUSIAN
Art" presents 127 pieces by 89 NUS veteran and budding artists. They include
works in oils, watercolour, Chinese ink painting, pottery, porcelain, ceramics,
brass, glass, clay, photography as well as in new technology media such as
Cyberart, Sonic art and Net art. The exhibition was opened by NUS Deputy
President and Provost, Professor Tan Chorh Chuan, on 14 August and will run
until the end of the year.
Some of the artists' unprofessed pursuits bring an individual touch behind the
world of academia. Not a few of the works are a reflection of what they care
about.
Senior Lecturer Dr Ho Chee Lick of the English Language & Literature Department
speaks volumes in his series of oil paintings called ‘Moving Out – Leaving
Behind'. "I choose to paint things that touch me – abandoned houses (which
housed the history of the families), back alleys (of shops, where hard labour
takes place), old spiral staircases (which seem to be out of use and out of
sight), roast ducks (which I love to see 'alive') – and which I think deserve
our attention and respect."
Dr Ho, whose works have been exhibited in the U.S. and Singapore, studied in the 1960s under one of Singapore 's foremost pioneer artists, the late Chen Wen Hsi. He used to work with watercolours, Chinese ink painting and oil. In the past eight years, he has concentrated on oil as it gives him "greater expressiveness".
Boat Door Moving out
