The art of interpretation

Reviewed publication:
Yeo Wei Wei (ed.) 2010. Cheong Soo Pieng: Visions of Southeast Asia. Singapore: National Art Gallery. 277 pages. ISBN: 978-981-08-6422-4 (paperback)

Soo Pieng’s Visions of Southeast Asia was published in conjunction with the exhibition ‘Cheong Soo Pieng: Bridging Worlds’ at The National Art Gallery of Singapore (15 Sept-26 Dec 2010). As may be expected of a retrospect of the work of a visual artist, the volume contains a rich repertory of plates and illustrations, an overview of the artist’s biography (Xiamen 1917 - Singapore 1983), and, under the title ‘Bridging Worlds’, art-historian and art-critical reflections on Soo Pieng’s impressive body of work. In the 130-page section ‘Plates’, these reflections are still rounded off with substantive notes on the artist’s preoccupation with Southeast Asian subject matter, his use of colour and composition, and his bridging forms and traditions.

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