Lim Tze Peng

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About the artwork

空山新雨后，天气晚来秋。 明月松间照，清泉石上流。 竹喧归浣女，莲动下渔舟。 随意春芳歇，王孙自可留。 Lim Tze Peng breaks from the traditional form of Chinese calligraphy to create new dimensions of free expression. In this piece, he fuses different strokes - bold yet gentle - constructing sturdiness and elegance in the fluidity of his strokes. Lim likes to layer the rice papers when painting thus producing ink stains on the papers below; this gives the artwork distinctive texture and character. This combination of ink stain and calligraphy results in his iconic abstract ‘hutuzi’ also known as muddled writing. In this piece, Lim reinterprets the poem 竹里馆 or The Bamboo Lodge by Wang Wei - a famous Tang Dynasty poet, musician, painter and official. The entire poem reads: “独坐幽篁里, 弹琴复长啸;深林人不知, 明月来相照.” This translates to –“Seated alone in the remote bamboo grove, I strum the lute and sing aloud. Deep in the woods, no one knows I exist, only the bright moon shines its light upon me.”

About the artist

Born in Singapore in 1921, Lim Tze Peng is one of Singapore’s most significant artists and a living legend. Renowned for his Chinese ink creations of post-independence Singapore, he also practices Chinese calligraphy. Alongside local and international exhibitions, his masterpieces are exhibited in prominent Singapore institutions and part of many prestigious collections. Lim has been bestowed several awards including the Special Prize at the Commonwealth Art Exhibition in England in 1977 and the prestigious Cultural Medallion in Singapore in 2003. In May 2012, he broke records with the sale of his works at a Christies auction in Hong Kong.