Lim Tze Peng

Share

Share

Add fave View in room

About the artwork

Lim Tze Peng’s works was once described to be bitter, not sweet by Liu Kang, a fellow Singaporean artist. He is known for his Balinese themed figurative art, due to the lack of colour. However, in this piece, he explores and experiments by taking a bold move by using an audacious splash of colours. Instead of sticking to the traditional black on rice paper, the usage of the colours gives the artwork a unique, fresh outlook. Lim breaks free from the traditional calligraphy form giving it a delicate contemporary touch without compromising technique. Lim Tze Peng writes the text of 临江仙 by Yang Shen (1488 - 1559) - a poet in the Ming Dynasty. This poem appears in the classical Chinese novel “Romance of Three Kingdoms”, during the Three Kingdoms Era, this tale is about three parties fighting each other to be the ultimate ruler of China. Many heroic characters appear in the novel but most of them die by the end of the story. This poem expresses the passage of time and resonates the emptiness of life.

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.