Fuzzy Bus

Nan Yang is a style and school of art that blends Classical Chinese traditions with aspects of the West. It is a fusion of styles that makes it diverse and a rich part of South East Asian style. There are considered to be four primary founders of this style and Cheong Soo Pieng is one of them. He was born and raised in China, one of seven children. He was perhaps born with a destiny. Without the encouragement of his parents or family Pieng knew from a very young age that we wanted to be an artist. He began his education at the Xiamen Academy when he was sixteen and his self-discipline and determination led him to graduate in three years. He then moved to Hong Kong to continue his education. The Sino-Chinese war broke out while he was there and the school was destroyed, so Pieng returned home and became a teacher at the same school he had attended as a child. He enjoyed teaching and was highly respected, though it was his own work that drove him. He was an inspiration to his students and had his first exhibition at the school in 1942.

Pieng moved to Singapore where he continued to teach. He started working with oil paint while he was there and also started to work with sculpture. He was an instructor at the esteemed Nan Yang Academy for more than 20 years. In his late forties, he retired from teaching and focused all his time and energy on his own work. He has an eclectic style with various influences based on Egyptian techniques. His work was abstract and his most influential pieces are of women. He would distort them slightly, and they would often have elongated limbs. A trip he had taken to Bali remained a strong source of inspiration to him. His work was presented at the National Museum Gallery in Singapore, located centrally in 5 star Singapore district. Pieng died of heart failure four months before the opening of the exhibit. He is remembered for his art, and his quiet and thoughtful manner of teaching. His legacy includes being one of the founders for the Nanyang style of painting.

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