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Lot Essay
Chen Wen Hsi's Boats by the River (Lot 360) capture fleeting and swiftly captured details of riverine activities in a style that amalgamates the artist’s styles in sketches and Chinese ink. The overall composition tilts a little to the right, underlining a sense of motion which is at one with the captured impression of boats trudging past. Hatch lines and decisively applied outlines render details of boats, clothes lines and a wooden bridge that connects the two visible bank of the river. Between and within the painted elements, Chen Wen Hsi then dabs in areas of coloured pigments that distinguishes the water body and surrounding foliage.
One of the earliest work of Chen Wen Hsi that represents the part of his oeuvre in the immediate few years after he arrived in Singapore, Boats by the River marks a keen visual observation of life in the new tropical environment Chen found himself. Malay and Indian ladies, local boats, houses and clothings et cetera – these are all elements of daily life which engaged Chen’s senses and which he felt compelled to document. He finds a balance in the paper format of sketches and drawing which allows him to paint en plein air and his favoured Chinese ink and colour which he was most adept at.
One of the earliest work of Chen Wen Hsi that represents the part of his oeuvre in the immediate few years after he arrived in Singapore, Boats by the River marks a keen visual observation of life in the new tropical environment Chen found himself. Malay and Indian ladies, local boats, houses and clothings et cetera – these are all elements of daily life which engaged Chen’s senses and which he felt compelled to document. He finds a balance in the paper format of sketches and drawing which allows him to paint en plein air and his favoured Chinese ink and colour which he was most adept at.