Wong Keen: Calligraphic Interactions

Wong Keen is about the earliest artist in Singapore to paint in the Abstract Expressionist style. He is one very important 2nd generation artist. Unfortunately, there exist very few scholarly texts that discuss about his life or his art. This thesis will serve as an introduction to Wong Keen as an artist, investigate his artistic viewpoints and critically analyze his works. Besides a short biography on the life of the artist, the main thrust of the effort will be a discussion of his art in relation to Chinese calligraphy. Wong Keen¿s art can be easily recognized as the Abstract Expressionist style. This explains how the Abstract Expressionist style, on the other hand, is closely related to Oriental art, in particular calligraphy. As such in certain aspects Wong Keen would have a natural advantage over Western artists, as Chinese is his mother culture and since young he had been exposed to Chinese calligraphy. The essay looks at how Wong Keen¿s heritage has helped him to add to and enrich the artistic vocabulary of the Abstract Expressionist movement. To the author¿s knowledge this would be the first serious scholarly study of the artist.