Artist retrospective at Nafa showcases 'New Nanyang' style
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Artist Cheah Thien Soong, 71, is proud of his Chinese paintings that are painted in what he calls New Nanyang style. Cheah, who is Malaysian, says in Mandarin: "People tell me that my work has a distinct regional flavour and a style that is not common in Chinese ink painting. -- ST PHOTO: EDWARD TEO
Artist Cheah Thien Soong, 71, is proud of his Chinese paintings that are painted in what he calls New Nanyang style.
Cheah, who is Malaysian, says in Mandarin: "People tell me that my work has a distinct regional flavour and a style that is not common in Chinese ink painting.
"I call it 'New Nanyang' style, a continuation and advancement of the Nanyang art in the region that began in the 1950s."
The Nanyang style refers to art in South-east Asia that marries Chinese and Western styles and techniques of painting. Its practitioners include the late Singapore pioneer artists Chen Wen Hsi and Cheong Soo Pieng, who taught at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (Nafa).
