Born in 1928 in Malaysia, painter and sculptor Wee Kong Chai settled in Singapore in 1952. A graduate of the Singapore Academy of Arts (1957-60), Wee left for Paris in 1964 to study at the École Nationale Supérieure Des Beaux-Arts, returning to Singapore only five years later. Following his graduation from the Academy, Wee held his first exhibition, together with artist Yeo Kim Seng, in 1961. The artist’s passion for painting took it from a hobby to a full-time commitment and Wee gave up his job to devote all of his time to his artistic pursuit. In ‘Storyteller’ (1962) and ‘Working Class Family’ (1963) it can be seen how Wee’s skill and compositional techniques have evolved since his student days. However, his short brushstrokes and dimly lit stark scenes of everyday rural or working class life still strongly evoke Vincent van Gogh’s influence gleaned from books.
