Born in 1923, Lim Tze Peng is mainly a self-taught artist. Ink paintings and calligraphic works are predominantly featured in his work, though there is a small collection of early oils, watercolours and drawings. He created a unique style of ink painting using rich brush and tonal details, and this approach is often regarded as a manifestation of the Nanyang Style in the ink medium. He was awarded the Cultural Medallion in 2003.Although best known for his Chinese ink paintings, Lim also paints in oil, a medium he picked up from as early as the 1950s. The tiered structures so unique to Bali suggest that ‘Small Shrines’ is a scene from the tropical island. Towards the end of the 20th century, Lim’s trees begin to take on an increasingly abstracted form, where trunk and branches are wildly entangled and undifferentiated.
