Born in 1923, Lim Tze Peng is largely a self-taught artist. In his oeuvre, ink paintings and calligraphic works feature prominently, although there is a small number of 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. Lim, a school principal until his retirement in the early 1980s, was awarded the Cultural Medallion by the Singapore government in 2003.Between 2000 and 2002, Lim found renewed vigour and energy and produced large format works that are a testament of his mastery in the art of calligraphy. While his earlier calligraphic works are refined and scholarly, these later works, written in the wild cursive script, are bold and expressive. Interestingly, the muddled brushstrokes reflect the meaning of the characters, that is, ‘drunk’.
