작품 상세

For vegetation sprouting up over water or under, there are different states of mind, and of life, the top with the effusive swathe of light and that under with an aqueous movement and growth of silence. There is a contemplative calm as the leaf blades dance or sway, each balancing each other in an awkward interdependence. Life is not all about flamboyance and pageantry and can be celebrated in such inobtrusive natural forms, and still exude a gorgeous aura. There is a schism in Jolly Koh’s art. The intellect of theory and philosophy honed from his academic background: National Diploma in Design, Hornsey College of Art, London; Art Teacher’s Certificate, London University; MSc Indiana University, USA (Fulbright scholarship), and his teaching Art in the United States, Australia and Malaysia. And the other is the incorrigible romantic in his canvas. His first claim to great fame was as one of the Magnificent 7 in the GRUP exhibition held at the AIA Building, Kuala Lumpur, in 1967.In 2017, he published the 350-page retrospective book defining his 60-year art career called Jolly Koh @ 76, which was also the title of the accompanying exhibition (organised by Henry Butcher Art Auctioneers) at White Box, MAP Publika. A great achievement for one who was given his first solo, at the tender age of 16, at the British Council in Kuala Lumpur in 1957.