Lot 057
LEE LONG LOOI
b. Kedah, 1942
ONE GOOD DAY, 1980
Signed and dated 'long looi lee '80' lower centre
Inscribed 'ONE GOOD DAY batik on paper moulded on canvas'
on reverse
Ink and batik on paper adhered to canvas
90cm x 60cm
PROVENANCE
Private collection, Kuala Lumpur.
ESTIMATE RM 20,000 - 25,000
PRICE REALISED RM 37,400
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Lee Long Looi’s dabbling in batik art is little known although he had won prizes in the Batik Painting Category for three consecutive years in the United States since 1977. But his is not the purist batik art, but one embellished with brushstrokes apart from the tjanting. The scene is one of nostalgia that depicts three women busy preparing food for their families before sunrise. A common practice in the early pre-industrialisation age in Asia was male breadwinners having to set out before the crack of dawn and often returning late before sundown. The community spirit is also suggested as the three share gossip as they go about their work.
Lee Long Looi graduated from the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, Singapore in 1964 with Georgette Chen Li-Ying and Lai Foong Moi as his main tutors. He furthered his Art studies at the Art Students League (1970) and the Pratt Institute (1973) in New York. He had several solos in the US, including his first at Jarvis Art Gallery, New York in 1970. Among his awards were First Prize (watercolour) in the Washington Square Outdoor Art Exhibition in 1981 and 1986; Best Mixed Media in competitions in Fort Lauderdale (1987), Discovery 3-Artists (1987), Chicago Tribune (1992) and South Miami Hospital (1994). The Art Gallery accorded him two Retrospective exhibitions, first in Penang in 1997 and the other at Art Salon@SENI in Kuala Lumpur in 2010.
REFERENCE
Lee Long Looi Retrospective, The Art Gallery, 1997.
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