Lot 079
LEE JOO FOR, JOHN
b. Penang, 1929
SWIRLING HAZE OVER JALAN AH FOOK,
JOHORE BAHRU, 1972
Titled, signed and dated ‘SWIRLING HAZE OVER JALAN
AH FOOK JOHORE BAHRU - LJF72’ (lower left)
Mixed media on paper
76cm x 142cm
PROVENANCE
Private Collection, Penang.
ESTIMATE RM 10,000 - 16,000
PRICE REALISED RM 20,160 |
An accomplished and versatile artist and educator, John Lee Joo For’s multi-disciplinary skills extend to the realms of painting, printmaking, sculpture, illustration and more. This landscape by Joo For displays his technical abilities in the detailed depictions of architecture which peeks through the thick haze that spreads across the scene depicted - Jalan Ah Fook in Johor. The only colour is the sky scape where a yellow sun sits in a blue and purple sky, and in the figure wandering across the street also in blue. The artwork manages to emit the suffocating quality of the thick smokey atmosphere and the debilitating effect smog has, portrayed in Lee Joo For’s exceptional and elegant combination of printmaking skills and narrative abilities.
In 1957, he was awarded a scholarship by the Malaysian government to study art at Brighton College of Art, England. He later furthered his education at Camberwell School of Art, London in 1962 and Royal College of Art, London in 1963. Apart from painting, Joo For developed the practice of sculpture and varied techniques of printmaking. He is considered by many art critics as one of the leading graphic artists in Malaysia. His graphics include woodcuts, linocuts, etchings, lithographs, and etcetera. He was honoured with two retrospective exhibitions in Penang in 1995 and 2008.
REFERENCE
My Name Is Fire: The Art of Lee Joo For, The Art Gallery, Penang, 1999.
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