Ho Ho Ying - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Ho Ho Ying is a Singaporean

Singapore

Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...

abstract

Abstract art

Abstract art uses a visual language of form, color and line to create a composition which may exist with a degree of independence from visual references in the world. Western art had been, from the Renaissance up to the middle of the 19th century, underpinned by the logic of perspective and an...

artist known for his avant-garde Chinese calligraphy and his Abstract Expressionistic works of art unique to Asian ideology. He is also an accomplished author known by his moniker 子木(Zǐ Mù), and an art critic for the Singapore visual arts community.

Ho is a was born to a father who came to Singapore on his own to work as a cook for Mrs Loke Cheng Kim

Loke Cheng Kim

-Early life:Loke Cheng Kim was born the eldest daughter of a Hokkien Chinese family which owned tin mines in Selangor and had been established in Malaya for generations. Her mother, Soon Kui Sim took over the management of her husband's tin mines in Rawang, when he was forced to retire due to...

, mother of Datuk Loke Wan Tho

Loke Wan Tho

Loke Wan Tho born in Kuala Lumpur , was a cinema magnate, ornithologist, and photographer. He was the founder of Cathay Organisation in Singapore and Malaysia, and Motion Picture and General Investments Limited in Hong Kong....

. His childhood years was spent with his mother on Hainan island. Ho migrated to Singapore with his mother when he was 9 years old, to reunite with the elder Ho and escape from the Second Sino-Japanese War

Second Sino-Japanese War

The Second Sino-Japanese War was a military conflict fought primarily between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan. From 1937 to 1941, China fought Japan with some economic help from Germany , the Soviet Union and the United States...

. Ho received his education at the Chinese High School. It was also then he developed strong interest in art under the influence of teachers like Liu Kang

Liu Kang

Liu Kang is a video game character in the Mortal Kombat fighting game series. First appearing in the series' first title, Liu Kang is portrayed as a Shaolin monk who enters the Mortal Kombat tournament to save his world, Earthrealm, from being destroyed due to having lost nine consecutive...

and Chen Wen Hsi

Chen Wen Hsi

Chen Wen Hsi , is one of Singapore's pioneer artists, known for his avant-garde Chinese paintings.He was born in Baigong in Guangdong province, and had his early education at Chen Li Primary School and St...

. As he was a poor and could not afford art materials, Chen would often offer him money to buy the art materials. Ho's confidence in his art grew as he was proficient with Chinese calligraphy and often won awards in school. When he was 18 years old, his mother died of cervical cancer and shortly after giving birth to his youngest sister. As his father was away working with Mrs Loke's household in Kuala Lumpur

Kuala Lumpur

Kuala Lumpur is the capital and the second largest city in Malaysia by population. The city proper, making up an area of , has a population of 1.4 million as of 2010. Greater Kuala Lumpur, also known as the Klang Valley, is an urban agglomeration of 7.2 million...

, Ho had to take on the responsibility of taking care of his two younger brothers 5 years and 6 years of age, a 9-year old sister and a 4-and-half months old infant sister. Life was hard for Ho and his siblings as his father could not remit money home on time to them, and Ho often had to seek credit for food and provisions from shop owners.

In 1962 Ho graduated from Nanyang University

Nanyang University

Nanyang University was a university in Singapore from 1956 to 1980. During its existence, it was Singapore's only Chinese language post-secondary institution...

with a Bachelor (Arts) in Chinese Language and Literature. In 1963, Ho along with seven other artists Wee Beng Chong, Tong Siang Eng, Tay Chee Toh, Tan Yee Hong, Johnda Goh and Ng Yat Chuang frequently gathered together to discuss the development of the country’s fine art, and came to develop a singular thought that modern art for Singapore should be explored with loft and zeal. And so in October that year they founded the Modern Art Society, and launched their First Modern Art Exhibition at the National Library. In 1975, Ho was presented with an award the Malay arts group APAD (Angkatan Pelukis Aneka Daya) for his contribution in promoting art among different racial art groups in Singapore and uniting various ethnic art organisations.

Ho's art evolved through his years, from Chinese calligraphy aesthetics ingrained in him when he was a schoolboy, to Western art influences by Impressionism

Impressionism

Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement that originated with a group of Paris-based artists whose independent exhibitions brought them to prominence during the 1870s and 1880s...

and by mother-and-child paintings by Fauvist masters. In the 1950 - 60s, Ho found his true calling in his artistic expressions, when he laid eyes on Nature-themed semi-abstract paintings and Surrealism

Surrealism

Surrealism is a cultural movement that began in the early 1920s, and is best known for the visual artworks and writings of the group members....

for the first time. He was especially enthralled by the free movements of American artists like Jackson Pollock

Jackson Pollock

Paul Jackson Pollock , known as Jackson Pollock, was an influential American painter and a major figure in the abstract expressionist movement. During his lifetime, Pollock enjoyed considerable fame and notoriety. He was regarded as a mostly reclusive artist. He had a volatile personality, and...

and other artists existing at the time of his youth. This new spirited aesthetic resonated with the Taoist saying, Let thinking be like a bird in the sky - a saying that lived close to his art throughout his life. It inspired him to live freely in his canvas, escaping from the world of rigidity and systemic restrictions that humans live in. It enabled him to break boundaries in his expression on, and beyond the canvas. Together with his penchant for blue, red and black colours on his palette, his paintings show a unique artistic identity that is signature to Ho Ho Ying.

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