Lot 42 | Auction XXXIII

 

LOT 42

LEE LONG LOOI

B. Kedah, 1942

Untitled

Signed and dated “Looi 93” on lower right

Oil pastel on paper

31 x 101 cm

Provenance Private Collection, Canada

RM 5,000 – RM 12,000

 

This mysterious and solemn piece is filled with Lee Long Looi’s personality – the drawn-out features of the subjects, the simplicity that is the palette and the techniques and the entire piece put together is effortlessly appealing. Lee Long Looi only incorporates limited colours in this canvas, choosing instead to keep it simple but at the same time, seems to be lost in thought, quiet and demure or a slight bit wary. Born in 1942 in Kedah, Malaysia, Lee Long Looi graduated from the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts in Singapore and moved to New York to further his studies at the Art Students League and then at the Pratt Institute. He combines both elements of his Asian heritage and Western techniques in his paintings, and his works are displayed in Citibank, ABC Television, the Gulf Bank of Miami and many more.