LOT 32
SEAH KIM JOO
B. Singapore, 1939
Two Fishermen
Signed “Seah Kim Joo” on lower left
Batik
90 x 60 cm
Private Collection, USA
RM 12,000 – RM 20,000
It was Seah Kim Joo’s hometown in Terengganu that exposed him to batik in his early days. His passion for batik painting only grew in the 1950s, when the Penang- based artist Chuah Thean Teng first pioneered painting using the batik medium. It also resulted in Seah being an ardent follower of the late Chuah and his works, since the manifestation of contemporary themes in a traditional medium was regarded as a direct expression of Nanyang regionalism. Seah’s works is nature and people, apart from occasional abstract pieces. Perhaps it was the cultural background of his hometown in Terengganu that influenced his choice of subject matters. Ever equipped with an ethereal quality, ‘Two Fishermen’ is a batik work rendered in an orange hue, with fishing boats floating in a distance and in the foregrounds, two fishermen are portrayed with a cloth around their head and dressed in sarong and shirt, tending to their nets.