From tai ho's blog lessons from a painter
Lesson 1: Value the kind and generous – In the early years, Tze Peng, a self-taught artist, took part in group exhibitions to ride on better-known names. In one show, organised by the famed artist Lee Man Fong, he didn’t sell any works. One the last day, Man Fong told him one of his paintings had sold and gave him $300. “It was a lot of money at that time and God knows I needed it.” A year later, he visited Man Fong’s home and saw his painting there. He paused and looked up at me. “Lee Man Fong is a good man,” was all he said.
Lesson 2: Believe in yourself – Tze Peng once reluctantly submitted a painting he had done on a trip to Bali as one of 20 local works Singapore would be sending for a competition in England. The Singapore authorities rejected it. They found it “neither Eastern nor Western”; it did not conform to any artistic tradition. Well known artist Cheong Soo Pieng fought hard for it to be included, asking the authorities to give the new artist a chance. The piece eventually made its way to England together with the other paintings. One morning about three weeks later, a doctor friend of Tze Peng called. He said he had heard on the BBC the night before that a Singaporean artist who painted Bali had won a special prize in England. Tze Peng rushed to the nearest newspaper stand, and there it was, a small article with his name wrongly translated. But there was no mistaking it, Lim Tze Peng had won his first international award. “They did not know who I was, did not care if it was Eastern or Western. They saw my talent…what has not been accepted as tradition, what was considered neither East nor West, is now my hallmark.”
Lesson 3: Be true to yourself – Commissioned by a Japanese collector to do a painting of a plum – for a considerable fee – Tze Peng tried and tried but was not satisfied with the results and gave up in the end. He passed the job on to an artist friend who did the work and got the money. “He bought me coffee. He was happy and so was I. I will not sell something that I think is not good.”
Lesson 4: Perseverance will be rewarded – A painter all his life, Tze Peng won recognition only in his 70s and was conferred the Cultural Medallion, the highest artistic honour, at 83. But he was not bitter. Two years ago, he became the first Singaporean artist to exhibit his works at the National Art Museum of China in Beijing, his life-long dream.
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