Born in 1937, Singaporean artist Ho Kah Leong is known for his en plein air paintings and Chinese calligraphy. Trained at Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts for one and a half years in the mid-1950s, Ho explored with various mediums such as outdoor sketching, woodblock printing, photography and painting. Graduating with a Bachelor of Science Nanyang University in 1963, Ho continues to hone his skills and participates actively in the local art scene even when he was a teacher and politician.
Serving as a NAFA’s principal from 1997 to 2003, Ho is passionate in working outdoor and painting on-site to capture the essence and life of a scene, which he believes can evoke emotional experience.
In this series of photographic prints, Ho captures the outdoor coastal scene of men setting out to sea, tranquil and Idyll scene of the coastal landscape with boats and solitude interpretation using boats as the subject. With the use of daylight, these scenes are carefully framed exudes an atmospheric quality similarly seen in his oil paintings. The subdued colours reflected on the prints is a contrast to Ho’s usual vivid colour palette, lends a unique quality in his oevure of works.
