Patrick Teo | Almost Forgotten

MESSAGE by Joy Loh

Director of Eagle’s Eye Art Gallery

Eagle’s Eye Art Gallery presents an exciting series of artworks by Singapore artist, Patrick Teo at The Elite Painters 2015 Art Exhibition- “Almost Forgotten”. This series of artworks will feature the nostalgic Singapore scenes from the 50s and 60s. Patrick Teo is a revolutionary artist who illustrates traditional subjects in a novel way. He reinvents the cooliemen, samsui women, men and women from the 50s and 60s in a unique contemporary style.

Having lived in a tumultuous era of Singapore history and survived the Second World War, Teo has a radically different perspective of life. He looks inwards to discover a form of “self-expression” that offers him an individual voice in a world he once felt hostile and insecure about. The dramatic approach to his art-making allows him to explore the inner landscape of the soul.

From the happy faces of the children, the traders and joyful samsui women, it is evident that Teo celebrates life. What emerges from the collective artistic expression is Teo’s testimony of the trials and triumphs of the tenacious human spirit. The samsui women toiled thousands of miles away from their homeland during the 1950s in search of construction and industrial jobs. Teo illustrates the iconic samsui women of early Singapore in a light-hearted style, while imbuing them with the values of sharing, comradeship, hard work and resilience. Their faces are seen smiling in every painting despite their back breaking labour.

Teo sees the samsui woman as an exemplary social figure who triumphs against all odds. The manifestation of the human spirit is most acute under the harshest and trying social circumstances.
The future of Patrick Teo’s shows great promise. His compelling creations evoke identification and trigger nostalgia. With each new painting that he creates, he proves to be an artistic genius.

ARTIST'S REFLECTION

The Samsui district in the southern province of Kwang Tung in China suffered invasion by the Japanese military in World War 2. In the face of war and Japanese atrocities, drought, famine and parental pressure to enter into matched marriages, a group of intrepid Samsui women formed a sworn sisterhood, and sought a better life in Malaya and Singapore. They boarded Chinese junks and braved the hazardous waters of the South China Sea.

In the 1930s and 40s a large migration of hardy Samsui women arrived in Singapore. They settled in the heart of Chinatown, where their native Cantonese dialect was widely spoken. I have vivid memories of almost military motion in the early morning rush as the Samsui women boarded lorries to be driven to various building construction sites. Clad in their scarlet and indigo uniforms, they resembled battalions of troops clutching weapons (their long-handled hoes and other equipment) and moving purposefully towards the battle front.

Their tough farm life in China enabled them to adapt to the scorching heat and hard physical labour carrying loads of bricks, stones, sand and cement and whatever else was needed for the construction of offices and houses. In spite of remitting much of their earnings back to China, it is sad that in their twilight years when the Samsui women sought to return to their families in China, many of them found that they were not welcomed.

From the aesthetic standpoint, the Samsui woman is extraordinarily stunning in her scarlet head gear and deep indigo outfit. The vivid colours evoke a sense of vitality and strength in this manual labourer. However this image belies a life of hardship and misery as if destiny has pronounced a sentence of drudgery upon them.

The Samsui woman projects a tough demeanour and is always associated with incessant toil. Although I was intrigued by their resilience, I wanted to approach the theme of the Samsui woman in more light-hearted manner. I want to draw the viewer into their private worlds by sharing glimpses of intimate moments on canvas. The artworks have therefore, captured this very essence by presenting their gentler and tender sides, their inclination to selflessly share simple pleasures amongst each other, thereby, forming a strong sisterhood. Their interactions with other people have also been taken into consideration.

To set a more effective tone, I injected humour by the use of exaggerated facial expressions and bodily gestures, amplifying these with my own meticulous technique of structured lines which has a three-dimensional effect. The artworks have also been infused with warm and soft hues to create this affable mood. “Almost Forgotten” also depicts other aspects of daily life in a bygone era which I remember fondly and vividly from my childhood. I hope that “Almost Forgotten” will serve as a reminder of our local heritage and humble beginnings.