Born in 1931, Choo Keng Kwang is widely recognized for realistic renditions of landscape, animals and nature in the oil medium. Sympathetic to local working classes, Choo features them in many of his works. Graduating in 1953 from Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (NAFA), he worked as a teacher, eventually returning to NAFA to helm the Art Education Department in 1984. Choo has since held many solo exhibitions and has participated in group art exhibitions in Southeast Asia, Japan, Europe and USA. Since the 1950s, Choo has received many awards for his many contributions to art and education, among which is the Public Service Medal (PBM) in 1976.In the 1960s and 1970s, Choo participated in group painting tours to many Southeast Asian countries and Hong Kong. During this period, Choo’s impressions of the sights, people and landscapes of the places he visited became subject matters in his paintings. The debt to English artist J.M.W. Turner, who is Choo’s favourite artist, is seen in the treatment and handling of light and atmosphere.
