A graduate of Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, Lee Teck Suan (b. 1958, and also known as Li Dezhuang) cuts a striking figure in the local art scene in the early 1980s. He won the Best Chinese Painting Award of the UOB Painting of the Year in 1984, with an unconventional and mixed-media ink work titled “Water Margin”, which later developed into a major series representing his early experimentation with the traditional ink medium. Since the 1980s, Lee as exhibited extensively around the world, including major solo and group shows in New York, Hong Kong, Taipei and Beijing. His early art teachers include Yang Hwee Bin and Tan Teo Kwang. His experimental employment of ink is hugely influenced by American Abstract Expressionism as well as Chinese masters such as Lin Fengmian and Zao Wou-ki. Until today, the artist maintains this artistic direction of exploring the abstraction with unorthodox approach to the traditional medium. This work painted in the 1980s belongs to the ‘Water Margin’ series which laid the foundation of Lee’s unconventional and abstract approach towards the traditional ink medium. The inspiration for this series came from his life experiences in Singapore during the 1980s. The artist witnessed how the government implemented a project to clean the Singapore River, and also how barges and boatmen were eventually replaced by container shipping. Stylistically, the work shows clearer evidence of its reference to Abstract Expressionism than to the calligraphic brushwork derived from the canon of Chinese ink painting. The colour rendering and ink strokes may also be influenced by Lee’s early practice in the medium of watercolour. The ‘Water Margin’ series plays a crucial role in the development of his art as it generated his expansion into abstract ink painting and the evolution of this medium through his bold departure from the tradition.
