Born in 1946, Chong Fah Cheong was a teacher by training. He attended St. Joseph's Institution and later moved to Penang where he joined the La Salle Brothers Novitiate in Penang. He was an art teacher in Malaysia before attending the University of Singapore between 1968 and 1971. He studied at the City of Birmingham Polytechnic, United Kingdom, and graduated with a Diploma in Curriculum Studies in Art and Design in 1974. In 1975, Brother Joseph McNally was the principal of St. Patrick's School, where Chong began teaching the O-level and A-level students. McNally had cut down a few Angsana trees and suggested using them to teach students woodcarving, prompting Chong’s own woodcarving practice. In 1978, Chong decided to become a professional artist. He continued teaching part-time, and became one of first few lecturers at LASALLE College of Art and Design between 1984 and 1987. Wavelength is demonstrative of Chong’s signature wood carving methods, which he began to develop from the 1980s. It shows his distinctive technique of carving deep, fluid curves into wood to achieve a complex surface which suggest fluid movement and rhythm. These lines cut across the planks of the wood at different depths, deliberately exposing the natural textured grain pattern of the wood. This sculpture was first displayed at Chong’s second solo exhibition at the Alpha Gallery titled ‘Chong Fah Cheong: Wood Sculpture’. Over two meters in height, it is one of the earliest precedents of monumental works by the artist, which he further explored later in his practice.
