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About the Artist - ANG HOON SENG

Mr Ang Hooon Seng (洪云生), born in Singapore in 1933, is of Chaozhou descent from the Guangdong Province.

 

A banker by profession and a Chartered Secretary and Administrator of the United Kingdom, he held the position of vice-president at Overseas Union Bank (OUB) Ltd1, Singapore, and was also its chief representative in Beijing, Shenzhen and Chengdu. Prior to joining the financial industry, Mr Ang served in the public sector. After more than four decades in the public service and banking business, he retired in 1999.

 

An enthusiast in the art of Chinese calligraphy, brush painting and wood carving, Mr. Ang has been actively involved n the promotion of traditional Chinese cultural activities in Singapore for more than half a century. This is evident in the positions he has held in the following organisations:

  • China Society which was founded by Dr. Lim Boon Keng in 1949; 

  • Committee of Management of the Ngee Ann Kongsi since 1981, holding various positions from Treasurer to Chairman of the Cultural Centre. Incorporated in 1933, Ngee Ann Kongsi had been one of the leading charitable institutions in Singapore which owns all the purchase assets of the Teochew community n Singapore, including the Ngee Ann City development in Orchard Road.

  • Director and academic advisor to the Singapore Teochew Poit Ip Huay Kuan, which is the Federation of the Teochew Clan associations in Singapore.

  • As Chairman of the Cultural & Education Committee at the Teochew Poit Ip Huay Kuan, he initiated and organised the monthly Calligraphic forum in 2002. This forum provided a popular platform for all calligraphers and enthusiasts to exchange views and upgrade their standards, and was a huge success during his tenure.

  • As advisor to the Sicheng Calligraphy and Seal-carving Society in Singapore, Hoon Seng has participated actively in various Calligraphic exhibitions both in Singapore and abroad, and has won many awards.

  • Advisor to Ngee Ann Cultural Centre and a number of local and overseas art bodies.

 


15th Annual National Teochew Artists Calligraphy & Painting Exhibition

 

2013 Artist of the Year

 

 

Past Positions:

THE LEARNING JOURNEY

 

Mr. Ang's passion for the highly sophisticated art of calligraphy was inspired by his father who gave him, at the age of six, a copy of calligraphy in Kai-Shu or Regular script, written by Ouyang Hsin (AD 557-641) 欧阳洵, a great scholar and accomplished calligrapher in the Tang Dynasty. His father highlighted to him that calligraphy is a defining feature of the Chinese culture and a key representation of the Chinese civilisation. Every student in the past must study calligraphy as part of the curriculum in school.

 

Notwithstanding his English educational background, Ang Hoon Seng was, and still is, intrigued by the Chinese culture and is especially enthusiastic about the highly sophisticated art of Chinese callography and painting.

 

While working for Overseas Union Bank Ltd, Mr. Ang was posted to China to develop the banking business in China. During his 10 years there, he travelled extensively in China and that enhanced his interest in Chinese culture, particularly in calligraphy and its related areas. He collected a substantial amount of "Fa-tieh" (facsimile copies of calligraphic works) by the ancient great masters. Apart from stimulating his love for this distinguished Chinese art form, these master pieces of calligraphic works have great influence on him in evolving his own styles.

 

He started practising calligraphy by studying a wide range of famous works from the great ancient masters. These include :

  • Regular Script [楷书Kai-shu] from Ouyang Xun, Yan Zhen Qing, Liu Gong Quan and Zhong Yao

  • Walking Style [行书xing shu]  from Wang Xi Zhi, Zhao Meng Fu, Chu Sui Liang

  • Running or Cursive Style [草书cao shu] from Dong Qi Chang, Zhi Yong & MiFu

  • Wild Cursive Stroke [狂草kuang cao] from Huai Su, Zhang Xu & Zhang Zhi, and the Longmen Twenty Pieces.

 

In recent years, Mr. Ang also devoted much time in studying the wild-cursive style or Kuang cao (狂草), by Zhang Zhi 张芝(713-740), a great master known for this highly skilled writing, and who evolved the one-stroke style, 一筆书 (yi bi shu) in the later (eastern) Han Dynasty (AD22-220).

 

 

 

DEVELOPING HIS OWN DISTINCTIVE STYLE

 

Unlike the ancient great masters, contemporary calligraphers generally specialised in one particular style of writing. Hoon Seng considers this somewhat inadequate. Passion, hard work, perseverance and determination over a long period since childhood has enabled Hoon Seng to develop various styles of of his own.

 

While his Kai shu (楷书) in mini or medium size scripts are elegant and well composed without any need whatsoever for touch-up, he is better known for his accomplishments in Cao shu (草书). The density, layout and flow of his characters have attained a high level of accomplishment in this highly sophisticated form of Chinese art. His characters are structured with natural vigor and gentleness. His style is full of vigor, fast yet graceful, and natural.

 

Mr. Ang has produced a large amount of calligraphic works over the years. He explored and experimented on different types of traditional rice papers, woods, decorative papers, bamboo tablets, etc.

An active participant and supporter of both local and overseas calligraphy exhibitions, Mr. Ang has won many awards. His calligraphy is also featured in the stone engraving calligraphy Pavilion in Ji-Lin.

 

As he happily continues to experiment with new mediums and further develop his skill, he calls himself Ting Yun Yin Shi – a hermit in Ting Yun Lodge (Tin Yun is the name he gave his home in Singapore).

 

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