A Retrospective: Chew Teng Beng — Life, Art and Writings

Exhibition Introduction

‘A Retrospective: Chew Teng Beng — Life, Art and Writings’ is a retro exhibition at Wisma Kebudayaan SGM to honour the life and art of senior artist Chew Teng Beng. 

Born in Terengganu in 1938, (Dr) Chew Teng Beng is an award winning artist with a professional career spanning 7 decades, with contributions made in areas related to art, culture, administration and education. He was trained as an art specialist at the Specialist Teachers’ Training Institute (STTI) in 1964. He studied at Cranbrook Academy of Art in the United States for a year on a Fulbright–Hays scholarship in 1967. In the following 2 years, Chew Teng Beng would go on to earn his B.F.A (HONS) and M.F.A from the University of Michigan. He established and headed the painting and printmaking departments for Siena Heights College (now Siena Heights University), Michigan before returning to Malaysia in 1972 under a special invitation by the Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) Penang, to help establish their fine arts program, the first in the country under a national university at that time. He remained with the university for the next 20 years, contributing in various capacities before retiring in 1993.  

On top of his busy schedule at the university, Dr Chew continues to be prolific in his art making, exhibiting in local and international shows. Since the 1960s, he has had more than 15 solo exhibitions held locally and abroad with a retrospective given to him by the Penang State Art Gallery in 1998. From the 1950s to early 2000, Dr Chew participated in more than 100 group shows in countries such as the United States, the UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Brazil, Taiwan and in Southeast Asia namely Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines. 

From 1973 till 1995, Dr Chew played an active role in the improvement of art administration, exhibition, acquisition and related practices in Penang either as a committee or board member, Vice Chairman or as Chairman through art bodies such as the Penang Arts Council, Penang State Art Gallery, Penang State Museum and the National Advisory Council on Culture of Malaysia. He had also curated a number of important exhibitions through some of these institutions over the years.  

Among the notable highlights in his professional career is the Australian Government’s Cultural Award in 1978 where he was its first Malaysian recipient. He represented Malaysia as a printmaker in the First ASEAN Symposium on Aesthetics in 1989 in Kuala Lumpur. In 1993, he was among six artists representing Malaysia at the First Asia-Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art, Australia. In the same year, he was appointed as IBO Examiner by the International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO), UK. Two years later he was conferred an honorary Doctor of Art  by De Montfort University, UK.

One of Dr Chew’s most important contributions to art in Malaysia is his research on paper making. He pioneered the use of fibres from the residues of selected local bananas and pineapple plants for making paper by hand as a medium for artistic expression.  He received his Doctor of Philosophy from the University of New York in 1987 for his dissertation ‘Paper Making from Selected Malaysian Fibres: An Investigation of its Artistic Potential Through Creation of Original Paper Artworks’.

This exhibition which will be open to the public from the 23rd December will focus on three significant areas of the artist’s body of work. On display at the ground floor will be works selected from the 1950s until the 1980s, from drawings, paintings, prints to handmade paper highlighting the artist’s early developments. On the mezzanine floor, selected handmade papers from local indigenous plant fibre produced for his dissertation will be on display and finally on the first floor, abstract paintings and paintings on paper pulp from the 1990s and 2020s respectively are on show.

Exhibition opening hours: 11 am – 5 pm (Closed on Mondays)
Exhibition venue: Ground floor, Soka Exhibition Hall, Wisma Kebudayaan SGM
Prior appointment is required for groups of more than 20 people. Please get in touch with us at https://b.link/WhatsApp_SokaPCE