The Drawing Room 2001

The most imaginative and inventive interpretation of drawing in this gathering can be seen in Teoh Joo Ngee’s works. Teoh, formerly a teacher at the M.I.A, is now venturing full – time as an artist. She says her personal favorite is My Dream Garden.

“ This is my personal record of my recent journey, from Pakistan across the Himalayan range to Xingjiang in China, ” Teoh says. “ I like the combination of doing drawing and painting in one piece of work, as in this one. It is about the vast blue sky, high mountains, enormous landscapes, natural vegetation and all sorts of creatures on earth, men, women and animals.”

“ My work is not realistic but abstracted impression in my memory. I am trying to put it all together an a series of images, but the most difficult thing to do is to create part of the mood I felt at that time, when I first saw all those overwhelming vistas before me.”

Teoh’s informal and naïve appearances in visual constructions are adding to the widening acceptance of drawing – cum – painting as an artistic expression. She and Jalaini Abu Hassan are among the few artists doing this type of art, which is enriching our reading, and enjoyment of modern art.

“ Drawing on an old style ”, Victor Chin, Sunday Star, April 22 ,2001