Penang & harbour

Penang and its harbour are where the work begins. Tan Peng Hooi grew up along the waterfront, and the piers, boats and trading quays of George Town return through his painting as remembered places rather than records. The golden light he is known for gathers here, over water he has described as his most difficult and most rewarding subject.

These are among his earliest sold subjects: the first painting he sold, in the 1960s, was a view of Penang’s Weld Quay. Where writers have reached for Constable or Turner to describe his handling of light, that is a comparison made by others, offered here as reception rather than lineage.