Lee Joo For, John

022

b. Penang, 1929 - d. 2017
Lee Joo For, John
Man’s State
1963
signed ‘Joofor 63’ bottom right
etching on paper; ed. 3/10
53 x 39cm
Provenance
Private collection, Penang; acquired directly from artist.
Estimate
RM 4,000 – 6,000
Price Realised
RM 4,400

ILLUSTRATED
My Name Is Fire: The Art of Lee Joo For (Exhibition: Lee Joo For, The Art Gallery Penang 1999), p. 65

LITERATURE
Lee Joo For Retrospective (Cover essay by Ooi Kok Chuen) (Exhibition: The Penang State Art Gallery, November 2008
My Name Is Fire: The Art of Lee Joo For (Exhibition: Lee Joo For, The Art Gallery Penang 1999)
A Tribute to Lee Joo For (Exhibition: Art Salon @ SENI, September to November 2009)

Painter-playwright-producer drama/musicals) cum printmaker, John Lee Joo For is highly praised for his graphic works in the 1960s by his peers. This work done during John Lee’s studies at the Royal Academy in South Kensington, London, is full of aggravation, frustrations and depression as can be noted by the spitting words: Hate, Lonely, Love, Fear. All copies of this work have been sold. The work is way ahead of its time for its brutal directness and the graphic nature.

In an e-mail response about this work, John Lee said it was one of his favourite works. “No other artworks of mine resemble or repeat it.”