067

LITERATURE
Treasury of Malaysian and International Art, Dr. Tan Chee Khuan, The Art Gallery, Penang, 1999, illustrated on page 51.
A Comprehensive History of Malaysian Art, Ooi Kok Chuen, The Art Gallery, Penang, 2002, illustrated on page 46.

This is one of very few woodcuts done by John Lee Joo For between 1968 and 1970, the last being Love In Spirit and Body (1970). This rare piece explores the relationship between a man and a woman set within a natural environment. The bull and the horse symbolise the male and the female as complimentary forces of nature. In a way, the woodcut also glorifies the humble farmer and a simpler life within a rural environment.

This was executed in the same year Joo For unveiled his landmark Oriento-Byzantium works and his Artist’s Manifesto. More than a painter, portraitist and printmaker, Joo For, who is now 83 and living in Melbourne, is also an active playwright, theatre producer and poet. He was runner-up in the Australian Poet Idol last year.

John Lee Joo For was born in 1929 in Penang. In 1957, he was awarded a scholarship by the Malaysian government to study art at Brighton College of Art, England. He later furthered his education at Camberwell School of Art, London in 1962 and Royal College of Art, London in 1963. Apart from painting, Joo For developed the practice of sculpture and varied techniques of printmaking. He is considered by many art critics as one of the leading graphic artists in Malaysia. His graphics include woodcuts, linocuts, etchings, lithographs, etc. He was honoured with a retrospective exhibition at The Art Gallery Penang in 1995 and Penang State Art Gallery in 2008.