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This work is similar to Backyard 2 in the collection of Singapore National Heritage Board and is probably a precursor to the Rubbish Dump (1952), which was put up at Henry Butcher’s 2011 auction. The backyard, often ignored, shunned and kept from public view, is turned into a front-view with its assortment of discarded bulky objects, making it an eyesore for aesthetic appreciation. Here, the discarded items in the backyard speak about the bad habit of indiscriminate dumping more than a statement about unsupervised development. The usage of muted colours enhances this view and highlights the derelict scene that is common in Malaysia.

Seng Yu-Jin, one fo the curators in the Cheong Soo Pieng: Bridging Worlds exhibition in 2010 commented: “Cheong was very interested in the industrialisation of Singapore and Malaya in the 1950s. Some of this paintings represent power grids, factories, oil refineries, junkyards. These were very unusual subjects for local artists at the time.”

Soo Pieng was a seminal figure of the Nanyang Style, greatly influencing artists in the region with his stylised figures of elongated limbs and torsos. He perfected the Nanyang style after a trip to Bali with Liu Kang, Chen Chong Swee and Chen Wen Hsi in 1952. He studied at the Xiamen and Xinhua Fine Art Academies and taught his alma mater before he migrated to Singapore in 1946 via Hong Kong. In Singapore, he lectured at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts from 1947 to 1961. He was conferred the Singapore Meritorious Service Award in 1962 and was honoured with a retrospective at National Art Gallery, Kuala Lumpur in 1967, showcasing 20 years of his works. Recently, the Singapore Art Museum held the Cheong Soo Pieng: Bridging Worlds exhibition in 2010.