Lee Choon Kee (Malaysian, b. 1944) is a second-generation Nanyang artist and a founding member of the Singapore Watercolour Society. He graduated from the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts in 1965 and has remained a dedicated en plein air painter throughout his career.
Now in his eighties, Lee captures scenes from life with remarkable immediacy and sensitivity. From the early days of his career to the present, he has remained committed to painting on location, documenting fleeting moments with vivid precision. His chosen medium, watercolour, allows him to express the ever-changing interplay of light, colour, and atmosphere in his surroundings. Interestingly, some of his early works were painted on both sides of the paper, perhaps reflecting the shifting perspectives of his environment.
In these 1981 paintings of Clarke Quay, Lee departs from his typically vibrant palette, opting instead for muted greys, blues, and browns. These subdued tones evoke the faded quality of memory, reminding us that this once-familiar scene has now vanished. In both compositions, a man in a simple white singlet stands unobtrusively in the middle ground—not as a focal point, but as an integral part of the scene. His presence anchors the work in reality, a quiet reminder that Clarke Quay, now bustling with tourist boats, was once a working waterfront lined with sampans.
Lee’s work does more than document a disappearing landscape; it invites us to reflect on the passage of time and Singapore’s rapid transformation. For those too young to have witnessed this era, his paintings serve as a bridge to the past—a testament to the city’s evolving identity and a tribute to the histories that shaped it.
(Photographed in February 2025)