Biography of Ngee Ann Artist of the Year 2024: Oh Khang Lark (Hu Kang Le)
Mr Oh Khang Lark was born in 1945 in Shantou, China. He grew up by the Xiangzi River in Chaozhou and moved to Singapore at the age of nine.
Oh’s father was passionate about calligraphy and excelled in writing small regular script. Under his father’s tutelage, he started practising calligraphy with Zhao Mengfu (赵孟𫖯) and Yan Zhenqing (颜真卿)’s calligraphy style, and later practised with the works of Cheng Qin Wang (成亲王), laying a solid foundation in calligraphy.
Opportunities during his education period enhanced Oh’s artistic sensibility. Oh was among the first batch of technical drawing students at Dunman Government High School, which improved his sensitivity to drawing shapes. He was also guided by renowned calligrapher Chen Jen Hao (陈人浩) and pioneer generation artist Liu Kang (刘抗), fostering his strong interest in calligraphy and art.
Oh later began self-studying Wei regular script (魏楷). In 1962, he won the national calligraphy competition in the secondary school category for both large and small regular script (大小楷), attracting the attention of late renowned epigrapher, calligrapher and painter Master See Hiang To (施香沱), who recruited Oh as a disciple. Mr. See advocated learning calligraphy in clerical script (Li Shu, 隶书) and Wei Steles (Wei Bei, 魏碑) styles, so Oh diligently practised these two styles. After years of hardwork and practice, Oh had mastered various calligraphy script styles, including small regular script (Xiao kai, 小楷), Wei regular script (Wei Kai, 魏楷), clerical script (Li Shu, 隶书), seal script (Zhuan Shu, 篆书), and Wei stele (Wei Bei, 魏碑) as well as seal carving.
Oh loves to make tools and toys since childhood, and a plastic-carved seal he made had impressed Master See, which led Oh to a lifelong pursuit of seal carving. Mr. See often took students outdoors for sketching, which furthered Oh’s love for painting “en plein air”. He began self-studying perspective drawing, and painted architectural perspective drawings and furniture models. Later, Oh learned the style of line-drawing by renowned Chinese artist Chen Zi Fen (陈子奋), developing a fondness for fine brush painting. He enjoys creating micro-carving on small seals.
Oh co-founded Molan Art Association with his peers in 1966, and they dedicated themselves to promoting calligraphy, painting, seal carving and art exhibitions. He served as the president in 1987 and is still serving as an advisor today. In 1968, Oh served as a Council Member of the National Arts Council and joined the Society of Chinese Artists in 1978. In 1982, with funding from the National Arts Council, he planned the publication of “The Collected Works of Shi Xiangtuo’s (See Hiang To) Chinese Paintings & Seal-Engravings”, which was published by Maruzen Asia Pte Ltd in Tokyo. The following year, an exhibition of Mr. See’s works was held in Tokyo.
In 1988, Oh was invited by Singapore Airlines and then Singapore Tourism Promotion Board to demonstrate his calligraphy in London. In 1992, Molan Association organised a trip to Chao’an and Shantou, to put up art exhibitions and visit renowned artists from the Shantou Academy of Painting. He held his first solo exhibition in 2018 to showcase his wide collection of calligraphy and seal carving works created over a few decades.
Oh obtained a Master’s degree from Leicester Polytechnic (now De Montfort University) in the UK in 1985, and was a lecturer in Interior Design at the then Vocational and Industrial Training Board and Temasek Polytechnic. Due to work commitments, Oh had to temporary put aside seal carving and calligraphy for twenty years. After retiring from teaching, he devotes much of his time in art creation, working diligently day and night.
Oh continues to actively promote calligraphy education, in order to pass his knowledge in calligraphy to the younger generation. He now teaches at the Chui Huay Lim Club, Geylang East Activity Centre, and Kaki Bukit Community Centre. In 2018, he helped to fundraise for the residents of Geylang East Home for the Aged by donating several of his works. He advocated outdoor concourse calligraphy, using large sponge brushes to write calligraphy on the floor to promote healthy living lifestyle among the elderly.
“Learn without getting tired, teach without getting weary” is now an important part of his beautiful retirement.