Ho Ho Ying, born in Hainan, China in 1935, is a prominent pioneering abstract artist who co-founded the Modern Art Society, Singapore in the 1960s, and an influential art critic who wrote eloquent essays calling for Singapore art to grow in a new direction, arguing the case for abstraction as opposed to realism. His body of work, developed since the ’50s and largely composed of abstract oil works, marries the spontaneity of abstract expressionism with the refinement of Chinese calligraphy with assuredness. He received the Pingat APAD from Angkatan Pelukis Aneka Daya, Singapore, for his contributions in uniting various ethnic art organisations in 1975, and has exhibited widely in Singapore and overseas to acclaim. In 2012, Ho Ho Ying received the Cultural Medallion for his contributions to visual arts.

Ho Ho Ying was born on 20 Feb 1935 on Hainan Island in China. His childhood years were spent with his mother as his father had left Hainan to work in Singapore as a cook for the mother of Datuk Loke Wan Tho. In 1942, when Ho was nine, his mother took him to Singapore to escape the Sino-Japanese war and reunite with his father.

In Singapore, Ho’s parents enrolled him in The Chinese High School, which was popular among Chinese immigrants. There, he studied art under art teachers and practitioners Liu Kang and Chen Wen Hsi who were then teaching art full-time at the school, and developed a love and talent for art. He learnt the basics of Western art and realism from Liu while Chen instructed him on the use of colour and his imagination.

Being poor however, he could not afford art materials, but he was helped by Chen who often offered him money to obtain his materials. He would also often go to the Singapore University library, which was close to his home on Duchess Road, after school to read art books, getting acquainted with 19th-century masters such as Van Gogh and Cézanne. With Liu and Chen’s guidance and support, Ho gained proficiency in painting and went on to receive school awards.

In 1953, however, tragedy struck when Ho’s mother, who had recently given birth to Ho’s youngest sister, died of cervical cancer. At the time, Ho’s father was working in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in the household of Datuk Loke Wan Tho’s mother. An 18-year-old Ho became the sole caregiver of his younger siblings—a nine-year-old sister, two brothers aged five and six, and an infant sister aged four and a half months. Money was scarce as his father often could not remit money home in time, and Ho had to buy food and other provisions on credit.

These early hardships did not deter Ho’s determination and love for art and he went on to become a practicing artist. Nine years later, in 1962, Ho attained a Bachelor of Arts in Chinese Language and Literature from Nanyang University. As a young aspiring artist, he had worked through the various artistic influences of the times, from the older representational approaches, to modern non-representational styles such as Cubism, to one that finally really excited him—abstract expressionism.

He had also become a firm believer in the need for local artistic reform. In 1963, bound together by shared ideals and beliefs, Ho formed an informal art group with fellow artists Wee Beng Chong, Tong Siang Eng, Tay Chee Toh, Tan Yee Hong, Johnda Goh and Ng Yat Chuang. They held frequent gatherings and, in the same year, jointly held Singapore’s first dedicated modern art exhibition at the National Library. The exhibition succinctly introduced its philosophy:

“Modern artists have finally found the depth and breadth of the human soul, and make full use of the new forms of art to express new feelings and thinking.”

In October 1964, Ho, together with Tay Chee Toh, Tong Siang Eng and Wee Beng Chong, officially registered and founded the Modern Art Society, Singapore. It aimed to nurture Singapore modern art and provide Singapore modern artists with platforms for development and exhibition. The preface in the society’s catalogue articulated the their beliefs and direction:

“Let us have a look at our era... Realism has passed its golden age; Impressionism has done its duty, Fauvism and Cubism are declining….Any attempt to recover past glory shall be in vain, because history will not repeat... Art, like all things in the world, is ever changing, and we are trying to catch up with the change.”

During that time up to the ’70s, Ho regularly voiced his views on the current state of Singapore art in numerous Mandarin essays, expressing his opinions on art and art criticism and commenting on the Singapore art scene then. His essays included Art, besides being New, has to Possess an Intrinsic Quality in order to Strike a Sympathetic Chord in the Hearts of the Viewers. His essay The current art scene in Singapore—published in the newspapers in 1964—in particular, expressed Ho’s desire for Singapore art to move away from convention and grow in a new direction, and for organisers to take risks with showing modern works. In his essay, he argued the case for abstraction as opposed to realism with logic and conviction.

At the same time, he created numerous works including oil paintings with refined textures and abstract forms such as Rhythm of Dance (1958), Cave Age (1969) and Stone Age (1969). They showed his evolution from a young art student raised on the aesthetics of Chinese calligraphy to a young artist influenced by the abstract expressionism of Jackson Pollock whose work he had seen in art publications. Embracing the latter genre’s spontaneous expression while retaining elements of traditional Chinese aesthetics, Ho created a body of work that was entirely his own—spontaneous yet refined, expressive yet contemplative.

With the Modern Art Society, Ho Ying participated in many contemporary art exhibitions in Singapore and overseas. Together with the society, he also received many invitations to participate in exhibitions such as the 1972 International Art Exhibition organised by Poland’s Ministry of Culture and Society of Visual Arts in Poland, a 1980 exhibition organised by the Taichung Culture Foundation in Taiwan, a 1989 exhibition by the Contemporary Art Society of Korea in South Korea, and many Asian International Art Exhibition (AIAE) exhibitions held in countries such as Japan, Indonesia, China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Malaysia over the years. In 1995, when the AIAE was held in Singapore for the first time, Ho and the Modern Art Society jointly presented the AIAE with the National Heritage Board at the National Museum.

Since then, Ho has exhibited in many countries such as Australia, China, France, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, USA and Vietnam. Under his and his fellow founder-artists’ guidance, the Modern Art Society is currently one of Singapore’s most respected art associations, with 50 members and continued participation in exhibitions in Singapore and overseas. Many of the society’s members are successful artists who have won accolades. Ho himself received the APAD award by Angkatan Pelukis Aneka Daya for his contributions in promoting art among different racial groups in Singapore and uniting various ethnic art organisations in 1975. In 2012, Ho Ho Ying received the Cultural Medallion for his contributions to visual arts.

Ho passed away in Singapore on 31 Oct 2022 at the age of 87. Today, his works continue to inspire artists and his essays are valuable documents that give insight into the various concerns faced by the Singapore art community during important periods in Singapore’s history.