Khoo Sui Hoe
(b. 1939, Malaysia)
Khoo Sui Hoe, born in 1939, is a distinguished artist with Malaysian origins, now based in the United States. Born to a family where his father was a skilled tailor and his mother a homemaker in Kedah, Malaysia, Khoo’s artistic journey was shaped by his early aspirations to become a journalist. This eventually led him to venture beyond his homeland, taking him to Singapore and then to the United States.
In Singapore, Khoo Sui Hoe received his foundational art education at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts in 1959. He had the privilege of apprenticing under the guidance of pioneering artists such as Georgette Chen, Cheong Soo Pieng, and Lai Foong Moi. This early exposure to prominent artists laid the groundwork for his artistic development.
Khoo’s artistic journey extended beyond Singapore when he pursued further studies at the Pratt Graphic Centre in New York. This experience allowed him to assimilate Western influences into his artistic expression while maintaining a strong connection to the cultures of British Malaya, which encompassed Singapore and Malaysia before their independence. This unique fusion of Western artistic techniques and the cultural heritage of his homeland would become a hallmark of his work.
