Jolly Koh is a prime mover of modern art in Malaysia. A thinker, as well as an aesthetic tour de force, he is an artist who brought an international dimension to a country that might otherwise have laboured on with watercolour scenes of kampungs and padi fields. Dr Koh transformed local art in the Sixties and continues to do so until the present.
This artist's work is a reflection of more than the sensual pleasure of paint. His background is as cosmopolitan as his approach to art. Brought up in the multicultural melting pot of Malacca, he studied painting at Hornsey College and art education at London University. A Fulbright scholarship took him to the USA, where he completed the Doctor of Education degree at Indiana University. Much of his life has been given to art education, having taught in the USA, Australia and Malaysia.
