The Art Of Charlie Chan Hock Chye

"The pressure-cooker country of Singapore – tiny and polyglot, globally competitive and politically repressive – seems to have been poured out into this dense book. Liew’s dazzling versatility enables him to create a lifetime’s worth of work for an artist who never really existed, ranging from shabbily printed comics pages to elegant pencil sketches. Meanwhile, he acerbically recounts Singaporean history stretching back to World War II. By documenting the career of this imaginary creator, Liew mourns all those who were never permitted to thrive under Singapore’s oppressive government."