A seamless collaboration between visuals and verse

THE traditional format of Chinese flower-and-bird painting is easily recognised. There is some insect or animal amid flora, and then a poem or verse - usually executed by one artist who has to master both painting, poetry and calligraphy.

But what if the artist decided to collaborate with a photographer? So moved was Chinese calligrapher and painter Lin Lu Zai when he saw businessman and hobbyist photographer Kwek Leng Joo's nature photographs that he knew that he could write verses to them. And perhaps add in a bird or two, fishes or some trailing leaves to transform a photograph into a classic Chinese painting.

Their collaboration introduces a fresh art format in Singapore - with the marriage of photographs and Chinese brush painting to create a complete Chinese flower-and-bird (hua, niao, yu, chong) work.