Jimmy Quek began learning art in 1971. He has been practising art full time since 1986. He has held 11 one-man art exhibitions and participated in more than 80 group art exhibitions in Yokohama, Kobe, Sapporo, Rotterdam, New York, Washington DC, Indianapolis, Dallas, Los Angeles, Honolulu, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Bangladesh, Beijing, Quanzhou, Shanghai, Korea, Fukuoka, Osaka, Thailand, Vietnam, Brunei Darussalam, Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore. Jimmy signs his painting "Prabhakara" which is Sanskrit for "source of light". Jimmy was the winner of the First Prize IBM Art Award Singapore in 1988. He was awarded the Merit Award and Highly Commended Work in IBM Singapore Art Award in 1988 and 1987, and Certificates of Commendation in the Painting of the Year Exhibition in 1983 and 1986. He received Third Prize in the National Art Competition, Western Painting Open Section in 1974. He has been a judge for several local and regional art competitions. He has served as External Assessor for Diploma in Visual Art Assessments for 2-D Studies in the School of Fine Art, LaSalle-SIA College of the Arts. He was a member of the Course Accreditation Committee for the Department of 2D and 3D Studies of LaSalle- SIA College of the Arts, Singapore. Jimmy’s paintings adorn major areas of corporations, institutions, ministries, convention centres, airline lounges, banks, hospitals, offices and the homes of art lovers and collectors around the world. His works are in the permanent collection of the Singapore Art Museum. He was asked to conduct sketching/ drawing (elementary/ intermediate/ advanced levels) lessons and acrylic painting courses at the Federation of Art Societies when it was located on Church Street in the early 1990s. He conducted painting workshops for teachers at Metta School in 2003 and taught art at Siglap Community Centre and Mountbatten Community Centre in the 1980s. Since 2009, Jimmy has dedicated himself to serving those in need of artistic assistance and visual arts consultation, sharing his experience in the visual arts with those who wish to discover the joy of art making in his home studio in Tampines, Singapore. Jimmy said: “Doing art gives me inner happiness and satisfaction. This is spiritual freedom and liberation. I don't need to care about realism or non-realism, what others think, whether others like it or not... The important thing is that I know what I want to express, and I will do what I want until I get inner satisfaction and happiness in my work.”

A RETROSPECTIVE