Hawkers provide affordable food to the masses and is one of the many themes Choon Ghee has worked on in his oeuvre. His paintings reflect his mastery of depicting spaces, with deft brushstroke and lines influenced by Chinese ink painting. Dated 1985, Choon Ghee brings the scene of a humble food stall to life in this exquisite composition executed in subdued hues. Tan Choon Ghee completed his secondary education from Chung Ling high school in 1948 and graduated from the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts in Singapore in 1951. He then attended the Slade School of Fine Art in London from 1957 to 1959. He had received a German government painting scholarship and an Australian government television set design scholarship. He had worked for TV Singapore and TV Broadcast Ltd in Hong Kong prior to becoming a full time artist. He had held numerous one man shows with his first in 1956 at the Hooi Ann Association, Penang followed by in 1958, 1962 and 1963 organised by the British Council, Penang; National Library in Singapore (1962 and 1970); Australian High Commission in Kuala Lumpur (1983 and 1993) among others. Tan had also been honoured with two retrospective exhibitions in 1996 and 2000; a tribute show in Kuala Lumpur (2009) and a posthumous solo exhibition titled A Lifetime Of Drawings showcasing his sketchbooks and paper works at the Penang State Art Gallery (2014).