At the expense of being facile, Jolly Koh’s inadvertent ‘series’ under the Fan Fern label, seems formulaic: a series of rectangular blobs, with a broad vertical at the bottom filled with rising phalanxes either as a clump or just bobbing, and usually with nuances of one dominant colour. More than clumps of patterns, fan ferns are known for the unconventional germination, through a plethora of spores. Arguably the first Fan Fern was dated 1968, now in the National Art Gallery collection, and 30 years down the road, there was a burst of Fan Ferns, which doesn’t stray from the original but certainly with a creamier lather of luscious colours. The 1968 Fan Fern, an amalgam of London free abstractions and reconnection with local landscape, sets Jolly Koh’s reputation as a colourist. In this 1996 work, the bottom blob seems to succumb to something broken, or in tatters, as compared to another 1996 piece which is dominant with chromatic yellow. So, how come, there was a Fan Fern revival after a 30-year hiatus? Jolly Koh explained in his 2008 monograph (Maya Press), that he was aghast to discover his 1968 Fan Fern in a sorry state, and decided to reprise his Fan Ferns, “as an act of compensation.” It’s unusual to find such a beautiful conjunction of artist and academician, one with a sharp intellect. For Dr. Jolly Koh, his life is the stuff of an art adventure. Born in Singapore, grew up in Malacca, made an impact as a boy wonder of art in Kuala Lumpur, he pursued his academic credentials in UK and the United States, and on his return, taught briefly at the Mara Institute of Technology and Sabah’s Gaya College, before uprooting to Australia to teach there, and then back to Malaysia to teach, and now relocated here. His education read: Hornsey College of Art, London, 1959-62; London University’s Institute of Education, 1962-63; Indiana University in the United States (MSc, Ed.D, Masters), 1970-75. Jolly Koh was accorded a benchmark exhibition celebrating 60 years of art in 2017, at the Whitebox Publika, Kuala Lumpur (organised by Curate Henry Butcher), which was accompanied by an impressive monograph – a proud journey since his first solo, at the age of 17, at the British Council, Kuala Lumpur, in 1958.