Kok Wan Lee came to the visual arts, via the culinary arts, which is as good a route as any. Consider the similarities. Both deal with composition and colour, as well as variations in texture and, especially the element of surprise. Indeed, there is a delicious aspect to Mr. Lee's current exhibition at Windjammer II art gallery in the Fairmont Hamilton Princess.

As a student, I took a class in aesthetics and I recall the professor asking us which aesthetic experience is a daily indulgence. Of course, he was referring to food. He then asked us what was of initial importance in food preparation. There were various suggestions, including nutrition, but to his thinking it was appearance. He proposed that a meal should first look good and from my reading, there is a school of nutrition that advances the idea that, in order to provide for all the necessary nutritional elements, a meal should be colourful. As for aesthetics in dining, some repasts are beautiful and if so, are by that very fact psychologically beneficial. But too often, a meal is more often like visiting a filling station. In Mr. Lee's case, his exhibition is a feast for the eyes.

It is not so unusual for artists to come to their principal forte through another discipline and this is especially the case in the modern period. Both Matisse and Kandinsky were lawyers and Paul Klee was a musician. I also know of a number of artists who are or were medical doctors. In the case of Kandinsky, as a professor at the Bauhaus he frequently formulated rules and laws for his students and anyone else, to follow. Klee consistently made references to music in composing pictures. Here in Bermuda, consider John Gardner, who, although primarily an architect, is also an accomplished artist, both as a painter and as a sculptor.

Kok Wan Lee's current solo exhibition can be divided into five sections, Landscapes — Sunsets, Poinciana Tree, Money Tree, Bermuda Cedar, Landscapes and Imagination. All are highly colourful and reminiscent of the art of Howard Hodgkin or the German Expressionist, Karl Schmidt-Rottluff. For this particular exhibition, he has used exceedingly intense, vibrant watercolours that he imports from Cheap Joe's called American Journey. Altogether, there are 20 paintings in the show.

Kok Wan Lee was born and raised in Malaysia and brings to his art an Asian sensibility. He moved to Bermuda over 20 years ago, however. His art is, therefore, something of a synthesis of east and west. He says that his first passion was the culinary arts, but even as a schoolboy he was always interested in making art. He trained as a chef in order to earn his keep, but when he arrived in Bermuda, he took the opportunity to take art classes at Bermuda College and later, workshops in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

One impressive thing about Kok Wan Lee is that he is so prolific in producing art and at the same time, so creative. He has had numerous solo exhibitions and has participated in many group shows, including the Bermuda National Gallery's Biennial. Nonetheless, this is the first time that he has had an opportunity to exhibit with a retail art dealership and as such Windjammer II does not come much better, indeed, it is a "classy" exhibition space and if location counts for anything, Windjammer II is in a most suitable location.