Mural artist Yip Yew Chong's book launch of "Art of Joy: The Journey of Yip Yew Chong", written by Woon Tai Ho and held at Tiong Bahru Community Centre last weekend (Nov. 18) was a roaring success.

The event saw more than 300 attendees and 400 pre-orders.

Singapore's Ambassador-at-large Tommy Koh has also shown his support for Yip's work and was even gifted an autographed copy from the artist himself.

Showing his support

A day after the book launch (Nov. 19), Koh expressed his excitement that the event was a "smashing success" in a Facebook post.

He also briefly told his followers about Yip's background, how he started doing mural art and how he's gotten quite a fan club over the years with over 33,000 followers on Instagram.

"There is usually a crowd watching him paint and he engages the people watching him and even asks for their suggestions. He is charming and approachable. He is a good story teller. He is the people’s artist."

Yip invited Koh to officiate the unveiling of a 60-metre-long oil painting of Singapore on canvas, that took the past year and a half to create, at the Raffles City on Nov. 28 at 10 am.

Gave him the book

On Nov. 22, Yip and book editor, publisher and owner of Landmark Books, Goh Eck Kheng, visited Koh to gift him the book, "Art of Joy: The Journey of Yip Yew Chong" and a copy of a book containing in miniature the 60-metre-long painting by Yip.

The trio seemed to have spent some time chatting that morning, with Yip leaving a comment on Koh's post:

"Thank you once again Prof Koh for your sharing this morning! I feel very privileged. I’ve learnt so much from you in an hour, and now aspire to be an ambassador of the arts!"

Where to buy the book

Print editions of "Art of Joy: The Journey of Yip Yew Chong" will be available at all major bookstores in Singapore, such as Kinokuniya and Popular where you can find paperback copies for S$32 and hardcover for S$86.

There are also electronic editions available here.

Top images via Tommy Koh and Yip Yew Chong's Facebook.