Jolly Koh (b. 1941) graduated with a National Diploma of Art UK from Hornsey College of Art in 1962 and received the Art Teachers' Certificate (UK) from the University of London Institute of Education in 1963. He went on to pursue his Master of Science in Art Education in Indiana University in the United States in 1973 and completed his Doctor of Education in Philosophy of Education at the same university two years later.
 
Unlike most artists, Koh do not work in series – His work evolves and transforms as he moves from one painting to the other. Life’s journey is an evolution, filled with twists and unexpected turns and one’s artistic journey is similar where one follows “the foul rag-and-bone shop of the heart.” After several years and on hindsight, one might make a connection and discern a connection between one work and the other, thereby imposing a  “series” on them.
 
Koh’s account of artistic life is true to life rather than the artificial “series” type of work that is mostly done for specific exhibition or commercial requirements.
The present group of paintings for the exhibition was done over a period of a few years and they show a variety of expressions, with no series intended.