People often ask me why I chose to anchor my life’s work in public events, schools, and community hubs like Wisma Geylang Serai, rather than chasing the traditional gallery circuit. In the conventional art world, success is often measured by a very specific formula: institutional exhibition space, academic citations, and the nod of elite curators. For a long time, there was an unwritten rule that if your work was accessible to the common person, it must be “craft” or “outreach,” not “high art.”
If I had accepted that definition, my journey would have been a very small one. But true wisdom comes from stepping outside the safe, pre-curated paths.
When you spend decades mastering a discipline, you realize that art requires multiple languages. It demands the slow, meditative patience of traditional batik painting—learning how to discipline the hot wax line to honor our regional heritage. But it also demands the lightning-fast, high-level drawing proficiency of live caricature art, where you must instantly capture the unique, living spark of a person sitting right in front of you.
The greatest joy of my enterprise hasn’t been a solitary achievement, but building a sustainable ecosystem where other artists can thrive. By taking a leap of faith to establish caricature and face painting art concessions at major international venues like Universal Studios Singapore, we managed to do something practical: we created real, full-time employment for countless local creators. We didn’t just teach them how to draw; we mentored them, pushed their boundaries, and provided them with valuable foreign exposure.
Sadly that venture came to an end due to the Covid pandemic. We did not continue when situation normalised as we found ourselves with a bigger purpose to champion traditional arts.
This wasn’t a politically safe or neatly packaged route to personal fame. It was a choice born out of a deep conviction that an artist’s success shouldn’t just be measured by what is hung on a quiet wall to be admired by a select few. It should be measured by how many doors you open for others.
That is exactly why we started initiatives like ArtSpot. It is a monthly, completely free community space born out of a simple, collaborative philosophy. In each session, we purposefully step back and put other art practitioners in the spotlight, giving them a platform to share their distinct techniques and passion directly with the public. When artists selflessly lift each other up without waiting for institutional permission, the entire cultural fabric of our society grows stronger.
My aspiration for the progress of visual arts in Singapore is not for the grassroots to be “let into” elite spaces. Rather, it is for all of us to recognize that the activities, stories, and daily triumphs of our common people are the main event.
Art is not an academic exercise to be locked away in the archives. It is a living, breathing social sculpture that we build together, hand by hand, brushstroke by brushstroke. The canvas of Singapore is incredibly vast—and there is more than enough room for all of us to paint our future together.
