Something New Must Turn Up: Six Singaporean Artists After 1965

Welcome to Something New Must Turn Up: Six Singaporean Artists after 1965. My name is Seng Yu Jin, and I am Senior Curator at National Gallery Singapore. This exhibition consists of six sections that explore and showcase the artistic practices of Singaporean artists Chng Seok Tin, Goh Beng Kwan, Jaafar Latiff, Lin Hsin Hsin, Mohammad Din Mohammad and Eng Tow, who came into prominence in the years after independence. Back then, artists in Singapore were eager to show that with the country’s newly minted nationhood came a whole new national identity. They started experimenting with making art in new and different ways, creating interdisciplinary works that drove a vibrant period of local modernism. This was a significant move away from the previous generation of artists in Singapore—known as the “Nanyang artists”—who were mostly born overseas and synthesised Chinese ink painting techniques with Western easel painting while depicting local and regional subject matter. These six artists were chosen because of their diverse backgrounds and practices, reflecting the multicultural nature of Singapore’s society. Additionally, three of them are women who held their own in a male-dominated art world, but whose works have been largely overlooked. In this tour, the curators for each section will walk you through their show, highlighting key aspects of each of the artist’s practices. As you follow along, do also take the time to have a closer look at the artworks and read the labels for a more in-depth visual analysis. While we invite you to view and compare the artistic practices of these artists, we also encourage you to make your own connections between their artworks. Perhaps you, too, will find a new way of looking at these artists.