The seven-decade-long career of celebrated local artist Teo Eng Seng is put on display in his most extensive survey to date at National Gallery Singapore, with close to 70 artworks presented across two thematic sections.
Teo Eng Seng: We’re Happy. Are You Happy?, set to run from Sep 6 to Feb 2 next year, commemorates the pioneering contributions of Teo as advocate, teacher and trailblazer across various mediums, genres, movements and practices, the sum of which led to him being conferred Singapore’s apex arts accolade, the Cultural Medallion, back in 1986.
His invention of paperdyesculp – a medium that involves crafting sculptures from dyed papier-mache and other materials – in the 1980s is perhaps his most pivotal contribution to the local arts scene, though his pointed commentary on the events of yesteryear through his artworks is also noteworthy.
Says Dr Eugene Tan, CEO and director of National Gallery Singapore, “We are excited to present the works of one of Singapore’s most prolific local artists, Teo Eng Seng, as part of our second instalment of our SG Artist series this year. Teo is a highly respected artist best known for bringing modern art aesthetics to Singapore’s visual arts scene and creating socially conscious artworks that respond to issues that are still relevant today.”
It’s only natural, then, that the exhibition splits Teo’s work down that same dichotomy, with the one half dedicated to his enduring spirit of innovation and the other, a presentation of the social commentary as told by the artist’s brushstrokes and sculpture work.
The first section gets its name from a subversive calligraphic oeuvre crafted by Teo in 1986, Don’t Try to Read it, See it, Feel it, where Mandarin characters are deliberately made illegible to encourage viewers to rely on intuition rather than their senses alone.
The exhibition continues with The Net (Most Definitely Singapore River) (1986), an installation that bridges the gap between the two halves of the exhibition in its commentary on the overuse of the Singapore River as a subject by local artists. He instead sought to capture the truth of the river before the great cleanup in 1977 with a mess of paperdyesculpt debris tangled on a net.
It’s emblematic of Teo’s unapologetic and straightforward nature, brought clearly into focus in the second half of the exhibition, titled Sweet Talk, Straight Talk: A Global Citizen Engaging in Social Commentary through Art.
Without giving everything away, the highlight of the exhibition’s latter half is surely its namesake art piece, We’re Happy. Are You Happy? (1997). The piece plays on the contradictions of material wealth and personal freedom – a typical conundrum both in Singapore and around the world – by placing paperdyescupt birds frolicking amid classical columns evocative of Singapore’s wealthiest neighbourhoods in an unceremonious second-hand birdcage.
Teo Eng Seng: We’re Happy. Are You Happy? runs from Sep 6 to Feb 2, 2025. Visitors may purchase Special Exhibition Passes at $25 each ($15 for Singapore Citizens and Permanent Residents) here to view the exhibition at Singtel Special Exhibition Gallery 1, Level 3, National Gallery Singapore.
The exhibition is part of National Gallery Singapore’s ongoing SG Artist series where visitors can discover the innovative spirit of Singapore artists and their commitment to experimental artmaking.
