Goh Beng Kwan (; born 1937, in Medan, Indonesia) is a pioneering Singaporean modern

artist An artist is a person engaged in an activity related to creating art, practicing the arts, or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse refers to a practitioner in the visual arts only. However, th ...

, known for his abstract collages that incorporate materials such as fabric, nails, and paper, exploring issues around cultural representation, urbanism, and identity. He is one of the first post-war artists in Singapore to travel to the United States for an art education at the

Art Students League of New York The Art Students League of New York is an art school at 215 West 57th Street in Manhattan, New York City, New York. The League has historically been known for its broad appeal to both amateurs and professional artists. Although artists may stu ...

. In 1982, Goh received the first prize at the inaugural UOB Painting of the Year Competition. He awarded the Cultural Medallion in 1989 for his contributions to the visual art of Singapore.

Personal life and education

Goh was born in 1937 in Medan,

Sumatra Sumatra is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is the largest island that is fully within Indonesian territory, as well as the sixth-largest island in the world at 473,481 km2 (182,812 mi.2), not including adjacent i ...

, Indonesia to a Chinese

immigrant Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not natives or where they do not possess citizenship in order to settle as permanent residents or naturalized citizens. Commuters, tourists, and ...

father and Peranakan mother, the fourth in a family of six children. Goh moved to Singapore with his parents at the age of eight after the end of World War II. In Singapore, Goh attended the Chinese High School and studied art under Singapore pioneer artist

Chen Wen Hsi Chen Wen Hsi (; 1906–1991) was a Chinese-born Singaporean artist, known for his avant-garde Chinese paintings. Early life and education Chen was born in Jieyang, Guangdong, China, and had his early education at Chen Li Primary School and St. ...

. Chen would teach Goh art lessons from his home after school, bringing him on art excursions with fellow Singapore pioneer artist

Cheong Soo Pieng Cheong Soo Pieng () was a Singaporean artist who was a pioneer of the Nanyang art style, and a driving force to the development of Modernism in visual art in the early 20th-century Singapore. He was also known for his signature depiction of Sout ...

. Studying under these two

Nanyang style The Nanyang style of painting, also known as Nanyang art or the Nanyang school, was a modern art movement and painting tradition initially practised by migrant Chinese painters in Singapore from the late-1940s to 1960s. As immigrant artists taken ...

artists for almost 10 years since 1952, Goh developed a strong foundation in the Western style of representational painting with an appreciation for

Chinese ink painting Ink wash painting ( zh, t=水墨畫, s=水墨画, p=shuǐmòhuà; ja, 水墨画, translit=suiboku-ga or ja, 墨絵, translit=sumi-e; ko, 수묵화, translit=sumukhwa) is a type of Chinese ink brush painting which uses black ink, such as tha ...

and

calligraphy Calligraphy (from el, link=y, καλλιγραφία) is a visual art related to writing. It is the design and execution of lettering with a pen, ink brush, or other writing instrument. Contemporary calligraphic practice can be defined as "t ...

. In 1961, Goh would exhibit his work for the first time at the ''Five Man Exhibition'' at the National Museum Art Gallery in Singapore. After this, he moved to the US to further his studies at the

, studying oil painting under acclaimed painter

Sidney Gross Sidney Gross (died in 1969, at the age of 48) was an American artist and painter. His early style was influenced by the Social realism. He also drew on the Surrealist Movement that was just beginning the year he was born. By the time he was twenty, ...

. Goh would leave representational painting behind for

Abstract Expressionism Abstract expressionism is a post–World War II art movement in American painting, developed in New York City in the 1940s. It was the first specifically American movement to achieve international influence and put New York at the center of the ...

, then flourishing in New York City's art scene, further taking inspiration from figures such as Willem de Kooning and

Robert Rauschenberg Milton Ernest "Robert" Rauschenberg (October 22, 1925 – May 12, 2008) was an American painter and graphic artist whose early works anticipated the Pop art movement. Rauschenberg is well known for his Combines (1954–1964), a group of artwor ...

. Goh would work part-time in a Chinese restaurant to help finance his studies, continuing to do so even after receiving the Allen Tucker Scholarship in the second year of his studies and the Ford Foundation Scholarship in his third. During this period in 1964, Goh also attended the two-month long Provincetown Workshop in Massachusetts, where he was mentored by abstract painter and collagist Leo Manso and modernist painter Victor Candell. Here, Goh made his first attempts at collage painting using salvaged materials, further incorporating the influences of Chinese calligraphic strokes in his abstract painting-collages. A year later in 1965, Goh attended his second Provincetown Workshop.

Career

After his second Provincetown Workshop, Goh held his first solo exhibition at the Ruth Sherman Gallery in New York. Goh returned to Singapore in 1966, holding a solo exhibition in Singapore at the National Library to acclaim. The works were praised for introducing fresh approaches to the Singapore art scene, with materials such as nails, tea wrapping, Chinese oracle papers, newspapers, and acupuncture diagrams incorporated into his collage-paintings. He began his association with the Alpha Gallery in the early 1970s, a space that brought together young Singaporean and Malaysian artists who had recently returned from overseas studies. Between the mid-1970s to the early 1980s, Goh would participate in group exhibitions and hold a solo exhibition at the Alpha Gallery. Goh became an influential artist in 70s Singapore, contributing significantly to the development of local contemporary art. Goh’s work received affirmation through his abstract collage ''The Dune'' (1982), which won the inaugural United Overseas Bank (UOB) Painting of the Year award in 1982. Goh subsequently took on painting full-time, with formal representation by the Art Forum gallery. In 1989, Goh was awarded the Cultural Medallion for Visual Arts, the highest state accolade recognising contributions made to the development of art in Singapore. In 1991, a solo exhibition by Goh entitled ''Journeys'' was held at the National Museum Art Gallery. The subsequent years would continue to see him participating in solo and group exhibitions, art festivals, and events in Singapore and abroad. In 2021, Goh's works would be featured at the National Gallery Singapore exhibition, ''Something New Must Turn Up: Six Singaporean Artists After 1965'', with a solo section titled ''Nervous City'' that focussed on Goh's practice. The exhibition would feature Goh's paintings, collages, and metal assemblages.

Publications

* Goh Beng Kwan (2019), ''Cresting the Waves'',

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Goh, Beng Kwan Singaporean artists 1937 births Living people Recipients of the Cultural Medallion for art