Providing opportunities for our artists

Mr Chia Mia Chiang, President NAFA, 

Mr Koh Seow Chuan, Chairman of Visual Arts Cluster Advisory Board, 

Mr Wong Shih Yaw, 

Excellencies and distinguished guests, 

Ladies and gentlemen

1. I am very happy to join you this evening for the exhibition for the retrospective of Shih Yaw's artistic works. As Mia Chang mentioned earlier, I was here just last month, attending my first art event of the year, and that was for the exhibition of Poon Lian's 50 years of art. 

2. So it is good to be back again for the exhibition of another distinguished NAFA graduate and artist Wong Shih Yaw. He graduated from NAFA in 1989, so unlike pioneer artist Poon Lian, he doesn't have a 50 year retrospective to showcase. But his works have a distinctively Singapore character and they have achieved critical acclaim both in Singapore and around the world. So we are very happy to be here to launch the first ever solo retrospective exhibition of Shih Yaw's artistic works. And I just heard that I have a special connection with him on two counts – first we share the same surname, and secondly we are both Hainanese. And if you are Hainanese, you know that the Hainanese are very “clique-ish” because we are the smallest Chinese community in Singapore, we are the latest to come to Singapore after all the other dialect groups. So the Hainanese stick together. 

3. I'm sure many of you also know that Shih Yaw was one of the key founding members of The Artists Village in the 1980s, alongside Tang Da Wu and Vincent Leow. 

4. The Artists Village (or TAV) was Singapore's first art colony, it was a hotbed of creativity and experimentation. The works they produced mirrored the changes in Singapore's development – our uncertainty, our struggle to find our place in the world, as well as our growing maturity as we went forth into the 90s.

5. And it was because of the efforts of these artists, that we now have a vibrant and steadily growing contemporary art scene in Singapore. That is an important contribution to Singapore because contemporary art is a means through which we express our identity, values and beliefs. It allows us to reflect on who we are – to ask deeper questions and to engage in conversations on critical issues about what we want our society to be, and where we would like to go in the future. 

6. You see this in the works of Shih Yaw as well. That's why I think it is very apt that this exhibition is titled “allegories”, because in many ways, the artwork that you see around you provide a mirror to our lives – they remind us of what is important, what is central to us as Singaporeans, and in many ways, as human beings. 

7. In MCCY, we're committed to make quality arts more accessible to our people, and build up Singapore as a cultural city that embraces the arts. We are always looking to provide as many platforms as possible – both within Singapore and beyond – for our artists to showcase their work and reach out to new audiences. 

8. This year alone, we have many opportunities to do so because we are celebrating our nation's 50th birthday. We started the year with a very successful Singapore Art Week.

9. In a few months, we will return to Venice Biennale. We'll be launching a Singapore Pavilion showcasing newly-commissioned works of artist Charles Lim. Later in November, we can look forward to the opening of the National Gallery, and this will be the largest ever artistic venue in Southeast Asia. It will showcase the best of Singaporean and South-east Asian art. So this exhibition that you see here today, same with Poon Lian's exhibition that we saw earlier, provides you a foretaste of what's to come at the National Gallery – which will feature the best of Singaporean artists.

10. Providing opportunities for artists is only part of the picture. It is just as important that we have quality arts education to nurture our aspiring artists. Here, I would like to acknowledge and thank NAFA for its many contributions. Since 1938, NAFA has trained over 8,000 graduates across different disciplines. Its fine arts graduates have made their mark on our local artistic scene. Today, NAFA can boast of many alumni who stand amongst Singapore's finest artists. These include artists like Shih Yaw, as well as many of our pioneer artists and Cultural Medallion recipients.

11. I hope that NAFA will continue to produce many more successful artists, and I hope that this exhibition will inspire many young art practitioners and students to continue experimenting and pushing the boundaries of artistic creation.

12. Finally, I extend my warmest congratulations to Wong Shih Yaw and NAFA for this new exhibition. I hope all of you have a pleasant evening. Since the new year is coming, let me wish all of you good health, and happiness for the year of the goat.