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Singapore Watercolour artist Francis Tan stages his first solo exhibition

SINGAPORE — It is rather fitting that one of the early loves of Francis Tan was collecting art, including those of Ang Ah Tee, Hua Chai Yong and even the late Tay Bak Koi. The 66-year-old watercolour artist, who will soon be holding his first solo exhibition at the Signature Art House, grew up with passion coursing through his veins and artistic flair on his fingertips. He was the head illustrator for his school newspaper when he attended Saint Gabriel’s Secondary School in the 1960s. He went on to paint “professionally” and even sold a few pieces in his younger days, but didn’t pursue a full-time career as an artist due to his demanding schedule as a cargo surveyor. Until now.

SINGAPORE — It is rather fitting that one of the early loves of Francis Tan was collecting art, including those of Ang Ah Tee, Hua Chai Yong and even the late Tay Bak Koi. The 66-year-old watercolour artist, who will soon be holding his first solo exhibition at the Signature Art House, grew up with passion coursing through his veins and artistic flair on his fingertips. He was the head illustrator for his school newspaper when he attended Saint Gabriel’s Secondary School in the 1960s. He went on to paint “professionally” and even sold a few pieces in his younger days, but didn’t pursue a full-time career as an artist due to his demanding schedule as a cargo surveyor. Until now.

He has translated his passion for art into a retirement career. In his paintings, the rapid evolvement of our nation’s culture played out in the changes of women’s hairstyles on the streets of old Chinatown, or through the depiction of iconic shophouses along the Singapore River in various stages of remodelling.

“It was my father,” Tan explained. “I remember my father drawing a car... Or was it a lorry? Suddenly, that gave me such a sense of power. If I wanted anything, I could just draw it and I would have it! I mean, that was a child’s mentality.” Although Tan has established himself as a member of the Singapore Watercolour Society, he said the idea of “starving artist” is not a myth. “It’s real, because you literally don’t make any money,” he added. “It’s incredibly hard to survive with fine arts as a career. I could only pursue what I loved to do, which was to paint, after I retired.”

Tan had put aside what he describes as his first love for a stable career in the shipping industry. “It’s the same old story. I wanted to further my degree in art, and that was back in the day when everyone was so conservative. To (my parents), it was a ridiculous thing to even bring up. They told me there was no future in art.”

As for his penchant for capturing scenes in Singapore, he said: “I guess painting them is one way of preserving the old scenery. It’s funny, because I was sitting in the living room surrounded by the paintings I bought, which were hanging around the house, and I suddenly said to myself, ‘What the hell, I could paint as well as all these people; maybe even better!’ I then realised I wanted to be on the other side of the fence; I wanted to be the artist now.”

So why watercolours? “Watercolours lend a certain spontaneity and I love the immediacy of it,” Tan shared. “With it, you can create something so fast, and it’s great for people like me who paints on location. I always paint what I see and nobody can see what I can.” Laetitia Wong

Catch Francis Tan’s first solo art exhibition at the Signature Arts House at Tanglin Shopping Centre from Sunday to Sept 14.

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