Frank Zhen’s paintings of stylized red papercut merlions are the perfect way to celebrate Chinese New Year, with his festive compositions full of auspicious meanings. This year the red is augmented by gold foil in several paintings, as Frank brings us to A New Golden Age.

Artist’s Statement:

A New Golden Age was inspired by the many positive changes in Singapore recently - from politics, transport, new housing with planned greenery, childcare, care for the underprivileged, to the increasingly beautiful skyline of the new CBD, our flourishing art and culture and its tremendous governmental support, our recent achievements in sports in the SEA games and our tremendous motivational boost in the film industry with the awards to Ilo Ilo. There is a positive vibe in the air, and I can feel certain groundbreaking alterations for a very exciting and satisfying life in Singapore in the years ahead that will bring about a new "Golden Age", if we maintain our achievements in all areas with a zest for success and life in general.

A "Golden Age" could be very subjective when applied to individuals. Mine was perhaps in my younger days when I travelled carefree overseas and everytime I passed through the overseas customs without problem, I thanked my Singaporean passport! And returning to Changi airport felt like entering a top world class hotel lobby! Life was full of hope as technologies kept improving lives. It could be too soon to talk about a “Golden Age” for Singapore as we only achieved independence in 1965. In terms of achievements as a young nation however, we have made tremendous accomplishments which very few in the world could imitate. Perhaps we are living in a Golden Age and being such a young nation, we can always say that the best is yet to come!

Art has been a passion for Frank Zhen since his youth, who would as a child spend hours drawing on paper. In the past few years, he has experienced an intense urge to paint to express his feelings, and has undertaken a number of short courses in painting from 2006 to 2011. Frank’s shows have been covered by Channel NewsAsia and the Straits Times, and have met with commercial success. A New Golden Age is his 3rd solo exhibition.

-Utterly Art

Image: © Frank Zhen