“Revisit Chinatown” is a follow up on Anthony Chua Say Hua’s last solo “Inscribed Spaces”. The old shop houses that lined the roads that linked up to be conceived as Singapore’s Chinatown serve as the artist’s muse. Many of these early shop houses were labour houses (Coolie Geng) that used to be residences to thousands of Chinese labourers who would toil their lives away working on the Singapore River during the country’s early modern history under colonial rule. Living conditions then were dire.

In this exhibition, the old and the new are juxtaposed in sometimes tongue in cheek composition. ‘Coolie Geng in Shenton Way’ has high rises in the business district framing the skyline of an old shop house. ‘Lift Upgrading in Labour House’ is a whimsical take on an imagined ‘lift upgrading’ exercises that are carried out in current Singapore’s public housing estate taking place in an old coolie geng or labour house.

The walls which are etched with signs of aging and weathering or merely whitewashed to a fresh façade formed the basis of most of Anthony’s ink paintings. These walls are framed within roof tops which are rendered freely in flowing ink brush strokes. Architectural elements such as columns/orders, air vents, windows and doors provide a burst of colours that call attention to these silent structures that have served their purposes in the construction of Singapore modern history.

About the Artist:
The 2001 Young Artist Award winner for Visual Arts, Anthony Chua Say Hua has been actively engaged in art practices full time since 1996. A Highly Commended winner of the recent UOB Painting of the Year awards this year, the art veteran has had numerous exhibitions in Singapore and overseas. Graduated from the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts in 1992, LaSalle College of the Arts in 1993 and Goldsmiths College – University of London in 1997, Anthony has straddled his art practices in the midpoint of Western and Eastern art – combining best of the two cultures.  His unique contemporary Chinese ink paintings are informed in Western Modernist aesthetics whilst employing the logic and philosophy of traditional Chinese ink painting medium.