Choy Weng Yang

Installation View 1 

The Columns Gallery Singapore presents a new collection of abstract paintings by accomplished visual artist, art educator, curator, and writer; Choy Weng Yang. A solo exhibition that continues his artistic legacy in highlighting the journey of his innovative artistic paintings. This body of artworks entice a distinct field of communication, with the pairing of vibrant colours and dynamically energetic brushstrokes.

In the exhibition Colours of Emotions, we extend a heartfelt invitation to delve into a realm where colours transcend pigments on canvas. Choy Weng Yang’s creations are born from the very essence of colour itself. With each stroke, he skillfully emphasizes not just the individual shades, but the growing interplay between them. In his world, colours cease to exist in isolation; instead, they reveal their true brilliance through their interactions.

Installation View 2

Choy is a reputable painter, an artist who is renowned for his crucial role in advancing modern art and design in Singapore. His unwavering commitment to nurturing Singapore’s painting scene is evident through his multifaceted endeavors, including education, art criticism, and the curation of noteworthy painting and sculpture exhibitions. Notably, he was an art curator of National Museum Singapore from 1978 to 1985, a tenure that profoundly influenced Singaporean art.

Installation View 3

The early 1970s marked the beginning of Choy propelling his artistic exploration, further enriching his skills, learning from modern artists at the time. He was awarded the UNESCO Fellowship for Creative Arts, which bestowed him a six-month journey across the United States to explore the realms of art, design, and architecture. He first embarked on environmental designs at MIT Center for Advanced Visual Studies created by the highly respected György Kepes. In New York, he seized a rare opportunity to study the original works of renowned abstract expressionists such as Jackson Pollock, De Kooning, and Mark Rothko. This opportunity served to breathe new inspiration into Choy’s world of work.

In his latest works, he undertook a new endeavor to express himself with minimal colours and lines. Inspired by Piet Mondrian who pioneered the phenomenon of proportion as an art form, Choy takes this influence to a different direction of exploration, creating paintings based on the proportion of colours, lines, and spaces. Choy experimented with a new painting style by using primarily one colour – yellow – along with dots, lines, and planes. Seen especially in Interplay of Colour, Choy, like Mondrian, attempted to work with only very basic colours – black, white, yellow, blue, red – these helped highlight how proportion directly affects an art piece.

Installation View 4

Radiant Yellow epitomizes Choy’s mastery of colour interaction, inspired by the concept of monochrome painting. Here, he transcends traditional boundaries, creating a dynamic interplay of colours within a single hue. As a result of the imaginative sensitivity, talent and innovation, he immersed into his own monochrome, never repeating himself.

He says, “The work created itself, I just followed along.”

Choy has devoted many years into expanding his artistic knowledge, consistently pushing himself to think ahead of current art trends and seek beyond boundaries of his imagination. He has never ceased to work, from his early career as a visual artist to the esteemed painter he is known for today. With this new selection of work, he reunites, giving importance to, identifying the necessity of colour theory and the effect on our interpretations through emotion.

The Columns Gallery
22 Lock Road, Gillman Barracks #01-35 Singapore 108939
+65 9030 7647

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