Boo Sze Yang

 "A painting is a projection of the artist's thoughts and does not reflect reality. It is very much like a poem, you may recognise the words but can never fully comprehend the meaning when they are arranged together." 

  • Born 1965 in Singapore

  • Graduated with Diploma from Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (NAFA), 1991

  • Completed Postgraduate Diploma in Fine Art, University of Reading, UK, 1995

  • Graduated with Master in Arts Degree, Chelsea College of Art & Design, University of the Arts London, 2004

 

Boo Sze Yang is a distinguished artist who has amassed many awards throughout his practice. Boo works with a diverse range of subject matter in his paintings, ranging from mundane domestic objects to images of cars and airplanes crashing, derelict interiors of cathedrals and unpopulated chambers of shopping malls. Boo treats these banal objects, destructive scenes and modern architectural interiors as metaphors for the human condition, where he transforms them into symbols of contemporary life. He typically works with a restrained palette and alongside a loose, gestural painting technique, to emphasise the materiality of paint.


Boo also explores the portraiture, where he would blend his personal experiences with everyday social and political events to generate uncanny and idiosyncratic expressionistic portraitures, which serves as comical observations of everyday life.

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Notable Awards

2017  Distinguished Alumni Medal 2017, NAFA, Singapore

2010  Asian Artist Fellowship Award 2010/2011, Freeman Foundation, USA

2009  Platinum Award. UOB Painting of the Year Competition 2009 

2003  Scholarship (MA Fine Art, UK) for teaching staff by NAFA

2003  Bursary Award (MA Fine Art, UK), National Arts Council Singapore

2003  Juror’s Choice. Philip Morris Singapore-Asean Art Awards 2003

2003  Certificate of Commendation. UOB 22nd Painting of the Year

2002  Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts Founder’s Day Award Distinction Award. UOB 21st Painting of the Year

2001  Honourable mention. Philip Morris Singapore Art Awards

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Solo Exhibitions

2018  Boo Sze Yang: The Mirage, AC43 Gallery, Singapore

2015  Boo Sze Yang: 29.03.15, iPreciation, Singapore

2014  Boo Sze Yang: The Father, iPreciation, Singapore

2012  Boo Sze Yang: AIR at Kuandu Museum of Fine Arts, Taipei, Taiwan 

2012  Sanctuary, Art at St Francis’, Melbourne, Australia

2012  The ExtraOrdinary, Chanhampe Galleries @Tanjong Pagar, Singapore

2012  The New Cathedral, Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts Galleries 1 & 2, Singapore

2011  Sanctuary, Red Mill gallery, Vermont Studio Center, Johnson, Vermont, USA

2010  Sanctuary, Utterly Art, Affordable Art Fair Singapore

2010  House of God II, Boo Sze Yang Art Studio at Old School. Singapore

2009  Boom!, Utterly Art. Singapore

2007  House of God, Utterly Art, Singapore

2006  Silence of the Canines, Utterly Art, Singapore

2005  In-Between, Style Cube Zandari, Seoul, South Korea

2005  The Space In-between, Utterly Art, Singapore

1996  Dilemma of Being, The Substation Art Gallery, Singapore

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Artist Residencies 

2012  Kuandu Museum of Fine Arts, Taipei, Taiwan

2012  PointB Worklodge, Brooklyn, New York, USA

2011  Vermont Studio Centre, Vermont, USA