LOT 31
TAN KHIM SER
B. 1943, Singapore
Untitled
Inscribed in Chinese, stamped with artist’s seal on upper right and lower left
Chinese ink and watercolour on paper
95 x 32.5 cm
Private Collection, Canada
RM 3,000 – RM 8,000
Tan Khim Ser, a renowned Chinese ink artist graduated from the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts in 1966. Before venturing into a full-time career in art, he worked as a personnel manager for several years. The artist’s expertise lay in both Chinese and Western painting, with a focus on Chinese ink painting since the 1970’s. His paintings of landscapes, flowers, birds, insects and angel fish (for which he developed a signature painting technique) have become classics of Singapore Chinese ink works.
He is the founder of Life Art Society and under his leadership, the youth group of Life Art Society was awarded the Singapore Youth Award (1980). This was the highest youth accolade awarded in Singapore during that year. In addition, Life Art Society was also awarded the Commonwealth Community Service Award and the National Art Council Arts Supporter Award in 2003. In 2009, Tan’s Chinese painting titled, “Family” was selected by the French National Art Association for an exhibition in the Louvre Museum in Paris.
Tan held his first solo exhibition in 1967, and has since had at least 25 solo art exhibitions, as well as many group exhibitions in Singapore, Thailand, Taiwan, China, South Korea, Australia and Iran. His works have been collected by Singtel, the National Museum Art Gallery, the National University of Singapore Museum, government ministries and corporations.