Defining my top 10 paintings of 2025
Defining my best 10 pieces of 2025
1. This piece was in the long list of Jackson’s art prize 2025, and it represents a mundane scene that logically place words and text in the spaces, its full of light and dark thats stunning, and I had no expectation on this piece to be good, it was lightly produced with a ‘try’ mentality.
2. This piece reflect a departure from Shinrin Yoku to the sound painting, it was produced over time, not done at the same time, and took some determination to keep at it too. It’s strong because it’s funny, irreverent, it’s bold, it’s complex, and a stunner. A collector’s piece. Sold to one of my existing collectors at the Affordable Art Fair Singapore 2025.
3. This was shortlisted for UOB painting of the year, but didnt win. It was painted after my father passing away, and I was looking at my old photos from my childhood and stumbled upon me at about 6 years old sitting on a swing, and it’s a personal piece that can be universally representing all the little girls everywhere on a swing. It’s a strong painting because its values are strong, its ethereal colours are a delight to struggle to put into existence.
4. A repeat but 4 times as large, and this is a strong painting because it’s my insistent on a composition and story to exhibit that mood can change within the same composition as we stay the same, a philosophical, technical mastery that i must admit i did a good job on.
5. This piece is a return towards Shinrin Yoku, based on the imagined pieces I sold to Karen Bond. She’s got all my Shinrin Yoku pieces that i could never do again, and this is what I try to revisit, but in casein, and i added the MBS in the background very small, it’s a representation of the bold displacement I often feel when I am in Singapore that I dream of Japan, or Dalat, places non-equatorial. This is a strong painting because it represents my insistent of returning to good strong compositions and imagination.
6. This casein painting I did at Art In the Open, Wexford, Ireland was done after I sat with Charlie Hunter and listened to him talk about his process. It was produced within 2 hours, on a ready made framed panel I bought in Kyoto, Japan. The work represents clear point of view when I am inspired, by the place, by the conversations and by the sheer luck of good weather. This is sold in the exhibition in Ireland.
7. Done in wax neocolour crayon. It’s on Perspex and still life of my own objects that I love. The work is strongly representing my observation skills and compositional scene, inspired still by my artist friend, Alena, but moving towards my own style.
8. Gouache on panel, plein air in gardens by the bay, its a strong on representing my ability to stay my course, amidst constant interruption from the public, and a great fun sound painting with a funny title “The Farmer is a Leprechaun”.
9. This was a recycled board with yellow under painting that needed to be fixed, and it accidentally because this, and I sold it as soon as a collector sees it during preview. It’s not something I can do again but the spirit of this painting tells me that I must trust the process, i must really let go of expectations of good, and to trust my design sensibility and colour maturity. I know what stuns. This is one of them. Titled Wooaghh, as the sound embedded on the painting said.
10. Another strong piece I did just because I wanted to reuse the recycled canvas that my artist friend and ex-studio mate Elaine left when she moved out. This is a strong painting in progress because I was out of my expectation boundaries, and I was painting just to try big bold strokes without initial planning. It’s based on a room in the London, and Hongkong side street cafe. I must try to let go of finishing it, and if I do decide to continue painting, I must be OK of the risks of the work being destroyed. Stay tuned for 2026 and what and where I am going to take this.
