'I paint from imagination': Artist Yip Yew Chong on his 60m painting of historical Singapore scenes

SINGAPORE: Singaporean artist Yip Yew Chong painted much of his latest work alone in a studio over the past one-and-a-half years, but his fans were not left out of the process.

Best known for his murals around Singapore, Mr Yip originally planned for the canvas painting to be around 50m, the length of an Olympic pool, so that he could include all the locations he had in mind.

After he posted sneak peeks on social media, however, his followers had suggestions for him.

“For example, Caldecott Hill,” he said. “I painted it because there were two people saying (I should add it), in that same week.”

But he was running out of space. “After a while, I’m like, okay, I’m going to add four more panels,” he said.

Closer to the completion of his now-60m project – which he interspersed with other works – he decided to hold several live painting sessions to work on his final panel.

He accepted an offer from Tiong Bahru Community Centre, a “nice coincidence”, since the area is featured in his last panel.

Painting in public is like “good closure, a finale”, Mr Yip, 54, said.

“When you run a marathon, you want people to come (cheer you on) at the finishing line right?”

BYGONE ERA

His fans did not disappoint. When CNA visited on Jan 11, a steady stream of people came to watch him paint, despite it being a weekday afternoon.

Many requested photos with Mr Yip, and one gifted him a notebook. Some children settled down to paint their own artworks, which they later gave to him.

One visitor, project manager Tom Quek, 49, said Mr Yip’s art sometimes brings him to tears.

“The part that resonates, for me, is I'm of that generation (that is) old enough to remember some of this as it is depicted,” he told CNA.

“What we see here today is completely different from what I grew up with,” said Mr Quek, who lived in Tiong Bahru for around 15 years in the 1970s and 1980s – the time period that Mr Yip referenced.

“It invokes nostalgia, a certain sense of reconnecting with a bygone era,” Mr Quek said, adding that it gives him a homely and comforting feeling.

Mr Quek, who now lives in Florida and discovered Mr Yip’s art through social media around two years ago, happened to be in Singapore visiting family at the time of the live painting sessions.

“This is a treat for me, to have the opportunity to see him do this live,” he said.

CRITICS 

For all the support from the community, however, Mr Yip points out that he is not without his critics. 

Some take issue with the content of his paintings, while others criticise his technical skills.

“I am not formally trained and I paint from imagination … not historically accurate,” said Mr Yip, who became a full-time artist in 2018 after working in the accounting sector for 25 years.

The balance between aesthetics, self-expression and historical accuracy was the main difficulty in painting the 60m canvas work, he said. People also may expect canvas paintings to be more like fine art, compared to murals where precision is less important.

“For this type of painting – semi-realistic to realistic – people expect it to be historically accurate, but I can’t.

“Because I have to join Tiong Bahru to Chinatown, Chinatown to Singapore River. How can I do it? I have to put a lot of imagination,” he said.

“But to balance that is a big challenge because I can’t meet everybody’s expectations.”

Asked if he interacts with his critics, Mr Yip said it depends, because some of them do not want to engage with him.

“I always take constructive criticism and I try to improve,” he said, though he added that he wants his audiences to keep in mind that his art is non-historical.

“The idea is to evoke emotions and draw out their own memory,” he said.

“I will take it easy, I think there are enough people who find it meaningful,” said Mr Yip.

FUTURE PLANS

Although painting indoors in a studio is more comfortable as he gets older, Mr Yip will be going back to his roots and working on some large murals in Singapore after cutting back last year, he said. He was part of an exhibition in 2022 and held two solo ones the year before.

He intends to display all panels of the 60m canvas painting at an exhibition in the second half of the year, publish a photo book and experiment with different forms of art.

“I am an explorer, I like to explore new mediums,” he said, pointing out that he has animated some older paintings such that viewers can “walk around the streets” that he created.

“Old works can be reinvented”, though keeping an element of familiarity is important too, he said.

“I also want to reinvent myself rather than sticking to the same thing.”