One of the most prolific and talented artists in Singapore, Ng Eng Teng produced more than 300 sculptures over a span of 40 years. These included large-scale public sculptures to life-sized and smaller sculptures. His art education started in Singapore as a painting student at Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (NAFA), before continuing his studies in industrial pottery in North Staffordshire College of Technology, England. He went on to study studio pottery in Farnham School of Art and subsequently became a designer in a pottery factory in Ireland for a few years. These various stints equipped him with the necessary technical vocabulary to deal with the 3-dimensional form.Undated, ‘Brown Eyes’ is probably produced in the latter stage of Ng’s artistic career when he had matured in his craft, and seemed to be more ‘playful’ in his approach. Combining a minimalist approach with a dash of surrealism, the head, with a pair of ‘detachable’ brown eyes, defies our usual understanding of the subject.
