Born in 1948 in Singapore, Poh Siew Wah is a self-taught painter and lifelong art teacher. A recipient of several awards, including the Tan Tze Chor Art Award (1987) and a Merit Award, IBM Award (1990), Poh is known for his diverse styles ranging from representational watercolours to abstract paintings.Despite the mid-1980s marking a radical change in Poh’s painting style, from representational to abstract, he did not entirely abandon his trademark watercolour work. This quirky watercolour painting, presumably of a fruit seller sneaking an illicit smoke, clearly is intended to provoke a sympathetic chuckle. The influential renaissance pyramid composition of the man seated behind a makeshift counter of stacked cardboard boxes, together with the juxtaposed detailed foreground and figure set against the loosely rendered background, seem to create a humorous altar of worship. The striking simplicity found in the subject matter and its execution effectively says it all.
