Treasure Island

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.Towards the end of the 1990s, Poh’s abstract paintings began to lose their rigorous symmetry and reflected a relaxed assurance in his application of colour. The search for compositional harmony in his work continues, however, as is evident in ‘Treasure Island’ and ‘Symphony of Dawn’. The paintings exude an introspective calmness and spirituality in line with the maturation of Poh’s personal style and ideology; nature remains his source of inspiration – not as subject matter per se, but rather as a source within himself to be harnessed without exerting too much control over it.