Born in Singapore, Arthur Yap (1943-2006) painted more frequently only after he graduated from the University of Singapore in 1965. A self-taught artist, he learnt through art magazines, exhibitions and trips to Europe in the 1970s. At the same time, he participated actively in the local art scene, holding six solo exhibitions and exhibiting in numerous group shows from 1968. In 1972, he was one of the Singapore representatives to the Adelaide Festival of Arts. Recognized as one of the country’s foremost poets with three published collections of poems, Yap was awarded the Cultural Medallion for literature by the Singapore government in 1983.Yap’s interest in line, form and colour is apparent in his early works which are largely hard-edge abstractions. Many of his paintings are titled in a manner to avoid references to anything, such as ‘Painting No. 38’ here.
