About
YEO Tze Yang is primarily a representational painter. Amid his varied paintings and exhibition topics since 2013, the self-taught artist has consistently explored a common theme: the hidden, bypassed details of his immediate surroundings.
Tze Yang acts as a visual archivist, employing his phone camera to capture unnoticed details – forgotten people, places, and objects. These snippets are meticulously filtered and considered before being transformed into paintings within the studio.
Driven by an intuitive process, Tze Yang allows his ideas to emerge organically through the act of painting. This interplay fosters a unique dialogue between his artistic vision and the frameworks of social science that he acquired during his studies in Southeast Asian Studies at the National University of Singapore. While painting serves as the cornerstone of his practice, he actively explores sculpture, electronic media and writing, expanding the boundaries of his artistic expression.
Currently based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Tze Yang delves into the complexities of his studio’s gritty, under-appreciated neighbourhood. Often seen as a mere nearby "storage solution" for the city centre, this area has become his artistic muse. In his on-going project, the artist documents the beauty, tragedy and reality of everyday life in this unglamorous neighbourhood. Gleaming skyscrapers of downtown peek behind elevated highways, a subtle counterpoint to his immediate surroundings.
In 2016, Tze Yang earned the Silver Award at the prestigious UOB Painting of the Year competition. In 2022, he was lauded by visual arts journalist Helmi Yusof as the "fastest-rising figurative artist of his generation" in Singapore. His works have been widely exhibited across Singapore's key institutions, including The Substation, National University of Singapore, and Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts. His artistic reach extends beyond Singapore, with exhibitions and art fairs held regionally in Hong Kong, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Indonesia.
His creations are part of esteemed collections, including the National University of Singapore and the UOB collection. Additionally, his works grace private collections in Singapore and across the globe, spanning countries like Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines, Australia, Switzerland, Denmark, Italy, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
Tze Yang is currently represented by FOST Gallery in Singapore.