1997 UOB Painting Of the Year - Singapore
Artist: Kit Tan Juat Lee, (b.1955, Singapore)
Title: Endless Love
Medium: Oil on Canvas
Size (cm): 145.5 x 115.3 cm
Endless Love is a visual treasure-trove of the artist's memories of her mother and exudes warmth and optimism. Ms Tan paints the emblems of her childhood - the manual Singer sewing machine with its Chinese-doll pin-cushion, the paper bola (Malay for ball) and her mother's patchwork quilt. The vintage sepia photographs on the wall capture important childhood memories and milestones. These objects, largely phased out in contemporary life, embody security, and joyfulness. Ms Tan's memories are far from faded and are recorded with precision and vividness. The painting dares the viewer to come closer to explore its colours and textures until finally the rewards present themselves in exquisite detail.
Ms Tan was a former educator in Chinese heritage and culture and a graduate of the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts and Nanyang University, both in Singapore. Currently a professional artist, her interest in contemporary Asian identities has evolved alongside a signature style of immaculate painting, vivid colours and graphic sensibilities.