Anthony Poon方谨顺 (1945 – 2006)

Born in Singapore in 1945, Anthony Poon was an artist and sculptor who gained recognition for his inventive Wave series: canvases of curvilinear shapes anchored in grid structures that offers an optical effect of moving patterns and repetitions. As an art student, Poon was inspired by the modern artists Ben Nicholson and Marc Chagall, but the most enduring influence was Cheong Soo Pieng, his teacher at the NAFA. Upon his graduation in 1964, he found employment as an industrial artist at Singapore Glass Manufacturers but continued his personal artistic pursuits. He held solo exhibitions at the National Library in Singapore and participated in group exhibitions at the Victoria Memorial Hall in Singapore and the National Art Gallery in Kuala Lumpur. In his early 20s, Poon left for England to continue his art studies, first at the Byam Shaw School of Art in London, and later at the Regional College of Arts in Bradford in York. 

In a phase of experimentation and discovery beyond the abstract art movement, his artistic practice evolved significantly through a disciplined progress towards abstract principles and ideologies. He began to explore the medium of acrylic latex paint and new painting techniques. Under the wing of the Alpha Gallery, which put itself at the forefront of modern art practice in the 1970s, Poon held solo exhibitions while working as a manager at the gallery.

In 1983 he won the first prize in the United Overseas Bank (UOB) Painting of the Year competition with one of his Wave series. In the early 1990s, he went on to create freestanding, volumetric works of steel and aluminium. A recipient of the Cultural Medallion in 1990, Poon served on the specialist panels of several art advisory boards, including the National Arts Council. He was also a member of the Singapore Note and Coin Advisory Committee of the Board of Commissioners of Currency, Singapore, between 2002 and 2006, where he contributed to the design of currency notes and coins. During the last years of his life, Poon took on several public art commissions. Although he started work on the Sense Surround series, he was unable to complete it before his death in September of 2006.