Chua Say Hua (1966 - )

Born in Singapore in 1966, Chua Say Hua is a recipient of the Chen Chong Swee Scholarship and the Philippe Charriol Foundation Scholarship. He graduated with a Diploma in Fine Arts from the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts in 1992. Chua furthered his art education at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology in Australia in 1993 and the Goldsmiths College in London in 1996. The artist participated in an art residency at Vermont Studio Centre, Johnson, USA, and has won numerous distinctions and highly commended awards in competitions. In 2001, Chua was awarded the prestigious Young Artist Award by the National Arts Council, Singapore.

Chua has straddled his art practices between Eastern and Western art to combine what he believes is essential for both cultures. His unique contemporary Chinese ink paintings are informed by Western Modernist aesthetics while employing the logic and philosophy of traditional Chinese ink paintings. Working primarily with Chinese ink, Chua creates contemporary interpretations of modern subjects such as urban landscapes, old architectural structures, and abstract compositions of nude figures. He pushes the boundaries of ink on paper through bold brush strokes using less conventional tools like feather brushes.