Singaporean artist Thomas Yeo is renowned for his abstract landscapes made with gouache or acrylic paint. Trained at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, Yeo was mentored by pioneer artist Cheong Soo Pieng. After graduating in 1960, he furthered his education at Chelsea School of Art and Hammersmith College of Art and Architecture in London. During his time in the UK, Yeo experimented with various techniques and artistic mediums in his creative process. This is evident, for instance, in the use of mixed media collages in his early abstract works. Yeo’s works are vital to the development and history of modern art in Singapore.
Travelling has always been a source of inspiration in his creative practice. In his early watercolour work, Portsmouth Harbour, Yeo depicts a quaint English waterfront. Employing faint colours, Yeo creates a silhouette of buildings in the distance to evoke the veiling effects of the atmosphere. Here, we witness the active surface of the artist’s painterly and expressive gestures.
