TANG DA WU

Feature Artist

Tang Da Wu ( b. 1943) is a Singapore and London based artist who works in multiple media including drawing, painting, sculpture, installation and performance art. He is known as an iconic figure in Southeast Asian contemporary art practice and is considered as one of Singapore’s most eminent contemporary artists.

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Outspoken and unorthodox in his methodology, the path of his work has been crucial to the way visual art has developed in Singapore. Wu studied art in the United Kingdom, majoring in sculpture. He graduated with a BA in Fine Arts with first class honours from Birmingham Polytechnic in 1974. He then returned to Singapore in 1979 and engaged in performance art and returned to England for further studies. He earned a Master of Fine Arts from Goldsmiths’ College, University of London in 1984, and later a doctorate in 1988.

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In 1988, Da Wu founded The Artists Village, the first art colony in Singapore located in Ulu Sembawang — which then became synonymous with experimental art. of his works express concern about environmental and social issues. These include They Poach the Rhino, Chop Off His Horn and Make this Drink (1989) and Tigers’ Whip (1991). Relics from these seminal performances are currently exhibited at the National Gallery Singapore. In 2007, Tang Da Wu was also one of four artists who represented Singapore at the 52nd Venice Biennale.

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Tang has received many accolades for his work, from the Visual Arts Award from the Arts Council of Great Britain in 1978 to the 10th Fukuoka Asian Culture Prize in Arts and Culture in 1999. His paintings, sculptures and installations are in major institutional and private collections worldwide, including The Guggenheim Museum in New York.

ARTIST'S WORKS