Shadows, Signals, and the Line: Abstract Expressionism in Singapore

Exhibition Information

Guest of Honour	Dr Kenneth Goh; Nominated Member of Parliament, Parliament of Singapore
Period	29 May–23 August2026
Location	11 Upper Wilkie Rd, The Private Museum,

The Private Museum is pleased to present Shadows, Signals, and the Line: Abstract Expressionism in Singapore. The exhibition explores the development of abstraction in Singapore, bringing together works by sixteen Singaporean artists working in that visual language, and chronicling their responses to the cultural and material conditions of a rapidly modernising nation.

The exhibition title recognises abstraction not as a fixed style, but a negotiation between influence and invention, clarity and ambiguity. As a sensibility grounded in subtlety, tactility, and the quiet resonance of form, the line becomes both gesture and structure, and shadow sharpens perception.

Emerging in the 1970s and 80s, abstraction in Singapore developed in dialogue with both regional legacies and international movements. Building on the foundations of the Nanyang school, artists moved beyond representation to explore form, gesture, and material as primary carriers of meaning, engaging global influences while reconfiguring them within local contexts.

Through works informed by calligraphic gesture, geometric discipline, and material sensitivity, the exhibition highlights the diverse approaches that have shaped abstraction in Singapore. It invites viewers to consider how abstraction is inseparable from cultural thinking and lived experience—where form carries memory, and meaning unfolds through the act of looking.

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The exhibition will run from 29 May to 23 August 2026.

Programme Documentation

Programme Media

About the Collaboration

About the Curator

John Z. W. Tung (b. 1990, Singapore) is an independent curator and exhibition-maker who previously worked as an Assistant Curator at the Singapore Art Museum from 2015 to 2020. During his tenure, he curated and co-curated nine exhibitions and served as a co-curator for the Singapore Biennale in 2016 ‘An Atlas of Mirrors’ and 2019 ‘Every Step in the Right Direction’. Several artwork commissions he curated for the biennales were finalists for the prestigious Benesse Prize, and one even won the award. He also edited the Singapore Art Museum’s first publication documenting its exhibition history, titled ‘Singapore Art Museum: An Index of Exhibitions (1994 – 2018).’

Since becoming an independent curator, he has taken on various notable roles, including Festival Curator for the 7th and 8th Singapore International Photography Festival in 2020 and 2022, Associate Curator for the Open House program titled ‘For the House; Against the House’ in 2021, 2022, and 2023, and Curator of the groundbreaking exhibition ‘5th Passage: In Search of Lost Time,’ which explores the significance of the Singaporean artist initiative called 5th Passage.

Some of his notable projects include ‘The Forest Institute’ (2022), a large-scale architectural art installation focused on secondary forest ecologies, and ‘The Gathering: 千岁宫’ (2022), a temporary Chinese garden-teahouse experience in Singapore’s Chinatown. In 2023, he was honoured with the inaugural Tan Boon Hui Curatorial Prize.