Husband and wife duo Su-Yen Wong and Fermin Diez have spent the past 13 years curating their collection
Pop quiz: Do you know what drawings are depicted on the back of Singapore’s $50 note? Some might vaguely recall seeing Chinese ink images of “monkeys”, others may not have even noticed any art on the note. But rare is the individual who can name and identify Chen Wen Hsi’s Gibbons. Even rarer is the person who might point out that there is in fact another work of art printed on the same $50 bill—Drying Salted Fish by Cheong Soo Pieng.
Unfortunately, although Chen and Cheong are two of Singapore’s most lauded pioneering artists, they are far from household names in the country. It is something that husband and wife duo Su-Yen Wong and Fermin Diez hope to change with their art collection they have lovingly built up over the past 13 years.
“I feel that this group of first and second-generation artists are a bit under-appreciated. People who know art will recognise these names but ‘non art people’ wouldn’t because we do not have this knowledge of Singapore art history and appreciation embedded in our culture,” said Wong, a professional speaker and board director. “I would say that if we were to add a piece to the Singapore art ecosystem, that would be education.”
To encourage this appreciation for art by Singapore’s pioneering painters—and to offer the public the opportunity to indulge in a nostalgic walk down memory lane in these times of Covid-19, the couple loaned 27 pieces from their collection for an exhibition at The Private Museum.