Eng Tow (b. 1947, Singapore - ) has been lauded by art critics in Singapore as one of the most outstanding local female artists of the 1980s. She began her career as a tapestry artist dealing with different textiles but later ventured into other art forms such as printmaking and papermaking. Her works have received critical acclaim in the local and international art scene. She is also internationally recognised for her research in special art, most notably in the area of washi ("Japanese paper").
Education and Employment
Eng received her first art education at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (NAFA) in Singapore. She later left for the United Kingdom (UK) to further her studies. Upon completing her foundation studies at the Coventry College of Art, Warwickshire in 1969, she was admitted to the Winchester School of Art at Hampshire. She graduated in 1972 with a Bachelor of Arts (Hons) and went on to the Royal College of Art, London to pursue a Master of Arts.
After obtaining her M.A. in 1974, she worked in London as a freelance textile designer for several years. Her designs were represented in Europe and the United States (US). With a grant she received from the Crafts Council, she set up a workshop with fellow artists and craftsmen in 1977, teaching and exhibiting as well as designing in various parts of the UK.
In 1981, her studio workshop relocated to Singapore. Back in her home country, she kept herself busy with numerous contracts, working with interior designers and designing endpapers and book covers, tapestries, furniture and accessories, as well as theatre props and sets. She has also conducted papermaking workshops at the National University of Singapore and plant-drawing workshops for children.
Throughout her art career, Eng has been both an artist and an educator. Between 1976 and 1981, she lectured at various institutions in the UK - Buckinghamshire College of Higher Education, Trent Polytechnic, West Surrey College of Art, and University of London Goldsmiths College. She was also a visiting lecturer at the National University of Singapore's School of Architecture in 1988. From 1996 to 1999, she served as an adjunct staff member at the Curtin University of Technology's School of Art in Perth, Australia. This was followed by a stint as the course supervisor for Curtin University in their Singapore Studio campus in 2000. In that same year, she was also a member of the Foundation Course Advisory Committee for the LASALLE-SIA College of the Arts in Singapore.
Stylistic Conventions
Eng is known for her textile paintings or "cloth reliefs", some of which have won critical acclaim. Her cloth piece "White on White" (1983), which was part of a travelling exhibition in the US in 1991, was considered a work that represented a modest reinvention of conventional art media by The Washington Times. Although her early career revolved around textiles, she started developing an interest in printmaking and papermaking in the 1980s. Since then, her works have revealed a mixed-medium and inter-disciplinary approach.
Her art has been described as intense and she constantly strives to push the boundaries of her artistic knowledge and style and even the materials she uses. For some of her paintings, even the brushes were made traditionally, out of chopsticks and bamboo leaves. Her art is laborious, a reflection of her desire to constantly explore where her materials can take her.
Most of Eng's works reveal her passion for nature, as she has stated: "I'm going back to the raw sources of nature for inspiration. I like my statements to be as akin to it as possible." Her works are indeed untreated but her improvisations and painting strokes, her trademarks, provide the finishing touches. Her works are reflections of her memories and experiences - she does not paint what she sees but rather paints from intuition based on stored impressions.
Solo Exhibitions
1977 : Wall Hangings, 21 Antiques Gallery, London, UK.
1982 : Works on Cloth, Goethe-Institut, Singapore.
1983 : Contemporary Textile Art, Citibank, Singapore.
1987 : Dari Laut New Works in Paper and Cloth, Goethe-Institut, Singapore.
1988 : Works in Cloth and Paper, Alisan Fine Arts, Hong Kong.
1991 : Works in Progress, Erica Underwood Gallery, Perth, Australia.
1992 : Reflections, The Gallery, Fort Canning Centre, Singapore.
Selected Group Exhibitions
1974 : Degree Show & Convocation, Royal College of Art, London, UK.
1975 : Textprint II, The Design Centre, London, UK.
1976 : Inaugural Show, National Museum Art Gallery, Singapore.
1976 : The National Museum Art Gallery Official Opening, National Museum Art Gallery, Singapore.
1977 : High Standards Queen's Silver Jubilee Celebration, Victoria & Albert Museum, London, UK.
1978 : Exhibition of Contemporary Quilts, The American Museum, Somerset, UK.
1979 : Tapestries of Today, Contemporary Art Society, Reed House, London, UK.
1979 : Homespun to Highspeed: A Century of British Design, Mappin Art Gallery, Sheffield, UK.
1980 : Contemporary British Crafts, Sotheby's, London, UK and Munich, Germany.
1981 : Textilkunst, Institut for Kunstlerische Textilgestaltung, Linz, Austria.
1982 : British Needlework, National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto, Japan.
1983 : Summer Show, British Crafts Centre, London, UK.
1984 : 25 Years of Art in Singapore, National Museum of Art, Singapore.
1985 : Second Contemporary Asian Art Show, Fukuoka Museum, Japan.
1986 : Second Contemporary Art Show, National Museum of Modern Art, Seoul, Korea.
1988 : Singapore Contemporary Artists, Hong Kong Arts Centre, Hong Kong.
1988 : Choice Objects, UK.
1989 : Wasahi Workshop 1989, Tokushima, Japan.
1989 : Contemporary Art in Singapore, Amsterdam and Groningen, Netherlands, Düsseldorf, Hamburg, Mannheim and Nürnburg, Germany and Glasgow, Scotland.
1990 : III International Biennale of Paper Art, Leopold-Hoesch-Museum, Duren, Germany.
1990 : Modern Art Travels East-West, World Trade Centre, Rotterdam, Netherlands.
1991 : 25 Years of Art from Singapore, Washington DC, US.
1991 : Creation, Japan.
1995 - 1996 : International Paper Symposium, Kyoto, Japan.
1998 : Art in the World Exhibition, Paris, France.
1999 - 2000 : Dreams 1900-2000: Science, Art and the Unconscious Mind, New York, US and Vienna, Austria.
2001 : Chinese Whispers, UK.
2001 : The Big Picture, Melbourne, Australia.
2002 - 2003 : Singapore Modern Art in the 1970s, Singapore Art Museum, Singapore.
2005 : Art of the Second Generation, NAFA, Singapore.
2006 : Highlights of SEA Collection, National University of Singapore Museum, Singapore.
Awards and Fellowships
1977 : New Craftsmen's Grant, Crafts Council, UK.
1978 : The British Crafts Award (Tex), Telegraph Sunday Magazine, UK.
1986 : Fellowship, Asian Cultural Council/John D. Rockefeller Fund, US.
1989 : Fellowship, Japan Foundation, Japan.
1991 : Artist Residency, Curtin University, Western Australia.
Author
Adlina Maulod
References
Bt Timah Hill - Wrong name for 180 years? (1996, May 19). The Straits Times. Retrieved February 14, 2011, from NewspaperSG.
Eng, T. (n.d.). Eng Tow. Retrieved February 2, 2009, from http://engtow-artist.com/
Gibson, E. (1991, May 27). Eclectic Singapore art survey misses the mark. The Washington Times. Retrieved January 20, 2009, from Factiva database.
Kwok, K. C. (c1996). Channels & confluences: A history of Singapore art. Singapore: Singapore Art Museum.
(Call no.: RSING 709.5957 KWO)
Sullivan, M. (1991, July 17). Singapore art impresses. The Straits Times. Retrieved February 14, 2011, from NewspaperSG.
Wong, S. (1992, August 20). Nature's reflections. The Straits Times. Retrieved JFebruary 14, 2011, from NewspaperSG.
Further Readings
Eng, T. (c1992). Reflections: Works by Eng Tow. Singapore: Deutsche Bank.
(Call no.: RSING 759.95957 ENG)
Eng Tow [Ephemera].
(Call no.: RCLOS EPHE P46 v. 1)
Gamwell, L. (Ed.). (c2000). Dreams 1900-2000: Science, art, and the unconscious mind. Ithaca, NY; Binghamton, NY: Cornell University Press; Binghamton University Art Museum; State University of New York.
(Call no.: R 154.63 DRE)
Kwok, K. W., Arun Mahizhnan, & Sasitharan, T. (Eds.). (2002). Selves: The state of the arts in Singapore. Singapore: National Arts Council.
(Call no.: RSING 700.95957 SEL)
[Lum, S., & Sharp, I.] [Eds.]. (c1996). A view from the summit: The story of Bukit Timah Nature Reserve. Singapore: Nanyang Technological University; National University of Singapore.
(Call no.: RSING 333.78095957 VIE)
Tan, S. Y. (c2003). Art in transit: North East Line MRT - Singapore. Singapore: Land Transport Authority.
(Call no.: RSING 747.8531 TAN)
The information in this article is valid as at 2009 and correct as far as we are able to ascertain from our sources. It is not intended to be an exhaustive or complete history of the subject. Please contact the Library for further reading materials on the topic.
