SM Tharman Shanmugaratnam at the Official Opening of the 'Chua Mia Tee: Directing The Real' Exhibition (Nov 2021)

Mr Chua Mia Tee, your family members, Board members of the National Gallery Singapore, Siak Ching, Eugene, your curatorial team at the National Gallery Singapore, and everyone who is here today. Sorry to keep you waiting while we were going around the exhibition. I did not realise that people were already seated here. 

Thank you for coming together. Thank you for inviting me to be with you at this very important exhibition. And firstly, of course, let me wish Mr. Chua a happy 90th birthday today.

I would like to thank the National Gallery for curating this exhibition, hosting it over the whole of the next year, and also bringing people together to reflect on the work of one of Singapore's most important and accomplished artists. I do not always look forward to attending events, but I looked forward to attending this event because it is important and it represents a few things in Singapore art that have been part and parcel of the development of our identity.

Mr Chua Mia Tee has contributed to the development of Singapore's identity. There are three things that are impactful in Mr Chua’s work.

First, as Eugene has highlighted, it is the sheer breadth of his work. From the social realist works of the 50s and 60s, when he was a founding member of the Equator Art Society, to the character portraits of individuals - ordinary individuals, as well as some of our leaders, portraits and sketches - and also his depiction of the changing urban landscape of Singapore, including the vanishing trades like the portable cinema and scenes from Chinatown which have also changed quite significantly. His depiction and interpretation of a changing urban landscape. So, remarkable breadth all the way from the scenes that depicted the fervour of the 50s and 60s, the changing landscapes, and individuals and character portraits. Also impressive as far as breadth was concerned, was the fact that he was both an oil and watercolour artist, as well as a sculptor, as we know.  So that is the first thing that is very interesting and remarkable about Mr Chua Mia Tee - the breadth of his work. 

Secondly, I think Chua Mia Tee’s work resonates because it captured the spirit of the times. I would say it stirs the heart and it stays in the mind, and that is not what many artists do. That is why it has lasting value. He is obviously an artist with technical virtuosity, but it is not just technical virtuosity. It is also his emotional virtuosity that comes through in his work. 

That is how he captured the spirit and mood of the times. And that is the tradition of art and the traditions of social realism, which did not aim to simply passively reflect conditions, or reflect what was seen, but to also move the audience, to appeal to the conscience and to incite understanding and empathy. 

That was the tradition of art that he belonged to and that he promoted. And it took skill because he was an artist at a time of significant tensions and pulls in our society. That was the nature of the times and he pursued a form of social realism that was somewhat different from some of the other social realism movements internationally. It was social realism, without the overly idealised or strident or combative style that were seen in some other traditions. His social realism was one that had him as an artist, not as a protagonist, but as a teacher and guide, appealing to the conscience or in his words, uncovering truth, beauty and virtue, including the virtue of ordinary working people and encouraging empathy and understanding. That was his style of social realism, as well as several other artists like Chua Mia Tee at that time. Somewhat different from the social realist traditions that developed in very different political climates.

So many of his works exemplify them - the national language class painting is emblematic, it is an emblem of the times, December 1959,  because it captured the spirit of the times. It does not force the viewer to a view, but it does make you think and it does not just passively reflect what has happened. It communicates an ethos. It communicates values and ethos. 

Thirdly, coming back to my opening point, I think Mr Chua Mia Tee has contributed to the building of our national identity in Singapore. Why do I say national identity? Conditions in the 50s, 60s or even the 80s are quite different from conditions today. A generation growing up today, the generation growing up even in the 1990s, grew up in very different conditions from the past. Conditions of different groups of people, even in the same generation, were quite varied. People have quite different lives even in the same generation.

And the artist who found a way to spur understanding and empathy of different groups in society and the virtues of different people, was an artist who contributed to the building of national identity. And the artist who found a way of communicating to younger generations what life was like earlier on, is an artist who contributes to the building of national identity. 

When a new generation understands and feels that what the earlier generation went through, is part of their identity, we become a stronger nation. When we have that depth of identity, it also allows us to have different perspectives, different views. Knowing that we have a common national identity, it allows us to have different perspectives and different views as part of our evolving identity. So I want to congratulate and appreciate Mr Chua Mia Tee for how he has stirred the heart, how he stays in the mind and how he has contributed to the building of Singapore's identity.

Thank you very much.