3rd July 2026 Yen Nee

 

Hi everyone, I wish to introduce Yen Nee, whose painting I am so excited to post. She wrote the story below:

Hi Beena. Thanks for your interest in my painting. It was done in 1987 when I  had just started my career in Singapore.  I had never learned oil painting and never attempted it before. But when my husband carted back a discarded traditional tailor’s worktop from the rubbish dump in Outram Park where he was staying, I just couldn’t let that go to waste. It had a perfectly stretched canvas and, though a little grimy, was in good condition. I did this piece of painting rather hastily – in under a week as I wanted it as a surprise for my husband when he returned from Hong Kong to see his mother.

Not knowing anything about oils, I didn’t even prime the canvas before painting on it. I could only afford cheap, ordinary brushes and a few tubes of oils. But because it was a large canvas, I had to resort to cheaper ICA wall paint for other parts of the painting, like the grassy patch.

After it was completed, it was never hung, mainly because it was too costly for us to get it framed. Besides, we had no place to hang it because we were living in a small rented HDB at the time. Deep down, I was also a little unsure about displaying my art of that size.  So it was rolled up and kept away in the store room for more than 10 years.

It would have remained rolled up if not for the new home we bought in 2000. It is significantly larger than our previous smaller apartments. We desperately needed to fill the bare walls, but we didn’t have enough paintings or anything big enough to hang. It was then that I was reminded of this painting I did years ago. I was very hesitant to show it and needed a lot of convincing before I brought it to an art framer in Holland Village. When we unrolled the painting, we were surprised to find it in excellent condition, and we chose a beautiful wood frame for it.

Today it hangs in our dining room as a window onto the old Outram Park, where my husband used to live in the 1980s. I hope we have made some Chinatown tailors happy to know that their work tables have been given a new lease of life and a new purpose today.