Ian WOO (b. 1967; Singapore) is an artist working in the language of abstraction. Influenced by forms of modernism, perceptual abstraction and the sound structures of music improvisation, his work is characterised by a sense of gravitational and representational change. He often uses the term ‘picture making’ when describing his position and approach, maintaining the discipline and evolvement of painting as a vehicle for pictorial reflectivity.

Woo began his studies at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (Singapore) in 1991. He received a Masters in European Fine Art at the Winchester School of Art (UK) in 1995 and a research practice DFA with RMIT University (Australia) in 2006.

In 1999, Woo was the recipient of the UOB Painting of the Year award in the Abstract category. He was also the Juror’s Choice for two consecutive years in South East Asia’s Philip Morris Award in 1999 and 2000. His Doctorate research was based on the ability of abstract painting to express notions of a continuous presence.

Woo’s first solo exhibition Mental Images was held at the LASALLE Gallery in Singapore in 2000. Recent solo exhibitions include Joy of a preverbal dispenser at FOST Gallery, Singapore (2020), Falling Off Plastic Chairs at Tomio Koyama Gallery Singapore (2015), The Difference Between Your Mountain and My Couch at 8/ Tomio Koyama Gallery, Japan (2014) and Ian Woo: A Review 1995 – 2011 at the Institute of Contemporary Arts Singapore (2011). Selected recent group exhibitions include Reformations: Painting in Post 2000 Singapore Art at the Nanyang Technological University (2019), Sound & Vision at FOST Gallery (2018), Siapa Nama Kamu at National Gallery Singapore (2015), After Utopia, at Singapore Art Museum (2015), The Origin of Beauty: Dramatic Nostalgia at Busan Museum of Art, Korea (2014) and Market Forces – Erasure: From Conceptualism To Abstraction at Osage Gallery, Hong Kong (2014).

His works are in the collection of major institutions such as ABN AMRO, Singapore Art Museum, The Istana Singapore, The National Gallery Singapore, Suzhou Center, UBS, and the Mint Museum of Craft & Design, USA.

Woo’s paintings have been featured in the publication Art Cities of the Future: 21st Century Avant-Gardes, published by Phaidon in 2013.

Woo lives and works in Singapore and is represented by FOST Gallery, Singapore.

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