Lin Hsin Hsin, Atomizer, 1988
Oil on canvas
138 x 130 cm (visible), 144 x 137 x 4 cm (framed)
Condition: Very good, with foxing on the bottom section of the work.
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Lin Hsin Hsin came to painting from mathematics and computer science, and it shows in her works of large oils built on structure, rhythm and the behaviour of colour rather than on singular subject. Lin turned to abstraction, working out a visual language closer to music or a system than to a scene. In the blues of these canvases, colour itself becomes the subject, chromatic, layered, and rhythmic, drawing on the same instinct that led her toward composition and mathematics as much as paint. She studied under Cheong Soo Pieng, the Nanyang figure who also taught several artists in this show, and painted through the same decades, taking the lineage somewhere entirely her own.
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Lin Hsin Hsin 林欣欣 (Singaporean, b. 1952) is an award-winning interdisciplinary artist renowned for her pioneering work across diverse media, including early innovations in digital art for visual and performing arts. With a foundation in mathematics and computer science, she is also an accomplished poet and composer, finding a shared abstractness in art, mathematics, and music.
Her artistic journey began in childhood but took shape after high school, when she delved into oil painting under the guidance of Nanyang-style pioneer Cheong Soo Pieng (Singaporean, 1917–1983). Inspired by European masters like Pablo Picasso, Paul Klee, and Joan Miró—who also explored the intersections of music and mathematics—Lin developed a unique approach to abstraction.
Her oil paintings from the 1970s to 1990s are marked by vibrant chromaticism and rhythmic compositions, reflecting philosophical meditations on the complexities of contemporary life in Singapore. Lin’s work stands as a significant contribution to Singapore’s post-independence arts landscape.
(Photographed in August 2025)