Tan Swie Hian, Phoenix’s Eye Domain, c. 2004
Ink on rice paper
43.5 x 159 cm (visible), 60.5 x 185 x 3 cm (framed)
Condition: Fair, foxing throughout the work.
Proof of purchase available
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Photo courtesy of Art Outreach
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Tan Swie Hian (Singaporean, b. 1943) is a multidisciplinary artist known for his contributions to literature and visual arts. Earning the title of “Singapore’s Renaissance Man” by Time magazine in 2003, Tan’s talents consist of poetry, novels, paintings, calligraphy and sculptures. In 2012, his painting When the Moon is Orbed sold for $3.7 million, establishing him as Singapore’s most expensive living artist.
Tan’s artistic practice has always been versatile and experimental, creatively expressing himself through a variety of artistic mediums and merging them without constraint. His works reflect the confluence of East and West, borne from his personal and spiritual philosophy.
Photo courtesy of Land Transport Authority
Phoenix’s Eye Domain are couplets accompanying Tan’s wall mural located in Chinatown MRT. The mural depicts a phoenix flying to Singapore, representative of the unfaltering spirit of the early Chinese settlers in Chinatown, journeying through the history of the island until the present. The work on rice paper was done in preparation for the final couplet reproduced on granite slabs located at the concourse level of Chinatown MRT. Each detail and splash of ink from Tan’s calligraphic brush has been painstakingly reproduced on these slabs. Of this piece Tan says, that it was “a chance to create art for the nation on the very soil where my ancestors first set foot in Singapore.” View a walkthrough of the mural and couplets with Tan Swie Hian here.
Acquired from Art Outreach Charity Auction in 2004.
Translation:
The buildings in harmony do away the random shadows;
The waste land of ruined gravels grows a million flowers
(Photographed in October 2025)