Tan Swie Hian is one of Singapore's most prolific and acclaimed multidisciplinary and multilingual artists. A self-taught poet, philosopher and artist of a variety of mediums, Tan has received recognition across his varied creative output. Described by Time magazine as "Singapore’s Renaissance Man" in 2003, Tan has received many international honours, including being named as an Officer of the Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur. In 1987, Tan received the Cultural Medallion for his contributions to visual arts in Singapore.

Born in 1943 in Pulau Halang, Indonesia, Tan Swie Hian moved to Singapore with his family at the age of three. He attended the Chinese High School for his primary and secondary education, and went on to Nanyang University, graduating with a BA in Modern Languages and Literature in 1968. Throughout his school days, Tan would pursue his creative passions, picking up knowledge and teaching himself as he went along.

That same year, Tan began working at the French Embassy as a press secretary, starting what would be a 24-year career as an attaché with the embassy. The year also marked the debut of Tan as an artist as he published his first Chinese poetry collection The Giant with the support of Liang Meng Kwang of Nanyang Siang Pau. The Giant was a collection of modernist Chinese poetry that was considered to be more avant-garde than any of his peers, and it was within the literary sphere that Tan would first gain recognition.

Tan would go on publish 25 more collections of poetry, essays and fiction, and become a Chinese translator of several books, including those of English author Aldous Huxley, Romanian author Marin Sorescu, Russian author Vaslav Nijinsky, and Indian philosophers such as Ramana Marhashi and Jiddu Krishnamurti. For his efforts as a poet and writer, Tan received the National Book Development Council of Singapore Book Award in 1978, the Singapore Chinese Literature Prize in 1998, and the Marin Sorescu International Poetry Prize for two consecutive years in 1998 and 1999.

In 1968, Tan became the first Singapore artist to create cartogravure when he created his first cartogravure Four Geese. In 1973, he held his first solo art exhibition Paintings of Infused Contemplation at the National Library. That same year, Tan became a Buddhist and discovered meditation. This provided with him a new insight into his worldview and would have a profound impact on his art, infusing his creations with a rich sense of spirituality, creative freedom and simple elegance. But this was not to be apparent until his next exhibition in 1978 as Tan spent the next four years in deep contemplation, embarking on a quest for inner discovery.

Tan experimented with creatively expressing himself through a variety of artistic mediums, and worked freely between mediums and styles, often combining and merging them without constraint. The influence of Buddhism in his art is most clearly seen in his use of poetic expressions known as fables, an allegorical form found in Mahayana Buddhist scriptures. Though rooted in Chinese language and culture, Tan’s work also expressed ideas of both Eastern and Western philosophy. His artistic expression would similarly expand beyond the limits of any one medium and genre, combining such disparate disciplines such as painting, sculpture, Chinese calligraphy, printmaking, seal-carving, and even dramatic performances.

Tan received international recognition for his art through many honours and exhibitions around the world. He was selected by the United Nations along with 97 other artists to illustrate a new edition of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1998, received the World Economic Forum Crystal Award in 2003, and was named as an officer of the Ordre National de la Légion d'Honneur by the Government of France in 2006.

Described as "Singapore's Renaissance Man" by Time magazine in 2003, Tan also received recognition at home. He received the inaugural Excellence for Singapore Award Gold Medallion in 1996 and the Pingat Jasa Gemilang (Meritorious Service Medal) in 2003. In 1987, Tan received the Cultural Medallion for his contributions to visual arts. Tan’s multicultural contributions also received recognition in the form of the Pingat Angkatan Pelukis Aneka Daya by the Association of Artists of Various Resources, the Kala Ratna Award by the Singapore Indian Fine Arts Society, and the Singapore Ramakrishna Mission Award.

Tan currently continues to create art across disciplines, spending his afternoons meditating and chanting, and his nights painting, sitting cross-legged on the floor of his studio. His art can be found on Singapore postage stamps as part of the Singapore Post Art Series, and in Chinatown MRT Station where The Phoenix's Eye-Domain, an installation consisting of a mural and a Chinese poem Couplets on Chinatown, can be found.

For a comprehensive listing of Tan Swie Hian’s artistic work, please visit tanswiehian.sg.