Teo Eng Seng, born in 1938, is one of Singapore’s foremost sculptors. Believing in art as social statement, he famously abandoned oil painting in 1979 to pursue Asian roots in his newly invented medium of paperdyesculp, or pulped paper. Teo’s works frequently engage issues of the day—whether in making ironic commentary on the once-polluted state of the Singapore River in The Net: Most Definitely the Singapore River, or on materialism in Singapore as seen in the gilded cages of We’re Happy, Are You Happy?. In 1986, Teo received the Cultural Medallion for his contributions to visual arts in Singapore.

Growing up as a young boy in the 1940s, Teo Eng Seng would express himself visually on any surface he could find, scribbling on walls and floors. In school, he would constantly be drawing, and even helped his teachers make posters. A prodigy and maverick in many ways, Teo staged his first solo show of paintings while studying in Pasir Panjang Secondary School in 1959, prompting the Singapore Free Press to call him “the first schoolboy in Singapore hold a one-man art exhibition”.

Teo left Singapore in 1961 with only 25 pounds in his pocket, embarking on a hitchhiking journey through India, Pakistan and Europe to reach his next destination in the UK. There, he began his tertiary art studies and obtained basic and teaching degrees in art. Trained as a fine art painter, he eventually took on the role of an art teacher in a school in Shoreditch, London upon graduation. Teo returned to Singapore in 1971 and joined the Singapore International School as an art teacher.

Believing that art should always be borne of struggle and created as social statement, Teo abandoned oil painting in 1979 and invented the new medium of paperdyesculp, which was for him “a conscious effort to kill the training I received in the West.” He found that art reviewers continued to judge his work against those of Western artists even when he returned from the UK, and so he decided to use paper—a material that has its roots in Asia—to be his new artistic medium. He named this medium “paperdyesculp” to both reflect its material and the artistic processes involved in his art.

This proved to be a successful endeavour, as from then on, his work ceased to be compared with Western artists and would come to be judged purely as an artistic creation by Teo. He would later move away from paperdyesculp some three decades later and use creased up canvas and cloth to create his textured surfaces.

Teo is best known for bringing modern art aesthetics and art as a conceptual practice to post-war generations of artists in Singapore. His sculptures, which have more recently been created from plastic waste, continue to provoke and tease at the social norms found in the city-state. He has also served in advisory roles in arts institutions and arts committees on a national level.

In 1986, Teo received the Cultural Medallion for his contributions to visual arts in Singapore. Refusing to acknowledge it as a reward to his work, Teo prefers to view it as a helpful burden that motivates and pressures him to create better art.

Today, Teo still continues to create art regularly. He holds the Dutch artist Rembrandt as his artistic hero and a constant inspiration for his art.