Mia Tan Exhibition Pieces

Mia Tan

Curio (2023)   80 x 101 cm 

Oil on Canvas

Amidst a life that tends to feel like tedium, small curiosities are significant to me. Flowers in the sidewalk. sunlight slanting onto concrete. The rarer ones tend to stun me - encountering a poet my age, and on a typewriter, tapping out stanzas for any sum of money, I was gratified that something like that was even possible. Admiration for Benwei’s commitment to living thoroughly and sharing his art culminated in this portrait. Behind his head, a painting of the city alludes to thoughts in it. 

Orpheus I and II (2023)   101 x 80 cm each

Oil on canvas

In contrast to my friend, the human musician, the second Orpheus depicts the urban environment that I live in. James McNeill Whistler’s various Nocturnes inspire Orpheus II’s translucent finish, while Millais’ glazes inspire Orpheus. Where Orpheus I has deep navy grey on pale lilac, Orpheus II inverts the colour scheme for the establishment of a mimetic partnership between both canvases.