2006 Arts Awards Ceremony

23 Oct 2006

Date : Friday, 20 October 2006
Time : 6.30pm
Venue : The Istana
Guest-of-Honour : President S R Nathan


For the first time, Singapore President S R Nathan presented the Cultural Medallion at the 2006 Arts Awards Ceremony, giving an even greater level of prestige for Singapore's highest accolade for the arts.

Cultural Medallion recipients are also eligible for the Cultural Medallion Grant to undertake an arts project. The Grant, established in 2001, is awarded only once in an artist's lifetime and aims to raise the profile of Singapore Cultural Medallion recipients as well as encourage their continuous creation of new and original works.

First instituted in 1979, the Cultural Medallion award recognises individuals who have achieved artistic excellence in their artistic fields. The recipient of the 2006 Cultural Medallion in visual art is Tan Choh Tee.

For his achievements in visual arts, Choh Tee has received numerous awards, including the Creative Visual Art Award 2005 from his alma mater, Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts.

As an artist, Choh Tee lives only for his passion to paint, to indulge in his own conversation with his brushes, colours and canvases. Art is his hobby as well as his greatest pleasure

Choh Tee specialises in oil painting, preferring to paint on the spot, tempered by his own responses and sensitivity to the subject. He cultivates his path passionately. His artistic acumen has won him many collectors from far & wide. Auction houses such as Christie's and Sotheby's have accepted his works regularly since 1994.

To date, Choh Tee has held nine solo exhibitions and more than 50 group exhibitions internationally in Russia, Germany, the UK, France, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Indonesia and Malaysia. Just last year, he joined the Tsunami 2005 Charity Fund Painting Expedition in Phuket.

A second-generation artist, Choh Tee received his early childhood art education in China. When he migrated to Singapore in the 50s, he studied under the tutelage of pioneer artists such as Cheong Soo Pieng, Georgette Chen, Liu Kang and Chen Wen-Hsi. After his graduation from the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts in 1962, Choh Tee continued painting and became a full-time artist in 1976. He was also a graduate of the Beijing Central Academy of Fine Arts and has done study tours all over Europe, USA and China including the Dun-Huang caves.

TAN CHOH TEE (陈楚智), 64
VISUAL ARTS

For the past 30 years, Tan Choh Tee has made a name for himself as one of Singapore's foremost artists capturing fleeting images of nostalgic beauty.