Top image: Nguan.tv

Exhibition pictures by Puteri Kumalapuri

Three heads pop out of a quartz-coloured sea; a rainbow painted over a public housing building; a salaryman holds up an umbrella amidst a crowd caught in a downpour.

These are images of Singapore through a compassionate lense—of a Singapore now extinct, having given way to the sterile glitz of glass offices and malls. This is also the first time I’m encountering Nguan’s work in Mineral Mag.

Since then, he has grown to become a cult name in the local art scene. The elusive, unassuming artist prefers to let his pictures speak for themselves, albeit in soft, hushed tones. It is difficult to find anything online about him other than his pictures. In an age where the internet is inescapable, his conspicuous absence makes him even more of an enigma.

Today, I still refuse to take out of its protective cover a cherished copy of his photobook “How Loneliness Goes”—the namesake of the solo exhibition whose opening I attended two days ago.