Closing Party | Roots & Resonance: An Exhibition from a Private Collection

Join us for a lively gathering that brings together a select group of featured artists in celebration of Stephen Teo’s inaugural collection exhibition. Hear their SG60 stories that shaped our cultural landscape as we raise a glass to the inspiring moments that have brought this exhibition to life.

In conjunction with Singapore Gallery Month and SG60 celebrations, artcommune is pleased to present this special showcase featuring around 25 works drawn from the private collection of Singaporean art philanthropist, Mr. Stephen Teo. What began in 2014 as a personal collection of Singapore artists’ works has since evolved into a family-led commitment and broader philanthropic mission—to champion Singapore’s cultural legacy by supporting local artistic talents, especially living artists, through acquisition, visibility, and engagement.

Roots & Resonance features a curated selection of works by Singapore artists Lim Tze Peng, Tay Bak Koi, Koeh Sia Yong, Ong Kim Seng, Kevin Tan, Tung Yue Nang, and Zhu Hong. The display spans oil, watercolour, acrylic, ink, and woodcut, and traces Singapore’s evolving landscape and cultural identity from the 1980s to the present. Through scenes both familiar and forgotten, these works invite viewers to reflect on how place becomes memory, how progress reshapes identity, and how everyday life is etched into the textures of a nation in transformation.

From the tranquil kampongs, bustling riverside and market trades of the past to the rising skyline of a modern metropolis, the works document the vanishing rhythms of daily life and preserve these lived moments in the midst of a rapidly changing landscape. Singapore’s cultural hybridity and the daily experiences of a multicultural society are also vividly expressed in many of these scenes. Temples, shophouses, and colonial architecture appear not only as structures but as symbols of shared heritage, usually in environments inhabited by human figures—hawkers, families, children, office workers—going about their daily routines.

As Singapore marks 60 years of nationhood, Roots & Resonance brings to fore the enduring dialogue between art and identity and provides an art-historical lens through which we commemorate our past and celebrate how we move forward.