Close friends of mine should know that I’ve always had an interest in Chinese calligraphy, and though the National Gallery’s latest Where Ink Tides Meet exhibit leans more into the visual aspect of the medium, it’s still nonetheless a captivating collection that more than satisfies my appetite for greater recognition of this now-rare medium.
As the debut show of the gallery’s new Dalam Collection exhibit series, this inaugural collection of over 50 never-before-seen works kicks off by expanding on the understanding of ink; moving beyond its classical forms and instead exploring its reinterpretation through modern sensibilities, cross-cultural encounters, and experimental techniques.
The exhibition doesn’t just feature mainland Chinese works though. Artists across Southeast Asia are also showcased—including those from Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam and most notably, Singapore. There’s a lot of art we can’t brush past in this article, so let’s quickly start!
Dalam Collection: Where Ink Tides Meet
Anchored by the themes of Revival, Encounter, and Nexus, Where Ink Tides Meet draws largely from the gallery’s recent acquisitions. This includes Hong Zhu An’s 醉歌 (Drunken Song), the first piece you’ll see before even entering the exhibition and definitely not his last one you’ll encounter inside.
One other constant in this exhibit is its spatial design, featuring curved walls, strategic openings, and multiple sight lines. These choices mirror the fluidity and multifaceted nature of ink, inviting visitors to not only reflect and encounter the medium on their own terms, but also to take some creatively bomb photos through and around the space.
Revival
The exhibition opens with Revival, a section that reaffirms the identity of familiar traditions drawn from the long history of ink painting. From as early as the 19th century, Singapore emerged as a crossroads of both cultural and artistic exchange, attracting artists who upheld classical ink values while adapting them to local contexts.
Despite their contributions, however, many have remained under-recognised due to war, shifting artistic trends, or limited documentation, and that’s where the National Gallery comes in.
Through a process of acquisition, preservation, and display, these artists and their works can at last reclaim their legacy in this section–not as static interference, but as a living practice.
One work I have to spotlight is Lee Hock Moh’s Nostalgia for Fort Canning, a winding landscape of what I recently learnt was once called Government Hill! Having trained at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts in the late 1960s, Lee is today recognised as one of the leading ink artists in Singapore, best known for his gongbi (meticulous brush-and-ink) technique.
This technique, typically reserved for flower-and-bird paintings, is also evident here in the busy detailing of the foliage, forming a great contrast with the negative space of a path that leads the eyes up to the fort—including its twin cupolas, Gothic gate, and more.
What makes this piece even more impressive is that, completed in 2020, it’s based entirely on Lee’s own observations and memories of the hill recalled when he was already 73, proving that yes, gramps still got it. But for even more proof of that, check out Record of a Trip to Pulau Ubin–an even more recent artwork he made one year later!
And on the topic of time, the last work you got to check out here is Chen Jen Hao’s absolutely adorable depiction of two cats sleeping. Titled Who Wakes Up First from the Dream, imagine my surprise when I learnt this everyday serene scene was actually created during the turbulence of WWII.
Perhaps, just like the ancient parable the painting’s name is inspired by, Chen dreamed of being one of these cats during this harrowing period. What can definitely be said about this work though is that for a painter both shaped by Shanghai and Parisian traditions, Who Wakes Up First from the Dream stands as a confluence of Western composition and Eastern strokes.
Encounter
The second section of Where Ink Tides Meet is Encounter, an action that suggests engaging with discoveries and therefore looks at how exhibitions (like this one!), artistic networks, and gatherings have long been key platforms for dialogue and exchange in Singapore.
For instance, the Society of Chinese Artists—established in 1936—had a long-standing tradition of hosting foreign artists as early as the next year after its founding, making it a pivotal part of the local cultural landscape by offering artists both a platform to share their work and a chance to make connections.
But beyond the contact of new communities, like in Guan Shanyue’s painting of an Indian lady, Encounter also highlights the meaningful relationships forged within the society itself. A prime and fairly famous result of these links is Wu Guanzhong’s 奔流 (Running Stream), a work both shaped by and circulated through these artistic networks.
But when it comes to showcasing collaboration in its purest form, no other painting in this exhibit does it better than 竹阴香 (Aromatic Scent in the Cold and New Mark in Ink), a joint scroll by Fan Chang Tien, Szeto Kei, and Pan Shou.
Created during a reunion of local and visiting artists, this group project brings together three distinct traditions from Shanghai, Linan, and Singapore. Here, Fan’s wintersweets in xieyi meet Szeto’s daxieyi peonies in a contrast of style and colour, while Pan’s calligraphy completes the piece with a poem to their friendship and a congratulatory message to both.
Of course, the full inscription on this painting is much longer and more vivid than what I can ever hope to capture. But if you can’t make out the Chinese characters, don’t worry! As with all other pieces with writings on them, you can scan a QR code beside this artwork to read the full original Chinese text and its English variant.
Nexus
In the exhibition’s final section, Nexus looks at how diverse strands of modernism and varied entry points into ink have forged new visual languages in ink. With Southeast Asia being an active site of cultural exchange where the aesthetic vitality of ink continues to reinvent itself, no one true consensus can be reached on how the medium should progress.
Some artists like Nguyễn Minh Thành look inwards, grounding their practices in memory and heritage in works like Waiting, an ink painting on traditional Vietnamese dó paper. Known for his introspective artworks and experimental use of materials, Nguyễn portrays himself as a hooded figure in the centre of this large-scale triptych.
Meanwhile, on either side, a ghostly double of the same figure appears in lighter ink washes, like a shadow of the self. All of their heads are slightly turned away, gazing inwards and unreadable, perhaps contemplating his identity, longing, or just what’s for lunch.
However, others like Malaysian artist Latiff Mohidin look outwards instead, utilising traditional Chinese ink practices in expansive ways like those seen in Guilin (11)–a pure ink and watercolour painting that’s part of a broader series that also utilises pigment, blanco, and even the humble crayon.
Inspired by the iconic limestone landscapes from his travels to Guangxi, Mohidin captures the natural forms in calligraphy-esque strokes, reflecting both his Nusatantara worldview and deep study of East Asian artistic traditions. In his hands, the medium escapes the confines of being bound by identity or origin, becoming a fluid logic applied across all forms.
Finally, we come to the artists who neither look strictly to one way nor the other, but instead draw inspiration from both, blending traditional ink practices with their own. This includes a certain Fernando Zóbel–whose name, for long-time readers or recent visitors to the National Gallery, might (rhyme unintended) ring a bell.
Here, in an exhibit that’s not his own, Zóbel’s Grabado I reflects just how influential his lasting curiosity about East Asian aesthetics was on his work. This is especially evident in the long, continuous lines of paint that resemble calligraphy, even if they were meticulously executed not with a brush, but rather a repurposed syringe without its needle.
However, Fernando isn’t the only Filipino artist featured in Where Ink Tides Meet. Where Zóbel adopted ink into his practice of abstraction, Nena Saguil instead approached ink as a metaphysical language, utilising its aesthetic qualities to visualise dreamy manifestations of her emotions in two untitled paintings.
Formally trained in the Philippines and later in Paris, Saguil’s approach to art was quietly contemplative, inspired by the belief that art connects us to a deeper, spiritual world. Much like what Zóbel did for his La Vista series, she too relinquished colour in these untitled works to explore the fine balance between opacity and luminosity, channelling emotion with each stroke.
But before you get too entranced by the call of the void, rest your eyes and mind first with the exhibition’s final two pieces: Richard Walker’s Cockatoo and Rabbit. These artworks are so lifelike that you can almost see the muscles beneath the animals’ skin, and it’s all thanks to his careful blending of European watercolour techniques and Chinese ink painting elements.
And on that cute and cuddly note, we’ve sadly come to the end of my article for Where Ink Tides Meet, but your journey doesn’t have to end here. See, there were plenty of other paintings I didn’t get to ink-clude here, like one of a dream about a tree laden with fish, another featuring a cave full of untranslatable characters, and even one that boldly threatens to Kill All Artists!
But since the exhibition is officially open to the public as I’m writing this, you can probably head to the National Gallery to view all of the aforementioned works above and more. So, while I get a head start on my calligraphy career, make a trip down to Where Ink Tides Meet today!
National Gallery’s Where Ink Tides Meet
🗓️Date: 6 June to 16 November 2025
📍Location: Level B1, City Hall Wing, The Ngee Ann Kongsi Concourse Gallery, National Gallery, Singapore 178957
💲Price: Free
⏰Time: 10am to 7pm
Once you’re there, don’t forget to tag the National Gallery on both Instagram and TikTok, along with the hashtag #WhereInkTidesMeetNGS to be reposted on their socials (I know I did!). With that said, have an ink-credible time at the gallery!
Photos by Heng Yu Cheng of the DANAMIC Team. Additional visuals courtesy of National Gallery Singapore.
