Boo Sze Yang graduated from NAFA with a Diploma in Fine Art in 1991. He went on to complete his Postgraduate Diploma in Fine Art at the University of Reading, United Kingdom in 1995 and received his Master in Arts from Chelsea College of Art and Design, University of the Arts London, in 2004.
Sze Yang has held 15 solo exhibitions and numerous group exhibitions locally and abroad, in Australia, China, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, United Kingdom and the United States of America. His paintings deal with a broad range of subject matter, from domestic objects to images of car and airplane crash scenes, derelict interiors of cathedrals and unpeopled chambers of shopping malls. Sze Yang treats banal objects, modern architectural interiors and destructive scenes as metaphors for the human condition, transforming these into a symbol of contemporary life through his loose, gestural technique and use of a restrained palette to emphasize the materiality of paint. In his recent series of paintings, he integrated his personal experiences with daily social and political events to generate uncanny and idiosyncratic expressionistic portraitures serving as comic observations of the absurdities in life.
Sze Yang’s works are in the collections of the National Gallery Singapore, Istana Art Collection, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, United Overseas Bank, Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, Simmons & Simmons Contemporary Art Collection, Urban Redevelopment Authority Singapore and Yingu Art Mansion in Beijing.
Sze Yang taught at NAFA from 1996 to 2014, and he was the Head of the Fine Art department from January 2008 to June 2009. He currently serves in the Curriculum Development Advisory Committee for NAFA’s Fine Art programme, as well as in NAFA’s Centre for Lifelong Education Advisory Committee.
Some of his other artistic achievements include:
- Featured artist in 100 Painters of Tomorrow published by U.K.-based Thames & Hudson, 2014
- Asian Artist Fellowship Award 2010/2011, residency at the Vermont Studio Center, United States of America
- Juror's Choice, Philip Morris Singapore-ASEAN Arts Award, 2009
- Platinum Award, UOB Painting of the Year Competition, 2009