Tan Peng is an artist and the first Singaporean to come out as gay to the general public. In a statement to The Straits Times which published an article on 19 February 1993 about his joint exhibition with American artist and author John Goss entitled, "Flowing Forest, Burning Hearts", Tan wrote: “Being gay, as a viewer in art exhibitions, I am tired of drawing meaning from works which ignore my existence. At the same time, I feel a desire to serve the community - to do my bit to help comfort and heal a world ailing from prejudice, intolerance and hatred.”
The landmark exhibition was held from 20 to 28 February 1993 at The Substation's public gallery[1], [2],[3]. This two-man show was Tan's third exhibition of homoerotic work, but the first in which he came out publicly in the press as a gay man. His large pastel drawings tackled issues of importance to local gays: oppression, pressure to marry, invisibility, repressive religions, safer sex and HIV caregiving, and police entrapment. Some of his works from this watershed exhibition are archived on Utopia:[4].
In response to Tan Peng coming out as gay in the press, a male member of the general public remarked that artists should keep their sexuality under wraps and not be so blatant about it.
"Bad Bad Policeman" by Tan Peng, from Flowing Forest, Burning Hearts.
Tan is currently living as a Buddhist monk in Thailand.
See also[]
- Archive of "Out of the closet", The Straits Times, 19 February 1993
- Singapore gay art
- Singapore LGBT artists
References[]
- Ng Sek Chow, "Out of the closet", The Straits Times, 19 February 1993[5]
- Artists listed and interviewed on Rainbow Arts Project:[6].
- Teng Yen Hui, "Queering Perspectives in Singapore Art in the 1970s to 1990s: Subjectivity and Desire in Figuration", Master of Arts (M.A.) dissertation, Asian Art Histories, Lasalle College of the Arts, 2016 – 2017.
Acknowledgements[]
This article was written by Roy Tan.