I Don't Regret Not Having Children

A certain desolation is sometimes associated with semi-abstract painter Boo Sze Yang's oeuvre.

- Clement Yong

His most recognizable works are usually in grayscale, both segmented and melting.

Of these, his derelict interiors of empty cathedrals and shopping centers, as well as car and motorcycle crash wreckages, have been said to be indicative of a morbid impulse, with which the artist goes in search of a darker beauty.

A graduate of Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (Nafa) in 1991, Boo has taught at Nafa, National Institute of Education and School of the Arts.

His works are in collections including at National Gallery Singapore, the Istana and UOB Singapore, and he has held more than 18 solo exhibitions in Singapore, Taiwan, Australia and the United States.

Boo, who turns 60 on Oct 2, continues innovating. One of his latest series, Romance On Hobby Horses, is based on repeating figures in synchronized dance movements. These more neon paintings reimagine popular images of protest and societal unrest.

Can you share more about your childhood photo? This photo (right above) was taken in my grandparent's house, now Greenwood Avenue in Bukit Timah, where I was born. I may be about a year old. No idea who took it, though.

What is your core memory of Singapore?

I spent my first six years in a kampung in Bukit Timah, near Watten Estate. In 1972, when I started primary school, my family moved to a rented one-room flat on the 10th floor of a block in Toa Payoh Lorong 1.

It was a bit scary to look down from that height, but every evening at around 7pm, my brother and I would stand on a stool at the kitchen window to see if our father was coming home from work.

Our father worked as a welder in his uncle's factory. He drove a pickup with a uniquely designed stainless-steel roof that he installed himself, and you could spot it from a distance.