Salon des Refusés

In the so called pioneer days of post independence Singapore, and at the start of that incredible journey that “turned a backwater swampland into a thriving metropolis”, as the ruling party’s propaganda machine likes to remind us, we the citizens played our part in “nation building” by participating in endless campaigns to that end.  Yours truly was summoned by the clarion call to Keep Singapore Clean by contributing a poster in the nationwide contest. I submitted four designs as follows:  Four arms of different skin tones representing the four main races of the population. The Lion of Singapura (Lion City) doing his bit for "nation building." Who would refuse the flag waving Lion's appeal to duty? Nothing like pulling the heart strings. Although all were rejected for the top prize, one did receive a Highly Commended Award which, for unknown and unremembered reasons, I did not show up to collect even though the presentation and exhibition venue ...

Upon finishing school I hit the pavement in search of my first job. My heart was set on becoming an advertising artist.  In those days, there were no graphic design colleges here, and artists basically learned the ropes through apprenticeship. I had a good idea of what my job would be like, having seen advertising people portrayed in the movies. It would be packed with excitement, glamour, fast cars, fast women, high octane living. As there were no Yellow Pages then, I ploughed through the telephone directory looking for companies with the word advertising in their names. I wrote to a dozen of them and several replied with the usual regrets, and three offered to interview. For my first interview I went to Papineau Advertising and my rudimentary portfolio was reviewed by art director Bill Mundy. I saw for the first time the actual illustrations used in their Milo press ads. They were photoprints of sportsmen rendered in pure black and white, then retouched by hand using pen a...