Born in 1945, Anthony Poon was one of Singapore’s pioneering abstract artists. After graduating from Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (NAFA) in 1964, Poon continued his art studies at Bynam Shaw School of Art in London and Regional College of Art in Bradford. In 1973, Poon won the UOB Painting of the Year Competition and was bestowed the Cultural Medallion in 1991. In 2002, he won the Excellence Prize at the China International City Exhibition and Symposium in Beijing for his 2006 Olympics sculpture. He passed away at the age of 61 in 2006.The 1970s marked a clear departure from semi-figurative works for Poon as he became interested in the spatial relationship between shapes, lines and colour. ‘Black and White’, although undated, is possibly created in the 1970s. Similar in style and form to another work, ‘Squa Forma’ (d.1975, Acrylic on canvas), it shows an introspective replication and continuous multiplication of the basic square shape.
