One of the most prolific and talented artists in Singapore, Ng Eng Teng produced more than 300 sculptures over a span of 40 years. These included large-scale public sculptures to life-sized and smaller sculptures. His art education started in Singapore as a painting student at Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (NAFA), before continuing his studies in industrial pottery in North Staffordshire College of Technology, England. He went on to study studio pottery in Farnham School of Art and subsequently became a designer in a pottery factory in Ireland for a few years. These various stints equipped him with the necessary technical vocabulary to deal with the 3-dimensional form.‘Dancer’, which could be from the Dancer series, offers a glimpse into Ng’s integration of formal investigations and the use of symbolism in his sculptures. Here the limbs are almost non-existent as emphasis has been placed instead on the slender torso, the ‘eyes’ and the markings on the surface, adding a sense of movement to the piece.
