173. Vanessa Liem Xi Qian - Guardian #1

2026
Oil on wood panel
15.24 x 15.24 x 2 cm

Currently based in London, Vanessa Liem (b. 2002, Singapore) creates oil paintings that exist within an ethereal, airbrushed universe populated by biomorphic and dreamlike figures. Rooted in her personal experiences of mental health, her practice explores how acts of observation — both observing and being observed — shape psychological states, bodily awareness, and individual agency.

Liem’s paintings inhabit ambiguous spaces between figuration and abstraction, where fluid forms, softened contours, and atmospheric colour fields evoke states of vulnerability, dissociation, and emotional introspection. Through these imagined environments, she examines the tension between internal perception and external scrutiny, constructing visual worlds that feel simultaneously intimate and uncanny.

She completed a BA (Hons) in Fine Art: Painting at the University of the Arts London (2022–2025), following the International Baccalaureate Career-related Programme at the School of the Arts, Singapore (2014–2020).

Selected solo exhibitions include The Third Person in the Room at Cuturi Gallery, Singapore (2026), and For The Time Being at Cuturi Gallery, Singapore (2022).

Selected group exhibitions include Sixty Summers Here at Cuturi Gallery, Singapore (2025); The Body Speaks at Guts Gallery, London (2025); What Now at Southwark Park Galleries, London (2025); Coalesce at Copeland Gallery, London (2024); Softer, Softest at Guts Gallery, London (2024); Art SG at Sands Expo and Convention Centre, Singapore (2024); Before Now, After Then at Bargehouse Gallery, London (2023); the Summer Group Show at Cuturi Gallery, Singapore (2023); Little Red Dot – London Edition at Cromwell Place, London (2022); Little Red Dot – Singapore Edition at Cuturi Gallery, Singapore (2022); Collecting Bodies: A Short Story About Art and Nudities in Asia at The Culture Story, Singapore (2022); and Past. Future. Present. at the National Gallery Singapore Benefit Auction (2022).

Awards and distinctions include being selected for Prestige 40 Under 40 (2024) and winning Gold in the Emerging Artist Category at the UOB 38th Painting of the Year Award (2019). Her work is held in private collections across the UK, Europe, and Asia.