19 Facts About TK Sabapathy

TK Sabapathy has written, researched, documented, and supported contemporary visual art in Singapore and Malaysia for four decades.

TK Sabapathy has held positions at the National University of Singapore, Nanyang Technological Institution, and National Institute of Education as a lecturer of art history.

TK Sabapathy further established and headed pioneering art research facilities in Singapore, such as the Contemporary Asian Art Centre and subsequently, Asia Contemporary.

TK Sabapathy has written a large number of articles, books, catalogues, and artist monographs, making significant contributions to the study of art in Southeast Asia, providing support to curatorial work at art institutions and major exhibitions.

TK Sabapathy is an alumnus of the Raffles Institution, where he was a sports champion.

From 1971, TK Sabapathy relocated to Penang to teach for almost 10 years, where he delved into the research of the modern in Malaysian art and created course materials, catalogues, biographies and other texts where there were previously none.

TK Sabapathy established a close friendship with fellow art writer and educator, the late Redza Piyadasa, with whom he co-curated exhibitions and collaborated on numerous publications.

TK Sabapathy's writing began in the mass media, writing for newspapers in Malaysia such as The Straits Echo before moving into the mainstream English language newspapers such as the New Straits Times and The Star in Malaysia.

In 1980, after his contract with the Universiti Sains Malaysia ended, TK Sabapathy returned to Singapore with his wife and child.

TK Sabapathy did not hope to revive the art history programme there, and instead earned a living by writing articles on art and art reviews for The Straits Times, and continued to do so until 1993.

Besides lecturing at NUS, TK Sabapathy began teaching at the Nanyang Technological University's School of Art, Design and Media in 2006.

At each of these institutions TK Sabapathy's programmes were often limited to introductory modules despite repeated attempts of his to have school administrators and heads recognise the importance of the study of art history as an academic major.

In 1994, TK Sabapathy would be approached by the artists running 5th Passage art space to serve as their advisor.

In 2001, TK Sabapathy formed the Contemporary Asian Arts Centre, a contemporary Asian art research facility at the LASALLE College of the Arts.

TK Sabapathy would go on to establish Asia Contemporary in 2015, an independent Southeast Asian art research institute, and headed it as its founding director.

In 2010, TK Sabapathy would publish Road to Nowhere: The Quick Rise and the Long Fall of Art History in Singapore.

The book built on lectures TK Sabapathy had given at the National Institute of Education, which traced the academic landscape in Singapore and elsewhere.

In 2015, at the exhibition 5 Stars: Art Reflects on Peace, Justice, Equality, Democracy and Progress at SAM, TK Sabapathy's work was presented alongside that of artists Ho Tzu Nyen, Matthew Ngui, Suzann Victor, and Zulkifle Mahmod.

TK Sabapathy was Co-Chair and Curatorial Advisor of the Singapore Biennale 2013 and 2016, and is the Curatorial Advisor to SAM.