I have known Christian Tan for almost five years, since my time at ART:DIS, and have had the opportunity to follow the development of his work over the years. One of the first works that caught my attention was an acrylic still life of cleaning bottles.
At first glance, it was simply a painting of everyday cleaning products. Yet there was something distinctly old-school about the way Christian approached the subject, almost reminiscent of the Old Masters’ treatment of everyday objects. The composition was carefully observed, with a strong understanding of form, colour and detail.
What made the work particularly striking was that Christian had no formal training at an art institution. His approach to painting felt instinctive, yet the work showed a level of sophistication that was difficult to overlook.
Almost five years later, standing in the middle of Christian’s first solo exhibition at Objectifs, there was a quiet sense of pride in seeing how his practice had developed.
Seeing Christian’s world
Held in the Middle brings together around 30 linocut prints, marking the largest presentation of Christian’s practice to date. The exhibition is also part of his prize as the Grand Prize winner of the 2025 UOL x ART:DIS Art Prize, which was held at ION Art.
Christian is a quiet and shy person who often keeps to himself, and seems quite happy in his own world. But once he warms up to you, or decides that he trusts you, he opens up with a big smile.
I have always felt that his work is another way of opening that door. The things that occupy his everyday life become the things he draws, paints and prints. And perhaps nowhere is this more apparent than in the cleaning tools that surround him at work.
When a broom becomes a subject
Christian works as a cleaner, and his profession has clearly influenced his artistic practice. But I think it has done more than that as it has given his work a very particular voice and identity.
Brooms. Spray bottles. Mops. Plungers. Cleaning stations. Workstations. These are objects that most of us barely notice. They are functional. Familiar. Mundane. But in Christian’s world, they are not mundane at all.
His award-winning Red Plumbing Set, Yellow Broom and Floor Scrubbing take these objects and bring them into focus. Through layered reduction printing, bold outlines and vivid colours, the tools of his everyday work become graphic compositions in their own right. But there is something rather wonderful about that.
A broom is no longer just a broom, and a cleaning bottle is no longer something sitting quietly on a trolley. Christian makes us look again.
And perhaps this is what makes his work so personal. He is not searching for exotic or extraordinary subjects. He is looking at what is already around him and finding something worth noticing. The everyday becomes his vocabulary.
From cleaning tools to rock stars
Then, almost unexpectedly, the rock stars appear.
Christian’s love of music is another important part of his world, and his prints of musicians and idols, including Roxanne and Jon Bon Jovi, bring a completely different energy into the exhibition. There is something quite charming about seeing these works alongside the cleaning tools, as if two very different parts of Christian’s life have found their place together on the gallery walls.
On one side are the tools and objects of his working life: brooms, bottles, mops and the familiar things he encounters as a cleaner. On the other are the musicians and pop stars who capture his imagination. One world speaks of work and routine. The other speaks of music, fascination and joy. Yet both are unmistakably Christian.
There is also something in the boldness of his linocuts that reminds me of Andy Warhol’s Pop Art. Like Warhol, Christian has an ability to take familiar subjects and give them a new visual presence. But while Warhol drew from the world of commercial products and mass culture, Christian’s subjects come from somewhere much closer to home.
They are his objects. His surroundings. His interests. His everyday life. And perhaps this is what makes the work so personal. Christian takes the things that surround him and turns them into something we are invited to look at differently.
More than what is on the wall
What I particularly enjoyed about Held in the Middle is that the exhibition does not stop at the prints.
Walking through Objectifs, visitors encounter the familiar tools of Christian’s working life: a cleaning trolley, spray bottles, mops, pails, plungers and brooms. Presented in bright colours, these everyday objects almost become an extension of the prints, bringing Christian’s visual world off the walls and into the gallery.
There is also an opportunity to try linocut printing for yourself, offering a glimpse into the process behind the works and, in a small way, into the everyday world that inspires Christian’s imagination.
It is this coming together of the ordinary and the playful that makes the exhibition particularly engaging. As curator John Tung describes it, Held in the Middle brings together the “toil of labour” with the “whimsy of leisure”. Looking around the exhibition, you can see exactly how naturally these two worlds exist side by side in Christian’s practice.
A proud moment
Photo credit: UOL and ART:DIS
The exhibition was officially opened on Wednesday by Guest-of-Honour Denise Phua, Mayor of Central Singapore District and Member of Parliament for Jalan Besar GRC. Her presence felt particularly meaningful for an exhibition celebrating an artist with a disability. Ms Phua has long supported the disability community and has also spoken publicly about her experience as a mother of a son with autism.
For me, seeing Held in the Middle come together was a particularly proud moment. Having known Christian and followed his work for almost five years, it was wonderful to see his first solo exhibition take shape at Objectifs, bringing together so many different aspects of his world.
Held in the Middle is not simply a story about an artist with a disability. It is a story about how an artist takes what he knows, what he sees and what he loves, and turns it into his own visual language.
Christian’s work as a cleaner has given his practice something that cannot simply be taught in a classroom: a deeply personal way of looking at the everyday. What we might dismiss as ordinary, he sees differently. And perhaps that is where his creativity begins.
Held in the Middle runs from 1 to 11 October 2026 at Objectifs, 155 Middle Road. Admission is free.
