statement & bio

The Why and How:

I am a visual artist who loves paper, drawing, printmaking, and mostly experimenting with any medium that can best give shape and form to concepts around the subject of consciousness. I plunder the scientific, the metaphysical, and everything in between to inform, inspire and initiate concept-led work, and to generate new lines of enquiry.

Consciousness is what makes us sentient and different to our cars and socks. The vastness of the subject of consciousness means I can only focus on bringing to life certain facets of consciousness at any given time. These include endeavouring to access the fourth dimension, giving form to our web of interconnected consciousness, visualising the crystallization of thought-energy into geometric forms, and the folding and unfolding of space.

My artist residency at the Victoria & Albert Museum in 2009 explored the possibility that matter can absorb consciousness and capture the energy of thought, so that every object holds a faint imprint within it’s materiality, of the life with which the objects have been in contact. To test this, I collaborated with a person who is highly sensitive to the energy of consciousness, to commune with selected objects and to speak their stories for them.

The What and When:

Mona holds a Masters in Art & Science from Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts London, UK. She was awarded the International Print Artist-in-Residence at the Victoria & Albert Museum, UK, in 2009. In 2012, she was invited by the Printmaking Research Centre of Macau to represent Singapore and to organise Singapore delegates for the inaugural Macau Printmaking Triennial. In that same year, she was commissioned by the Financial Times (Asia) to create artwork to be given as the award for the Women In Asia Awards. She was a finalist in both the 2018 Tom Bass Figurative Sculpture Prize, and the 2023 Urunga Small Sculpture Art Prize in Australia. In 2020, Choo was invited to be a lifetime affiliate member of the Circle Arts Foundation in Lyon, France.

Choo has exhibited widely in the UK, USA, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Australia and her work is in private and corporate collections in Europe, the USA, Asia and Australia. Her work is also in the permanent collection of the Singapore Art Museum and she has been represented at ARTSingapore and at Art Stage Singapore. Choo has been invited to speak at the Victoria and Albert Museum in the UK, at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts in Singapore, at the School of Creative Arts and Media in the University of Tasmania and other private venues. In 2021, Choo completed an artist residency at Tanglin Trust International School (Singapore) where she created a 4m wide site-specific installation, and sold out of her sculptures in a group exhibition in Singapore titled The Call of the Sea.

Choo currently resides in Tasmania, Australia with her husband.

Professional Experience

2023: Finalist, Urunga Small Sculpture Prize, NSW, Australia.

2021: Artist-in-Residence, Tanglin Trust International School, Singapore.

2020: Invited to be a lifetime Affiliate Member of the Circle Arts Foundation, Lyon, France.

2018: Shortlisted for the national Tom Bass Prize for Figurative Sculpture, Sydney, Australia.

2015: Commissioned by the il Lido Group Singapore. Site-specific sculpture installations located in the National Gallery of Singapore. Developed and implemented concept proposal with respect to location regulations; attend site visits; managing third-party (architects, National Gallery staff) and client expectations, installation supervision, responsible for all aspects of own artwork production through to completion.

2015: Invited to participate at Art Stage Singapore by Art-2 Gallery.

2014: Collaborative project at London’s Mini Maker Faire. Conducted public demonstrations on how to make recycled paper embedded with electronic components e.g. LED lights and circuitry.

2014: Exhibited at the Pop-Up Singapore House Pavilion during Singapore Day in London. Introduced artworks on display to Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong during his visit.

2013: Shortlisted for the South Place Hotel Art Prize, London.

2013: Shortlisted for corporate commission by Hoare Lea, U.K.’s most established building engineering firm.

2013: Shortlisted to exhibit at the inaugural FloatArt exhibition, part of the London Mayor’s Thames Festival.

2012: Victoria & Albert Museum – invited to design and conduct a series of workshops for their school and public outreach programme in London, U.K. Managed and led a team of assistants to facilitate and ensure smooth-running of educational workshops in printmaking.

2012: Invited by the Printmaking Research Centre of Macau (Cultural Institute of Macau), to represent, exhibit and coordinate delegates from Singapore to the Macau Printmaking Triennial, including travel logistics and curation.

2012: Commissioned by The Financial Times (Asia) and RBS Coutts, to produce four artworks to be given as prizes for their Women in Asia Awards.

2009: International Print Artist-in-Residence, Victoria & Albert Museum, London, UK. Working with Museum curators for exchange and collaboration; understanding the Museum’s purpose to bridge the gap between the Museum and public: interaction with audience through their Public Outreach programme; conducting courses and workshops through their Learning programme;

EXHIBITIONS

Solo and Group Exhibitions

2025 Summer Salon Group Show, Handmark Gallery, Tasmania, Australia

2024 Works on Paper group exhibition, Handmark Gallery, Tasmania, Australia

2023 Finalists Exhibition, Urunga Small Sculpture Prize, NSW, Australia

2023 Works on Paper group exhibition, Handmark Gallery, Tasmania, Australia

2023 Celebrating Our Landscape exhibition, Handmark Gallery, Tasmania, Australia

2022 Works on show at EHL (Ecole Hôtelière de Lausanne) Singapore

2022 Summer Salon group exhibition, Handmark Gallery, Tasmania, Australia

2022 Nuages, 63 Spotts Art Gallery, Singapore

2021 Emergence, permanent installation at Tanglin Trust School, Singapore

2021 The Call Of The Sea, Selegie Arts Center, Singapore

2019 Repeat, Repeat, Repeat, The Private Museum, Singapore

2019 Deep State: Dive into the Subconscious, Handmark Gallery, Tasmania, Australia

2018 Affordable Exhibition, Handmark Gallery, Tasmania, Australia

2018 Tom Bass Figurative Sculpture Prize, group exhibition, Sydney, Australia

2016 Solo exhibition at the Penny Contemporary, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia

2015 Art Stage Singapore 2015, Singapore. Represented by Art-2 Gallery

2015 Art in Motion, Art-2 Gallery, Singapore

2015 20:20 Print Exchange 2014, a touring exhibition organized by Hot Bed Press, UK

2014 Korean International Art Fair, Seoul, Korea. Represented by Art-2 Gallery

2014 Pfeffer SS15 Fashion Press Day, London, UK

2014 Live in your Dreams!, The Crypt in St Pancras Church, London, UK

2014 The Affordable Art Exhibition, Vibe Gallery, London, UK

2013 Rough Around The Edges, Hanmi Gallery, London, UK

2013 neo:graduates2013, Bolton, UK

2013 Art Lacuna Prize, London, UK

2013 FloatArt, (Part of the London Mayor’s Thames Festival), London, UK

2013 Encounters in Art & Science, The British Library, London, UK

2012 1st Macau Printmaking Triennial, Macau S.A.R.

2012 Reflections, The Rotunda, Exchange Square, Hong Kong

2011 Affordable Art Fair, London (Oct), UK

2011 Bloomsbury Art Fair, London, UK

2010 D.A. Activist, Austin Gallery, London, UK

2009 ArtSingapore 2009, Singapore

2009 D.A. Activist, Gallerie de Vie, Hong Kong

2009 Kaleidescope, The Rotunda, Exchange Square, Hong Kong

2009 Emerging Materials, ION Art Gallery & Art 2, Singapore

2009 The Cork Street Open, The Gallery in Cork Street, London, UK

2009 Chelsea Art Fair, London, UK

2009 Agora Gallery, New York, U.S.A.

2008 ArtSingapore 2008, Singapore

2008 Viridian Gallery, New York, U.S.A.

2008 Think Tank, Eagle Art Gallery, Murray, Kentucky, U.S.A.

2008 Hun Gallery, New York, U.S.A.

1998 Art-2, Singapore

1997 Art Power, The Substation Art Gallery, Singapore

1995 Two Way Traffic, The Substation Art Gallery, Singapore

1994 Freshways in Printmaking, Coventry Gallery, London, UK

1994 Women in Action, Redfield Exhibition Gallery, Winslow, UK

1994 Aspects of the Body, Soul & Environment, Dixon Bate Gallery, Leeds, UK

Public and Private Collections

2021 Tanglin Trust International School, Singapore

2016 Publicis Hong Kong, Hong Kong

2015 AURA Restaurant and Wine Bar (Il Lido Group) Singapore

2013 The Macau Printmaking Research Centre, Macau S.A.R.

1996 Leo Burnett Singapore

1996 The United Overseas Bank of Singapore

1995 The Singapore Art Museum, Singapore

Public Speaking Appearances

2019 Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, Singapore.

2015 Artist’s Art Forum, College of the Arts, University of Tasmania, Australia.

2013 ‘State of Matter: Collisions and Connections’ conference, University of the Arts

London, UK.

2012 Victoria & Albert Museum, London, UK.

Commissions & Collections