A Day in the Life: Lai Yu Tong
Capturing the peculiarities of everyday life
By Lai Yu Tong
‘A Day in the Life’ is a series by A&M where we invite artists to share a day in their life through images accompanied by brief descriptions.
Visual artist Lai Yu Tong explores the elements of daily life through various mediums such as painting, sculpture, and image-making. Working from his home studio in Singapore, he draws inspiration from the views outside his windows and incorporates everyday materials into his creations. Yu Tong’s works evoke a range of emotions, from melancholy to hope, while highlighting the peculiarities of the ordinary.
In this article, he offers a glimpse into his home studio, daily routine, and recent exhibitions.
Lai Yu Tong. Image courtesy of Renée Ting.
Working across different mediums and formats, ranging from drawing to sculpture, children’s books to experimental music, my practice constantly shape-shifts and evades classification. What ties these varied forms of expression together is my interest in articulating the present and creating adequate media to describe the times we live in.
Lai Yu Tong, ‘Newspaper Painting No. 110’, 2021, synthetic polymer paint on newspaper, 63 x 76 x 4cm. Image courtesy of the artist.
Recently, I was involved in two exhibitions in Singapore: one at the Nanyang Technological University’s Arts, Design, and Media Gallery (NTU ADM), and another at the Institute of Contemporary Art Singapore (ICAS), located at LASALLE College of the Arts, where I studied. At the ADM Gallery, I presented ‘Newspaper Paintings’, an earlier series I worked on extensively between 2019 and 2021.
The series involved painting over selected newspaper spreads with white acrylic paint. It marked a transition away from my training as a photographer and media artist towards a more studio-based practice focused on working with materials and my hands. This shift was driven by several factors: a growing disillusionment with the overwhelming number of images circulating in the world, my dissatisfaction with the trajectory of modern technological advancement, and the theft of my first DSLR camera, which led to the epiphany that I no longer needed it.
Lai Yu Tong, ‘The World (Campfire)’, 2024, birch, pine, graphite on paper, tin cans, LED bulbs, electrical components, dimensions variable. Image courtesy of the artist.
For the exhibition at ICAS LASALLE, I presented a rework of a piece I created early last year titled ‘The World’. The work consists of ten miniature birch wood chairs, each measuring 7 x 4 x 4cm, arranged evenly in a circle. Each chair is occupied by a proportionally small drawing placed at the center of its seat. The drawings depict a feather, a plane, a pair of feet, an insect, a key, a leaf, a car, an egg, a pair of rings, and a dead coral. Together, they form an eerie scene, like the end of a drawing class or a group art therapy session, when everyone has left the room. I imagine these drawings to be made by different people, each illustrating one thing they would miss in this world if it were to end today.
In a world saturated by images, I often think about the concept of the last image. What is the last image we will see when we close our eyes for the final time? Or what is the last image we will create before we die? My guess is that this image will not be spectacular or grandiose, as we often imagine it to be, but rather something mundane and delicate.
Studio view. Image courtesy of the artist.
A butterfly on Yu Tong’s work corridor. Image courtesy of the artist.
Since getting married and buying a flat with my wife, we both have studios at home. Over the past few months, I have been working on a piece to be presented at S.E.A. Focus 2025. It involves a lot of woodwork, and I have mostly been working in the corridor outside my flat. One day, a butterfly visited me while I was working in the corridor.
Yu Tong doing his part-time job. Image courtesy of the artist.
I have a part-time job that sometimes requires me to travel around Singapore in a lorry. The lorry has a large windscreen, which allows me to appreciate the view outside while my colleague drives us around. I like the job and my colleagues a lot.
A crow’s nest on a tree outside of Yu Tong’s flat. Image courtesy of the artist.
Stray dogs nearby Yu Tong’s office. Image courtesy of the artist.
Recently, I have been drawn to two things in Singapore: one is the stray dogs, and the other is the crows. I observe the crows from my window every day. In the centre of this tree, there is a crow that has been nesting its eggs for the past week.
A stray dog walks past the office where I work every day around 5 pm. I try to photograph it every time, and I often draw this dog.
Enzo, Yu Tong’s rescued parrot. Image courtesy of the artist.
About the Artist
Lai Yu Tong is an artist based in Singapore whose works span across image-making, painting, drawing and installation. His practice attempts to make sense of the world through acts of recording, arranging and storytelling. His recent works consider how art can evoke empathy in a world so damaged.
