“Many contemporary artists in Singapore turn their back on their predecessors,” says Aniela Rahardja, director of recently-established gallery SBin Art Plus. “They think early Singapore art is just one boring watercolor and still life after another, but technique and composition needs to be there before you can begin developing your ideas.”

Selected Singapore Master Artists looks back at pantheon artists like Liu Kang and Georgette Chen while rediscovering equally skilled figures like Gog Sing Hooi, the founding father of the Singapore Watercolour Society. The style here is predominantly Nanyang Art, peaking with Cheong Soo Pieng’s moody Kampung. But the pièce de résistance in the exhibition is Ong Kim Seng’s Ngaben. Exhibited for the first time, the massive oil painting depicts a Balinese funeral procession filled with life. While Nanyang Art is today considered traditional, Selected Singapore Master Artists shows how it was radical in its own time. Pioneer Chen Wen Hsi’s finger paintings give the standard carp fish subject a twist by representing them loosely. These experiments are expanded upon by the second generation of Singapore artists. Tan Swie Hian’s cheeky Portrait of Master Lai Guo simultaneously pays homage to the past while using Chinese ink in a quirky, modern style.

Perhaps no one embodies the valuable impact Singapore’s pioneer artists had better than Ang Ah Tee. Renowned for his umber-colored scenes of international architecture, the recipient of 2009’s Cultural Medallion comes full circle here by being exhibited alongside his teacher Georgette Chen. “In the 60s at NAFA, she (Chen) taught me about perspective. Because of her, many artists who studied during that period have a very strong foundation,” says Ang. “When I quit working at the ports and joined NAFA, my businesswoman mother was never encouraging. She asked, ‘Can you put food on the table?’ But people like Cheong Soo Pieng inspired us to be serious artists.“

Selected Singapore Master Artists is on through Aug 29 at SBin Art Plus, #01-10/11/12 MICA Building, 140 Hill St., 6883-2001. Free.