The Stories Behind: The commando-turned-artist who hopes to make it big with his nostalgic miniature art

SINGAPORE — When I look at the delicate and intricate details of miniature art, I often imagine the artist to be someone who sits in his room quietly focused on his work, away from all distractions.

However, when I met Mr Wilfred Cheah for the first time, he surprised me with his chatty demeanour, as he proudly showed me his latest creation: A miniature version of his childhood home.

"This is my favourite piece," he said. "I have a lot of good memories because it's where I would always meet people and play with friends from the neighbourhood." 

The 57-year-old former interior designer and commando is the man behind the Trash to Treasure exhibition at Tiong Bahru Plaza where he showcases his nostalgic miniature artworks, including the model of a wet market stall which made him go viral in 2021. 

Despite having no prior experience in miniature crafting, the Covid-19 pandemic gave Mr Cheah the perfect timing to retire after 28 years, to unleash his creative streak.

He started to grow his online social media presence as well, documenting his miniature artworks through Instagram where he amassed over 3,000 followers.

Now a full-time artist, he is active on Facebook too, where people were raving over his promotional post for his 10-day exhibition.

In an interview with him at his exhibition on Wednesday (April 19), he told me that he decided on creating miniature art because he had always "liked arts and crafts".

He also wanted to create something in 3D that was a small scale of the actual thing to give viewers a more descriptive example of the item or location — something a 2D painting or photo cannot do.

"I create these artworks not just to showcase the location, but also to showcase the activities that may already be lost," he said.

Pointing out the miniature model of the Toa Payoh dragon playground, he added: "Take this playground for example, I put in the childhood games that we played because back then, we played outside but it is very different for the children of today who no longer go out to play."

Mr Cheah believes that this is one of the reasons his nostalgic miniature artworks tend to get so much attention from not just the older generation but also from the younger crowd.

"At least the younger generation will know that during our time, this was how our lifestyle was; how we lived and what are the things that we used."

CREATIVE PROCESS

Since starting out, Mr Cheah has made over 100 artworks from the small corner of his dining table in his 3-room condominium in Bishan.

Most of these take one to two months to make, using recycled materials lying around at home.

"Sometimes I use cardboard, styrofoam, wooden chopsticks, straws, plastic packaging," he said.

He shared with me that even though he has made many artworks, he will inevitably be learning something new with each new creation, especially when it comes to putting the materials together. 

One example he had was during the creation of the wired body for the dragon playground. 

He said: "I actually failed three times before I managed to complete the body. I ended up having to glue it ring by ring, piece by piece, which took a lot of work, but sometimes the most difficult way is the best way."

Mr Cheah also shared another example of a time where he had to use tissue paper to replicate fabric. 

He said that he was not familiar with the material and when he started to paint, the tissue would become wet and tear. So, he decided to seek help from the internet where he found a technique that worked.

"What I did was dab until the whole tissue is wet and then like a piece of clothing, I hang it up to dry."

He found that throughout his creative process, there will always be mistakes but he realised that things got easier when he was willing to accept and learn from them.

When asked if he had used photos from the past as a reference for his artworks during the creative process, Mr Cheah laughed and said: "They are all from my memory!"

While he tries to recall "every single thing" during the creative process, there will be times where he needed to google the look of certain things, especially the packaging and accessories.

FUTURE PROJECTS

Seeing how the 57-year-old artist was beaming with pride at the artworks in his exhibition, I asked if there was something that he wanted to create but have not got the chance to.

He eagerly answered: "I've always wanted to do those street wayang stages with the wooden frames, changing rooms and the live band, as well as the push cart hawker stalls around the stage, which was a common sight back then."

With the success of his small exhibition, Mr Cheah hopes to hold another showcase in the future.

"I hope that I'll get more opportunities to share this kind of art, nostalgia and heritage with more people so that they can better understand our Singapore culture."