Associate Professor

B.Sc.                           Mathematics, National University of Singapore, 1982.
B.Sc. (Hons)               Mathematics, National University of Singapore, 1983.
P.G.Dip.Ed. (Credit)  Education, National University of Singapore-Institute of
                                    Education, 1984.
Certificate                 Fine Art (Practice), Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts,
                                    Singapore, 1987.
Ph.D.                          Fine Art (Research), University of London-Goldsmiths
                                   College, U.K., 1997.

Bio

The first Ph.D. in Fine Art from Goldsmiths College, Leon Chew returned to Singapore in 1997. Five years later, he was selected to be the Dean of School of Visual Arts at Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts. In 2008, he became the first Singaporean arts head to be hired in the Middle East. He remains a visiting professor of Loughborough University in U.K., and has served as an external examiner of Chinese University of Hong Kong. He is also a practicing artist, and his modern Chinese painting artworks are frequently featured in sponsored solo shows and curated group exhibitions.

Office: Dubai Academic City, (Wing C, R-L1-003)
Phone: +9714 402 1467
Email: Leon.Chew@zu.ac.ae

Teaching Areas

Comparative studies of Eastern and Western visual arts, Asian culturo-philosophical aesthetics, contemporary Chinese art, art history, and visual arts practice.

Research and Professional Activities

Most recent research and professional activities include:

i) Solo art exhibition at Abu Dhabi National Theater, with a grant awarded in 2010 by Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture & Heritage. This is the first-ever modern Chinese painting exhibition in the history of U.A.E. 

ii) Research on Modern Chinese and Arabic Calligraphy, and East Meets West in Contemporary Art, with grants awarded in 2009 and 2010 by Zayed University. One of the outcomes of the research is paper presentation at International Conference on the Arts in Society in Venice (Italy), and The Asian Conference on Arts and Humanities in Osaka (Japan).

iii) Currently a key member of Singapore Youth Award Advisory Committee of the National Youth Council, and the international advisor of Singapore Life Art Society.