Punkted (“punk-ted”) is the name that self-taught Singaporean-born artist gave himself in his early teens–an alter ego to explore his passion for art while keeping one foot in a “practical” world that prized analytical minds and stable careers.
His professional path, however, has been an undeniable influence in his journey as an artist. Working in venture capital opened his eyes to the underexplored dynamics between business, technology, and society, while his time in Los Angeles shaped his global perspective and gave him a court-side seat to today’s cutting-edge trends.
Like Renaissance artists of the past who recorded the defining moments of their time, Punkted hopes to capture snapshots of the events that shape ours. The technological shifts, media spectacles, and absurdities of modern life–explored through satire, sometimes with traces of nostalgia for the beauty that was lost because of progress.
Today, Punkted uses humor to cut through the noise and stir the pot. Beneath a heavy dose of wit and irony, he challenges viewers to pause, smirk, and think critically about the milieu in which we exist. After all, humor can be an effective lubricant for hard topics.
Dirty Laundry (2025)
Money laundering gets a literal spin in Dirty Laundry. Inspired by the scandal that rocked Singapore’s financial scene in 2023, the painting reimagines the financial underworld as a wash cycle and portrays the absurdity of white-collar crime as an everyday chore hidden in plain sight. Figures in business suits go about their routine with an air of unsettling smugness, pulling viewers into the heart of the operation–the thrilling moment in time when the risk couldn’t compare to the euphoria of reward.
Digital Gold Rush (2025)
The gold rush never ended—it just went digital. Digital Gold Rush reimagines the crypto frenzy through the lens of old-world prospectors, with pickaxes swapped for GPUs. The (meta)masked figures, symbolizing the anonymous pioneers of this financial frontier, sift through pixelated gold that drifts into the sky like a mirage. Behind them, the market’s past ascends and peaks, with constellations in the sky hinting at optimistic speculative forces. A new era, the same old rush—where those who dig deep enough might find gold, while those who sell the shovels always win.