The most striking feature of a Lai Jui Fang painting is his amazing attention to detail to achieve a high degree of realism.

An oil painter par excellence, some of Lai’s works have earned the unsavoury remark of being “photographic” – a comment grossly unjustified and surely an affront to a dedicated artist who devoted years perfecting the classical style of oil painting.

Another irony is that this Singapore painter is better known abroad. Lai spent 14 years in Paris where he studied at the Ecole Nationale Superieur des Beaux-Arts, the premier French art academy.

In fact Lai first enrolled there with a scholarship from the French government and had the distinction of having it renewed a record four times. To date this professional artist has won an astonishing 44 medals for artistic achievements.

But Lai is proudest of two awards: he was the first Asian to be received as the Knight & Officer of the French Order of Arts and Letters. Later, he was also given the Grand Vermilion Medal of Paris.

Not surprisingly, he’s listed in the French Who’s Who and his works are in many permanent and private collections in the U.S. and Europe …