In my everyday life, when I’m constantly moving, in meetings and making decisions, observing art slows me down. It makes me wonder. For the first time, my imagination and creative juice would flow. Because you know you are staring at something still, but behind it, the artist was probably trying to convey something.

It often makes me imagine what the artist was trying to say from one piece of art. And that’s how I think it all started.

As we visited galleries and exhibitions, the art pieces that I chose became the ones that most people wanted to buy. The gallery owner or artist would come to speak with me and ask why did I chose those art pieces and what I saw in them. I would explain to them and at times, would capture their feelings perfectly.

My interactions with the artist made me realise we are in the same boat. We all face the same type of challenges. We may have different talent but we are all trying to make a living and also trying to enjoy our lives while pursuing our passion at the same time.

One of my favourite artwork is by a Korean artist (Jung Hea Young) in her 60s. When we visited her store, all her artwork was in bright, strong and loud fuchsia colours. It’s not my kind of art. And at a corner sat one painting that was very nostalgic. It was an old Korean home. It’s very subdued. It’s very serious. And I fell in love with it. According to the artist, this artwork was the one and only that she has painted in this style. True to what I want to do for our inaugural exhibition, it was a painting of her childhood home in her hometown.