Patrick Seah bridges boarders with arts
SINGAPOREAN Patrick Seah has been residing on the stunning beach resort island of Puerto Galera for three years, where he owns a sprawling and picturesque beach.
Patrick was a “city guy” who enjoys modern life and finds his beach reJ sort days boring. He has a business-oriented family in Singapore and was in the banking sector where he specialized in sales and investment. He was also a sales trainer.
In the property investment business, he set focus on condominium units and beach resorts. He even invested in real estate with major Philippine developJ ers for almost five years.
However, he sold off everything before the pandemic hit
Why? He was smitten by the asJ tounding works of art by Filipinos.
During a summer day, Patrick visited SM Tunasan with a collection of old paintings that needed reframing. These paintings were from his former resort, and he brought them to assist the new owner in refurbishing the property.
While there, he met a lady named Owie Chiong, an artist, and they became friends.
Owie introduced Patrick to the art world and eventually became busiJ ness partners. They started with an online gallery business, collaboratJ ing with condo builders, and then progressed to mounting art exhibits at multi-billion property event areas.
Patrick has eight exhibition areas all over Metro Manila under the Visual Central Art Gallery.
High-end galleries tend to attract art collectors and prominent figures in the art world. This in mind, Patrick decided to invest even more by opening a physical galJ lery, this time under the banner of VAM InterJ national Gallery. This move signaled his entry into the local art scene.
Patrick also collaboJ rated with the Manila Art Fair and presented an impressive collection of artworks from seJ lected artists. Through this collaboration, he made a name for himself and regularly participated in prestigious art fairs.
In 2023, he became a publisher of the first special edition of “Glorious,” an international magazine published in Singapore for Filipino artists.
Patrick has a big dream — to exJ pand his art gallery business. He has already established a stable of artists and is now looking towards the future with the idea of establishing another gallery under the banner of VAM InJ ternational Gallery in Singapore.
He could cross borders easily and showJ case the same artists in both countries.
Singapore and Philippines have a healthy government-to-government relationship, and Patrick knows he could benefit from this by bringing the same group of artists to Singapore and exploring the extensive art market of the Lion City.
His plan benefits both parties as Patrick knows an abundance of creative Filipino artists, he will significantly help hundreds of young, versatile Filipino artJ ists and established artists to go global.
Optimistic, Patrick jet-sets between the countries occasionally, pursuing the big dream.