Goh Beng Kwan is a pioneering Singapore modern artist. As one of the first Singapore artists to study in the USA in the '60s, he returned to introduce a new approach to art-making with abstract collages that incorporated materials such as nails, paper and fabric, influencing modern artists in Singapore after him. His works—the result of inspirations from his travels—have been exhibited internationally. He received the first prize at the inaugural UOB Painting of the Year Competition in 1982. In 1989, he received the Cultural Medallion for his contributions to visual arts in Singapore.

Born in 1937 in Medan, Indonesia to a Chinese immigrant father and Peranakan mother, Goh Beng Kwan moved to Singapore with his parents at the age of eight after the end of World War II.

Here, he attended The Chinese High School and studied art under Singapore pioneer artist Chen Wen Hsi. Seeing Goh's artistic aptitude and potential, Chen gave him art lessons in his home after school and brought him on art excursions with fellow Singapore pioneer artist Cheong Soo Pieng. From almost 10 years from 1952, Goh's artistic studies with the two master Nanyang style artists instilled in him a strong foundation in a largely Western representational style of painting as well as an appreciation of Chinese ink painting and calligraphy. In 1961, Goh exhibited his work for the first time at the Five Man Exhibition at the National Museum Art Gallery.

After this, he moved to USA to further his studies at the prestigious Art Students League of New York, studying oil painting under acclaimed artist Sidney Gross. Inspired by Gross, the works of Willem De Kooning and Robert Rauschenberg, and the vibrant New York art scene, he left representational painting behind for Abstract Expressionism, which was then flourishing in the city's art circles. He also worked part-time in a Chinese restaurant to help pay his way, continuing to work even after receiving the Allen Tucker Scholarship in the second year and the Ford Foundation Scholarship in the third.

During this period, Goh also attended the two-month long Provincetown Workshop in Massachusetts, USA in 1964. There, he gained inspiration from abstract painter and collagist Leo Manso and modernist painter and teacher Victor Candell. At Manso's advice, he began to focus on developing a more Eastern style of art that was closer to his roots. He also began to explore collage as a medium; before, he had painted mainly figurative but abstract forms in oils. From the mid-'60s onwards, he turned his attention to collage and assemblage, preferring it as a quicker and more immediate medium. He also began to incorporate Chinese artistic principles and Chinese calligraphic strokes in his artistic expression, creating abstract painting-collages. Here, he developed his distinctive voice.

The following year in 1965, Goh attended his second Provincetown Workshop and then held his first solo exhibition at the Ruth Sherman Gallery in New York. Returning to Singapore in 1966, he held his first solo exhibition in Singapore, exhibiting in the National Library to acclaim. The works he presented were lauded for introducing fresh ideas and approaches to the Singapore art scene. Never before had materials such as nails, tea wrapping and Chinese oracle papers, newspapers, and acupuncture diagrams made their way onto artworks in the history of Singapore art.

Goh grew to become a highly influential artist through the '70s, contributing significantly to the development of Singapore contemporary art. The subsequent decades saw him exhibiting his works in several solo and group exhibitions, art festivals, and events in Singapore and abroad.

He drew frequent inspiration from his surroundings that he felt gave a place its soul. His early works were inspired by places in Singapore such as Chinatown and the Singapore River with its tongkangs (wooded cargo boats). He then drew inspiration from his extensive travels, drawing from natural surroundings.

Most of his works are collages and mixed media works featuring a variety of materials such as rice paper, rubber sheets, newspaper, wood and metal as well as found objects such as Chinese woodcut prints, fabric, jute string and in one instance, a Malay kite. These are layered, tinted, treated and assembled in abstract painting-collages that create engaging impressions rather than representations of an environment and mood. They express his experiences of the diverse scenery, colours and moods of different countries or cities. For example, his works from Bali are joyous works layered in shades of green that celebrate his falling in love with the beauty of its verdant landscape. And the works arising from a trip to Europe during winter are pale and subdued, reflecting the long nights and quiet of the season.

In 2006, Goh spent a month as Artist-in-Residence at the Singapore Tyler Print Institute. There, he worked with the Institute team and master papermaker Richard Hungerford to explore new papermaking techniques and processes. Together, they created a groundbreaking "water collage" technique where the material is floated onto the surface of a work. Goh’s resulting work Renewal, a series of 40 large paper pulp works and a surprising and unusual set of etchings (executed by STPI master printmaker Eng Joo Heng using the intaglio printing process), is a vivid celebration of the renewal of life in nature through the renewal of discarded materials in collage, evoking vibrant seas, gentle pools and rich terrain.

Over the years, Goh has received numerous accolades and awards including the first prize in the inaugural United Overseas Bank Painting of the Year Competition in 1982, the first prize at the Australia Business Council and Australia High Commission Art Awards in Singapore in 1984, and the silver medal in the Salon des Artists Francais in 1985. In 1989, he received the Cultural Medallion for his contributions to visual arts in Singapore.

His works have been collected by several organisations including Deutsche Bank, Singapore Art Museum, Changi Airport, United Overseas Bank and Westin Hotel. He has created commissioned work which can be found in many places such as Conrad Centennial Hotel, May Bank, Punggol MRT/LRT station and the Singapore Turf Club among others.

Goh currently continues to travel and create new work.