Tan Zi Xi Urban Oasis is installed in a Singapore workplace as part of a commissioned art program.
It’s the mid-afternoon push. You stand up from your desk in search of coffee, hoping it sparks a new thought. That short walk from your station to the break room is one of the only moments in the day where you can think about something else, even for a minute. That’s exactly where Urban Oasis lives, or at least Urban Oasis by Tan Zi Xi.
Set along a corridor between the kitchen and coffee bar on one side and an open office of desks and low cubicles on the other, the work brings nature, wildlife, and green spaces into the same concrete architecture everyone moves through all day. It catches you on your way to refill a mug or head back for a Zoom call and quietly does what good workplace art should do. It gives the eye somewhere to go, and gives the brain a small reset before you jump back in.
Watch: Tan Zi Xi Creating Urban Oasis for a Singapore Workplace.
The Artist Behind Urban Oasis
Born in Singapore, Tan Zi Xi trained in London as an illustrator who works across installation and painted objects. As she introduces herself as a full-time illustrator and “and multimedia artist, that range is on full display here. Urban Oasis is built as a layered work with canvas and MDF cutouts, so you catch different details depending on how you move past it and how long you stay with it.
While she was at Central Saint Martins, Zi Xi started using the moniker MessyMsxi after friends and classmates struggled to pronounce her name. The nickname stuck, and it also hints at how she thinks about making. Not as a straight line, but as a process where experimentation and spontaneity are part of the point.
For this commission, part of our larger work in BlackRock’s Singapore office, ATP.art curated Tan Zi Xi for a client brief centered on flora and fauna. The collaboration was structured so she could stay focused on the work itself. “I think it’s important that the curators have a clear vision of what they are looking for and also an understanding of the artist’s portfolio and strengths.” She adds, “So I think the process was made very easy.”
Urban Oasis in the corridor
Urban Oasis anchored in the corridor between the break area and the open office, where the work catches you in transit and becomes part of the daily flow.
Urban Oasis is the perfect piece for a working environment. Compositionally, it has enough structure to feel intentional and designed for a corporate setting, but personality is still pushing through. Which is every workplace. Low at the base, city forms and simple architectural shapes provide a foundation. Building from that foundation is lush wildlife across the space, breaking through the confined box of the canvas. Detached to the left is a butterfly, almost as if it’s coming in for a moment of rest before taking flight again. The color palette stays on the cooler side, but sparks of yellow and coral burst through just enough to welcome you into this world.
Installed in a high-traffic area, the work needs to hold up, both visually and physically. The layered MDF cutouts add real depth, which keeps the piece from feeling flat while making the composition feel more present in the room. Conceptually, it brings a reminder of green space into a dense business district without turning into a poster about nature. It’s a calm reset point that still feels polished, which is exactly why it works here.
The layered build comes into view from the side, with MDF cutouts extending past the canvas edge so the composition feels like it continues into the wall and hallway.
From her studio to your day
Zi Xi’s starting point for Urban Oasis is simple and personal. It came from what she could see outside her studio window, plus those familiar memories of green space around Singapore that stick with you, even when you’re surrounded by concrete. That matters because the piece feels real. It doesn’t feel like a generic “nature” theme dropped into an office. It feels like a view, a place, and a city people actually move through every day.
“Ideation always comes from a place that is personal.” That’s why this commission lands. The work looks polished in the space, but it also gives people something to come back to. A color you didn’t notice yesterday. A small detail you catch on the way by. A moment where your brain shifts gears before you jump back into whatever’s next. That’s the point. When art is chosen and placed with intention, it becomes part of the day.
Read more about the full Singapore program and watch the video below to see the entire suite of artists who contributed to BlackRock’s new office.
Film by ATP.art Media Services. Presented by Artrepreneur.
