Sun, sand and a giant steel lobster holding an ice cream: this is not your average day at the beach.

This January, Sentosa Island becomes the stage for one of Singapore’s most ambitious public art moments as international contemporary artist Philip Colbert unveils Lobster Beach, a large-scale takeover of Tanjong Beach that blends art, leisure and pop spectacle in irresistible fashion. Stretching across shoreline, sea and skyline, the project transforms one of the city’s most beloved leisure spots into an open-air playground of colour, humour and imagination.

The highlight is Lobster Ice Cream, an eight-metre-tall steel sculpture that rises above the sand like a surreal seaside monument. Semi-permanent and unapologetically bold, the towering lobster instantly establishes itself as a new visual icon for Singapore, part landmark, part photo magnet, part pop-art dream.

Scattered across the beach are a cast of larger-than-life inflatable characters: Lobster Shark, Lobster Octopus and Lobster Fish. These hybrid creatures reinterpret Colbert’s famous lobster alter ego through a marine lens, turning the shoreline into a playful, otherworldly scene that feels somewhere between a beach party and a contemporary art fair. Familiar yet fantastical, the works invite visitors to wander, interact and snap endlessly shareable photos, art designed not just to be seen, but experienced.

“I’m excited to have such a large-scale sculpture in such an iconic and beautiful location in Singapore,” Colbert says. “When artworks connect deeply with the landscape and the local community, they create a higher social impact and become genuine landmarks of a city. Lobster Beach felt like the perfect way to celebrate the natural world and our interaction with it in a playful, fun way.”

The beach takeover is only one chapter of Colbert’s Singapore moment. Coinciding with Singapore Art Week, the artist will also present a solo exhibition titled Temple of the Sunflower at Whitestone Gallery Singapore, running from 24 January to 14 March 2026. Known for his hyper-pop visual language, Colbert dives into saturated colour, floral motifs and abstract painting, drawing viewers into a radiant dialogue between surface, detail and emotion.

Art lovers can also catch Colbert at Art SG from 23 to 25 January, where he will debut brand-new sculptures created exclusively for the fair, offering collectors a rare chance to acquire never-before-seen works.

Together, Lobster Beach, Temple of the Sunflower and Colbert’s Art SG appearance form a rare convergence of public art, gallery exhibition and international art fair energy. It’s a moment that underscores Singapore’s growing confidence as a cultural capital, one where art doesn’t stay confined to white walls, but spills joyfully into everyday life.

Lobster Beach is on show at Sentosa. Temple of the Sunflower is on show at Whitestone Gallery Singapore from 24th January to 14th March 2026.