Some years later, Mun Sen decided to establish his own art studio. Joseph McNally's account records that Mun Sen reputedly pawned his watch to make a down payment on the rental of the studio. He developed an interest in photography, explored the tonal value of painting and also tried his hands at sculpting with plaster-of-Paris. He also purchased studio cameras as well as a Leica and a Rolleiflex. During this time, he changed his name to Yong Mun Sen 楊曼生. Coining an 'art name' or 號 for oneself was part of a long Chinese tradition beginning in the Six Dynasties period and became vogue from the Tang dynasty onwards. In the 1955 Poay Cheng Building School Fund catalogue, it is recorded that the art studio is called Wei Kuan Arts gallery 蔚觀畫室 at 牛干冬街. 牛干冬街 is the Chinese street name for the section between Love Lane and Penang Road that is part of a much longer Chulia Street. The studio is often described in English language sources as Tai Koon. Later, Wei Kuan and Tai Koon were both attributed to Mun Sen with Wei Kuan serving as his art studio and Tai Koon his photo studio business. However, there are no known Chinese sources with the Chinese characters for taikoon. Taikoon is likely 大觀, a shortened form of the four character saying 蔚為大觀, used to described a colourful and magnificent scene/vista/landscape. 蔚觀 wei kuan is also shortened from the four character saying and adopted as the name for Munsen’s studio in 1922-1930. It is therefore likely that Taikoon and Wei Kuan are one and the same name for his studio.

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1972. Pameran Peringatan Yong Mun Sen/ Yong Mun Sen Memorial Exhibition. Exhibition catalogue 17 March - 4 April. Kuala Lumpur: Balai Seni Lukis Negara/National Art Gallery; 金戈 Jing Ge，1955。’楊曼生傳 (Biography of Yong Mun Sen)‘ Poay Cheng Building School Fund Exhibition Catalogue, 4; Joseph McNally, 1994. 'Yong Mun Sen' Pioneers of Malaysian Art, 70-76; Lo Man Yuk. 1900. 'Chinese Names of Streets in Penang' Journal of the Straits Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, No. 33 (JANUARY 1900), 205.