Singapore Students Prize 2017

Paint makes the invisible visible, yet its opaqueness obscures and suppresses what is true. What we see is the outsider’s perception, the illusion of reality, as the essence of what is seen is now contaminated, no longer pure nor absolute. Bold and brash, the nature of the medium shamelessly distorts the “truth” it claims to expose. Beware the masks of painted pictures, as what comes to surface is not to be trusted. Perhaps the unseen would be better off untouched, undisturbed, left to thrive on its own as it should.

Through my piece ‘Burn’. I wish to explore different aspects of myself through the portrayal of books which represented my interest in reading and writing. By using painting, one of my interests, to showcase that of another, I feel conflicted in a sense that I might have to choose between either of these hobbies that I pursue. The usage of fire in this painting can be up to the audience’s interpretation, to which would mostly comes across as a symbolisation of passion and love, or fury and frustration; not defining the representation is intended to showcase a perception of mixed feelings and conflict that I as an artist have over pursing the two things that I love, and would inevitably have to choose between as I grow older.

My late grandfather and I used to share many long conversation together. As his days drew nearer, he spoke of how every being would eventually return to earth. No matter what sort of life they have lived or whatever they have possessed and achieved, nature knows no discrimination. Inspired by one of the last few conversations I had with him along with the Chinese belief on moths association with death, Dust to Dust is a quiet reminder of how all life shall return to the very soil where life begin.

This artwork was created to honour the felling of trees for construction. I wanted to express the fragile beauty of nature by going up really close. The magnification really allowed it to feel up close and personal.I feel that the plants that surround us are Mother Nature\’s greatest gift, and we take them for granted far too often. The idea in going up close on the tree bark was that is could look like so many things – chipping paint, cracked ground and like. As someone who is inspired by nature in many ways, this artwork is quite personal to me. It is like a visual rollercoaster that never ends – you could follow the cracks all along the artwork and behin again, and again, and again – exactly like the neverending flow of life and energy in nature.

Singapore

I have chosen to shoot everyday objects in monochrome to move away from the subject matter and elevate form over substance. By doing so, the viewer has the pleasure of appreciating its aesthetics such as line, space and texture. However, on a more personal note, each shot has a story behind it as the title suggests.

The Singaporean education system takes a toll, more so as you climb, draining you of colour and life. Expectations from above and below bruising and crushing, dragging you through the entire process.

“you were the most beautiful thing i’d ever felt till now. and i was convinced you’d remain the most beautiful thing i’d ever feel. do you know how limiting that is. to think at such a ripe young age i’d experienced the most exhilarating person i’d ever meet. how i’d spend the rest of my life just settling. to think i’d tasted the rawest form of honey and everything else would be refined and synthetic. that nothing beyond this point would add up. that all the years beyond me could not combine themselves to be sweeter than you.”

My work explores the romantic quality that I believe all children possess. Each child, in its prospective role, is a representation of future potentialities. The subtlety of the portraits created gives a hinge of a fleeting moment and character, which echoes that of childhood nostalgia. Much like when people think about their childhood it is also a rather ephemeral memory that seems distant, foggy, but very much fond to the individual. This paradoxical nature of childhood memories is what I seek to highlight and portray in my paintings.

I have officially entered adulthood, 18 years old, this year. Reflecting on my current life, I have lost many precious qualities, including my childhood innocence and carefree attitude. In contrast, my life is in chaos and tumbles. Often I felt breathless and lost. The amount of pressue and sadness drive me to think about what is truly valuable and the meaning of my life. The drowning scene is a process of self-destruction. However, enlightenment and hope can still be found at the end of every difficult journey.

This is the tree that once stood proudly in front of the school. It was the mother nature’s love itself, wrinkly with time. For it was as old as the school itself, yet it still selflessly protected her children with her luscious leaves; like a mother. When we heard it was to be cut down, it was heartbreaking, as if a large part of our school was being torn off. I wanted to depict that sad moment of the many trees’ lives lost. The exaggerated wrinkles, shrivelling leaves and dark tones evokes a sense of melancholy, honouring the trees by remembering their loss. For we never knew what we had before it was gone. The school has never looked so dull.

“If there is to be someone else living inside me, let it be someone better.” This painting explores the conflict between the necessity to express oneself and the difficulty of altering one’s personality to suit societal expectations. As we struggle to find our identity and purpose in life, the the inevitable process of discarding the past and stepping out of the comfort zone has consumed our body and mind. Self-doubts also arise as we question our characters and personalities in the process of self-discovery. The endless pursuit for a better self has led to everlasting dissatisfaction which undermines our identity as a result.

The largest human is one of our school’s cleaning ladies, and the smaller humans are my friends. I feel that we often overlook a lot of people who hard to make us comfortable, like cleaners, so I wanted to focus an artwork on them. She looks deep in thought, hence the title, and the colours used add to the dreamy feel, enhanced by windows showing what she could be thinking about, like greenery, the school, or herself. My friend and I are smaller as we are exploring the inner thoughts of the cleaning lady through our lens, and she is the main focus here, not us.

Shirt, shorts, shoes. These are all an identity we construct around ourselves. we deny our marked skin, bulging bones and the pulpy flesh that is our constitution in favour for dyed fabrics in pretty colours thinly plastered onto our form. to have exposed something one denies is the greatest discomfort. To glare and criticize this exposure cause discomfort. Skin, Flesh, Bones is a visual manifestation of insecurities and denial being exposed. It is about unearthing the hidden and the concealed for the world to examine and to criticize. And just maybe, recognize their own insecurities in it.

“The Site-Specific Series” is a serial work comprising of photographic prints that marries photography with lan art. Heavily inspired by the natural as well as man-made holes present in my surroundings, I utilise these tiny, pre-existing holes as the aperture for my pinhole camera. Shot using black-and-white film, my work offers glimpses of Singapore’s diverse environments. They are photographs built entirely on experimentation and unpredictability: the only planning involved is the scouting for locations with small holes, be it drill-holes at construction sites to worm-holes in leaves and branches. In this way, I collaborate with the urban environment as the physical components of the landscape, feedback into the character of the camera and the final photograph. Essentially, the medium is the land as I am photographing landscape using the landscape itself. In also having the environment dictate how the photograph will appear, I silently lose my authority and autonomy as the artist, where the environment takes precedence over me.

In this work I used deconstructed visual elements to create a dichotomy of shapes and forms that contrast with each other, in order to elicit a state of tension in the viewer. The thick dabs of black overlay and compete with the cumulous red circles, which are in turn contrasted against the geometric black rectangles. By presenting a dichotomy of visual elements, that even though contrasting still exist harmoniously in the same plane, I aimed to reconcile the contradictions that we often face in life. We are told to be unique and yet have to abide by a system of things, that our individuality forbids us to do. We want to love others and yet are afraid of losing those close to us. By contemplating how contradictions can be reconciled, and furthermore, do this using non-specific visual elements that make-up the world; the intent of the work is to leave its viewers with an understanding that contradiction and inner conflict, is surprisingly the most peaceful way to live life.