Tell us more about the project.
Moongrazing is a conceptual “visual play” loosely based on themes inspired by the moon set to an original score by Victor Low aka Affixen. The visual consists of a series of animated loops and a main surreal animated clip. There will be 2 x 20min live improvised performance by Victor Low and multi-talented artist Andy Yang for each night. There is also a special live drawing projection segment where selected artists from OICsingapore will be drawing live.
Is this one of the biggest project displays you guys have come up with?
Yes, it is the most important one to date. This is not only our biggest project; it is also our first time participating at the festival. It is great that we, as Singaporeans, are able to perform at such an important platform to showcase our passions and our talents. We also have right partners alongside us that have provided their technical expertise which allow us to do what we do best: Illustrate.
What are some of the challenges you faced?
With the distinct individual styles of our illustrators, we wanted to find a nice blend between making the projection look wholesome while highlighting the individual characteristics of each style at the same time. This involved lots of planning.
Do you come across many artists in it for the money?
Yes, but we believe we should not look at it in a negative context. Like any other profession, a full time artist needs to be able to make a living out of his talents unless of course, you are doing art leisurely. That said, we are always encouraging our peers to look beyond just bread and butter but to find and fine tune their visual voice and do more personal art pieces that are more soulful and less commercialized.
Can Singapore compete with art capitals such as New York, London and Berlin?
Commercially speaking, we are. Singapore is pretty much in the forefront of the Southeast art scene. Having said that, we still are lacking in terms of celebrating our local talents. We have to address this from a grassroots level, appreciating the art for art itself and not the names tagged to it. So platforms like Singapore Night Festival should be applauded for celebrating local talent and putting them on par with international artists.
Singapore Night Festival 2013 is on August 23-24 and 30-31 at various locations along the Bras Basah Bugis precinct. Free.
