The emerging artist is behind Metamorphosis of Temasek (on our Jan 23 cover) and is one of the only young Singaporean artists to be shown at Art Stage where he imagines what a post-nuclear Singapore would look like.
Tell us about the creative process behind this series.
I wanted to combine Singapore history with my admiration for Japanese pop art, which has a distinctive postwar history. After the nuclear bomb, Japanese artists experimented with the concept of mutation, combined things that had not been placed together before. Think Godzilla and Astro Boy. I imagined what Singapore would look like if we had also experienced nuclear mutation, by taking our buildings away from their original context and merging them to create new shapes and endless possibilities. Some buildings took on the form of creatures, some became floating surreal islands.
Your art is primarily digital. Why choose this medium?
Living in a fast-paced era, I find that it’s only normal to use technology to our advantage. Being a perfectionist, I am able to control the exact position of where I want an object to be when I paint digitally. In digital art, if I make an error, I am able to hit the undo button immediately. I can be as precise as I want to be.
What do you think of Singapore’s art compared to Japan’s?
Singapore lacks a strong personality. Being a multi-cultural country, we are a bit of this and that. The only very Singaporean thing about us is probably our kiasu-ness. That’s unlike the Japanese, who have built a strong foundation of who they are over the centuries and mastered their own way of doing art that is distinctive to their own country.
