Singapore Icons

I am oft asked if I have anything on Singapore, so I thought it's time I do something with the sketches I did a year ago on the Fullerton Heritage area.  And it also helps that I recently invested in a professional printer which allows me to produce and control the quality of prints of my art (incidentally an art in itself!), but also as a tool to create art :)  I'm thinking collage, I'm thinking aids for painting, I'm thinking digital art, I'm thinking functional art, the possibilities are endless :)

So this is one happy result.  I am not sure what to call the medium, maybe digital art is the apt term for want of a better description.  It's derived from my ink sketches on paper, colour painted and enhanced on my Mac, and finally formulated back into form as giclee prints.  The process is no less tedious compared to painting with brushes; there are times when I felt like splashing a real brush on the screen ;p  But there are advantages as well, for eg. it is easier to undo things that don't work.  And I can experiment colours with mad abandonment, whereas for real painting, I am slowed down by having to mix the physical paints.

Enough on the process, I enjoyed making these 'paintings' and think the exuberance shows.  I dub them "Singapore Icons" after the requests I get ;D 

Title: Marina Bay Sands; One Fullerton; Fullerton Hotel; CBD (D1-4)
Description: A series of digital 'paintings' depicting Singapore's architectural icons around the Fullerton Heritage area. Mirage Island series 2012.
Medium: Digital Art.
Dimensions: 5x7/A4 open ed & A3 limited ed prints.

comments: 
su f tan said... 
Abstract and beautiful!
saw han said... 
I love the prints! 
comments for MBS:
steve dawson said...
Very Much like
plain yow said...
Love the vibracy...looks like our national flag for this big day today with the red background...
madhu kumar said...
Nice one

Timeless.. like a pink elephant!

I am often asked why I don't paint Singapore. The truth is, it is probably too close to heart. Even in my younger days flirting with art club and pencil portraits, I could do perfect strangers but not close ones. Maybe older is wiser for I've finally overcome the strange malaise and found an emotional arc about my homeland that I have an urge to express. 

But sorry folks, it's not going to be pretty nostalgia nor heritage, for that is never my inclination.  I call the theme Mirage Island for we are forever in a state (or being told we are so) of flux, change, crossroads, survival, etc.. What is real, what is imagined?.. What is just glittery?  What can we really hold on to?

The piece featured here should not be too hard to recognise. As for the title, your guess is as good as mine. 

Title: Timeless.. like a pink elephant! (O69)
Description: Mirage Island series, exploring the myth of Singapore whether we are real or imagined. The subject building was the General Post Office historically but is today a luxury hotel retaining the Fullerton name. 2011.
Medium: Oil on Ready-to-Hang Canvas.
Dimensions: 76 x 51cm. 
SOLD.