Singapore Students Prize 2020

Are We Talking? conveys the idea of intrusion of technology into the human connection. Through snippets of my own life, I realised that relationships between people have become estranged. It has become much easier to choose to avoid human interactions, and instead, delve into the online world to find solace. Will there be a day when there is no need for the real world in order to find contentment? I spend my time thinking if a day will come when people, like the woman in the painting, treat human attachment with apathy, regarding communication as worthless, and in the end, get consumed by the digital life around them.

Birds of Different Feathers reflects upon themes of consciousness and individuality. The birds in the illustrations highlight the uniqueness of each character, emphasizing how the world around us is filled with wonder. The artist seeks to remind viewers that everyone is a unique individual and to celebrate our diversity and embrace our weaknesses.

Break Free is a digital painting completed using Procreate. It is done from my point of view in quarantine during the circuit-breaker period when taking a peek at the outside world through a window while being trapped inside the hostel building. I tweaked the colors by making the hostel building monochromatic to show my frustration and boredom of being trapped inside. The color of the outside world was made more bright and vibrant to show my longing for the freedom we used to take for granted.

In the near future, a large catastrophe occurs, completely wiping out all of humanity. After being uninhabited for decades, how would the facades of the buildings that we regularly visit and use change, and how would they then look?

In the near future, a large catastrophe occurs, completely wiping out all of humanity. After being uninhabited for decades, how would the facades of the buildings that we regularly visit and use change, and how would they then look?

CHIJMES, a huge compound with Victorian and neoclassical design of incredible beauty. The building’s unblocked full-length stained glass windows, tower and small spires that appear to pierce the sky, fading into the distance and empowering aura always leave me awed and humbled.

Conflicted is the digital portrayal of conflicts that students our age would typically face. Such themes include being overworked, cyber-bullied and having social anxiety.

In this work, I explore how one can tell a lot about a family through something mundane – their bathroom sink. No two bathroom sinks will look the same, with every counter-top holding certain objects representing different members of the family.

In a quasi-futuristic portrayal of a disjointed restaurant lies creatures of habit and endless routines on loop. Home, an exploration of solitude and monotony, invites you into a curious world devoid of togetherness, to contemplate the prospects of human relationships.

In today’s society, we are often identified by our facial features and facial expressions. Driven by vanity, many attempt to enhance their appearance through operations and the downside to this superficial identity is that it is prone to stereotypes and blemishes over time. To me, identity is the outward expression of our will. Our culture, worship and language could be textured by the external world, they are free of deception and biases. My attempt to resist the ebb and flow of the buzzy world is represented by the mouth-shaped masquerade, superimposing on the image of a brain. In granting a ‘mouth’ to the brain, a conduit is established for my inner voice which flows out directly, by-passing our facial features.

This series of paintings follows the growth of a character from childhood to adulthood through the representation of their hands. Because the face of the individual is not revealed, I hope viewers are able to relate to the emotions and ideas the pieces convey. The progression of warm to cooler colours, vibrant plants to the cold ocean shows my interpretation of common experiences people have.

Intangible Singularity explores the process of exploring one’s identity. Through adopting the medium of paint, both physical and metaphorical layers are peeled away to reveal an individual’s true self. The artwork presents a state of uncertainty and fear through the process of self discovery. Viewers are urged to look back at themselves, and to reflect upon their personal journey in search of their purpose.

During this COVID-19 pandemic, people all over the world have faced not only health crises, economic crises but social crises too. The painting illustrates discrimination against Asians during the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as shows the distance not only physically, but emotionally the pandemic has put society in. The girl who is the focus of the painting symbolises Asians and the hands represent prejudice and aggression against Asian people. If you look closely at the mask it says ‘I Am Not A Virus’. This is to encourage people to look closer at both the painting and the people around them. I feel that it is saddening that in this rough period for all, some people choose to see others not as humans, but as skin colour. This problem is extremely personal to me as my father and sister live in the US, where they have faced discrimination that has been inflamed because of the wrongful association of COVID-19 and Asians.

With the creation of social media platforms within the past decade, our world has become more image-centric; self-centric. This said, an increasingly globalised and homogenised beauty ideal has emerged. We’ve come to reduce ourselves to superficial qualities just to be valued by others and more often than not, ourselves. I’ve been fascinated with the irony of mass media, social media to be exact – it began as a dream to connect people, a place where everyone could be a part of each other’s experiences; a prescription for loneliness. What used to be an innocent dream, ended up tearing us apart. You and Me. ME-DIA explores the role of contemporary media in corrupting perceptions of ‘beauty’. The triptych explores the ubiquity and unreality of digitally altered images to invite the viewer to look deeper within themselves and society and realise how we mold each other, rather for worse than for good.

I have been visiting Central Sikh Temple since childhood. With its imposing façade, picturesque pool, resplendent marble surface that shimmers in the light that illuminates it after sunset and serene atmosphere, Central Sikh Temple is really a Microcosm of my Ideal World.

The title refers to human civilization progressing to type 2 civilization on the Kardeshevscale. As humans advance, we seek to expand our influence. This painting depicts a vision of humans starting towards building Dyson sphere, a giant structure that surrounds the sun to harness its energy for human consumption and development. The surface of mercury is chosen as a mining, production and launching base for satellites that make up the Dysonsphere.

Numb, we are, to everyday scenes; a weed is just a weed. Yet it is also the epitome of natural beauty; beauty is in the eye of the beholder; open your eyes, and you shall comprehend.

This symmetrical, bottom-up albeit cliche impression of the church sanctuary I grew up with, always fills me with amazement. It visually leads believers to the cross and spiritually reminds them of the love that compels them to humble themselves in exchange for fortitude.

Side Effects in the Waiting Room emerged from the idea of involuntary isolation and confinement in an urban landscape, the by-product of a modern society that we are unwillingly subjected to. Through my work, I seek to satisfy cravings for a physical and emotional escape from reality. The urban landscape features scenes from some of the most densely populated places on earth, depicting different worlds colliding in this manufactured space. The elements that make these places unique have been removed, making the locations in the final illustration appear more generic. The people that once occupied the busy streets are also removed, yet proof of their former existence still remains. The deserted streets, although visually pleasing, suggests abandonment and isolation. This references the idea that when we are isolated and alone, the memories of the people in our reality fade with time as we lose touch with reality and create a new one in our minds. We fill this new reality in our heads with things to replace the ones we lost, represented by the goldfish wandering in the abandoned space. Their presence is also a stark contrast from the non-organic subject matters in the rest of the scene, bringing more life to the city devoid of any human population.

The blast of a nuclear war swiped out whole of humanity, the essence left manifests in the form of the last DNA strand preserved in a disintegrating, moldy post-apocalyptic research lab, known to be the last beacon of hope for planting the seeds of the next generation of humanity.