Writings on Nude Artist at Art Stage(Singapore)

Nude artist 'taking a break'

By Yip Wai Yee

Indian artist T. Venkanna sitting with Mr Abhay Maskara, owner of Gallery Maskara. -- ST PHOTO: NEO XIAOBIN

THE Indian artist who caused a stir at the inaugural art fair at the Marina Bay Sands Exhibition and Convention Centre by stripping naked has stopped his attention-getting act.

The artist, Mr T. Venkanna, who sat on a bench in the nude and took pictures with visitors, was not in the booth on Friday.

Some newspapers had gone to town with the Hyderabad artist's act at Art Stage Singapore, questioning whether it could be considered art. A lawyer was quoted as saying the show could be against the law as it is an offence to appear nude in public. The art fair, which opened to the public on Thursday, is considered a public event.

The exposure proved to be too much for some people. On Friday morning, Gallery Maskara's owner, Mr Abhay Maskara, told The Straits Times over the phone that the gallery was asked to stop the performance. He did not say who advised him to do so.

He said: 'It is always a bit disheartening when works of art are not seen as art. We did not set out to create any controversy.

From:

http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_624493.html

Upon reading this article, my first impression was to question the artist’s intention of stripping naked as display of his “art”.  Perhaps, he is trying to bring across the idea that art is beyond social boundaries and it is a free expression of oneself. Therefore, he seeks to appear naked to bring out the essence of striping himself off all social identities that people presume and present oneself in the most truthful state – Naked.  In my opinion, he has conceived a good theme or idea for his work, but it could have taken other forms and mediums, such as paintings or modern installations, which would also have well brought across his message while being appropriate.

Personally, I would not consider his approach to be a form of art as I feel that his actions are definitely offensive and rude to the social community, especially in a conservative Asian society like Singapore. Despite the artist himself claiming that his is a work of art, I believe that many would disregard that as there is really no artistic efforts or basic techniques applied to his work. Instead, it is simply the nude artist himself claiming the he is that “art”, while I see no artistic sense or logic in the whole idea of appearing nude.

Besides, I am unable to comprehend why the high charge of $250 for viewers to take a photograph with him. Firstly, it is highly over- priced. Secondly, it makes me question whether the artist is truly out to create art or simply to create a business opportunity for himself.  If this was truly art as he claims, shouldn’t art be accessible to all with no high price to pay? 

Writings on Lucia Hartini

Upon learning about Indonesian Artist Lucia Hartini, I came to realize how Art is many a times a reflection of the experiences that the Artist personally went through. Normally, the type of surrounding or family one grows up in determines what sort of person he or she is going to grow up to be. Similarly, Lucia Hartini experiences of gender marginalization that is much prevalent in the Indonesian society she lives in motivated her to oppose such social-political conditions in Indonesia by creating Art related to discrimination of the female gender, such as herself. To Hartini, her art is a way of expressing herself, her ideas, and basically what she stands up for in life. On the other hand, it is also a medium for her to relief her stress, boredom, longings and dissapointments in life. Therefore, in simple terms, art serves two simple purposes to her: 1) Raise awareness and provoke thinking amongst people on Social Issues. 2) Fulfill her own artistic and emotional needs.

Linking back to my own experiences of doing art, I sometimes feel uninspired to create an art piece, from sketching a simple apple to creating a great painting. I think that this is perhaps due my life being too smooth or monotonous. Living in a safe and secure society in Singapore, it is truly seldom that we experience great social problems such as racial discrimination, gender discrimination and such. Therefore, the lack of changes and turns in life could be the reason why we do feel uninspired to do Art at times since we do not have a "spark" to begin with.

However, I believe this cannot be an excuse for us to justify why we cannot produce great works of art. We should try to be more sensitive to the beauty in our surroundings and search for our own sources of inspiration. I believe, it is only when true inspiration comes, can truthful and great artworks be created.

Ceramics

Ceramic Pot (Secondary 2): I wanted to created a pot based on the circle shape. I wanted the pot to look a ship, with the front decorated by circles whose arrangement is inspired by the Olympic symbol.

 I also made circular holes around the pot to create some visual interest for the audience.

 Square Jar (Secondary 2): Texture created with small shells. Rust added to one side of the Jar to add an "ancient" feel to it.

Clams-ART

This is probably the weirdest kind of art I have done in a while. 

Had clams for dinner.

Were amazed by their shape and shiny inside-shell.

Decided to make some structures out of them.

 Inspired by stars

Decorative plates for candle-burning

Inspired by Flora

 Inspired by the idea of  "Protection"

 Inspired by Nature

 Growth of a Butterfly

Batik Painting of Hibiscus

I experimented with this medium when I went to Malacca during the holidays and signed up for an hour batik painting course at a roadside batik painting gallery. I think that the technique is relatively simple to grasp as it is similar to blending with water colour. I really liked the feeling of painting on a cloth as it would not break like paper no matter the amount of water and paint you add. Furthermore, watching the artist helped me draw on the pattern of the flower I requested with hot wax was truly an eye opening experience.

Flowers from Paris

These are some sketches of flowers I did during our trip to Paris in 2010. Most of them are from Monet's garden and one from a painting in Musee d' Orsay. They are coloured with water-colour pencils and edited to create a complementary background effect. 

Eugene Boudin 

Flowers in a Glass 

1853 - 1856 

Flowers from Monet's Garden

Painting on glass

Painting of sparrows: Despite that fact that I am painting with oil-colourings on glass, I adopted a style quite similar to that of Chinese art painting as I wanted to keep the painting simple and lyrical. 

Photography in Segamat (Malaysia)

I visited my grandmother in Malaysia during the December holidays. Here are some of the photographs I took while sitting at the balcony outside my grandmother's house.

I like how the three different cats walk side by side, as if they are a strong and amiable team.

This photograph depicts a cat, which seems to be walking into a magical mist at the bottom left hand corner of the photo where the first cat has already disappeared into. Despite this effect being unintentional, it illustrate a story for the photo.

 Two black and white cats standing side by side on a road, bringing a sense of loneliness and isolation to the picture despite the cats being accompanied by each other.

 A adorable little cat looking right up with curious eyes, making itself the very focus of the photo.

Happy family: Mother cat resting with her two kitten fooling with each other at the side.

 Natural plants hanging from the cable across the skyline, reflecting a simple, lyrical beauty.

 Potted plant with purple flowers against concrete background. Colours in the photograph naturally complement each other, creating a harmonious and balanced composition.

Close-up shot of a dog from a tilted angle, bringing focus to the expression on the dog's face, which is what I would interpret as the sorrow of being chained up from its freedom.

 Landscape across the orange field.

 Cracked egg shell with sediments. Rough texture of the grainy sand contrast with the smooth egg shell, bring sparks to the picture.

I like how the cat looks up with questioning eyes, as if it has not expected itself to be photographed. I also like the background that is separated into land and water. 

Past Works

 

"No Drugs" Sec 2 Design: 
Illustrates how a drug addicts' dreams, hopes, beliefs, family comes crashing down immediately as she consumes drugs. The drug tablets flow down in a rainbow of colours, symbolizing how drugs seems so attractive and harmless at first. Yet, while one is succumb to it, her life crashes down even before she notices.

Sec 3 Fashion Design Module:
Based on the theme "Microbes", I designed a short party dress. The dress is incoporated with elements of microbes that seem to be floating down a sea of gradient of blue and turqoise. Soft folds and puffs delibrately added at the edge of the dress were inspired by corals in the sea and serves to add some lightness to the dress.











Sec 1 EOY Painting:
A surrealist approach to depict a horse turning into a unicorn as a carriage goes by the trees. Also, alternating positions of the carriage and horse being behind and in front of the tree seeks to bring confusion to viewers.

How I spent my Holidays:

Eating while watching TV...

Cycling in the park during windy evenings...

Spending time with friends...

Going out with mom...

Having fun with friends...

(A little catchment of my holidays)

Chinese Ink Paintings

These are some Chinese Ink Paintings I did in the past.

Painting of crows perched on a cherry blossom tree:
I used a graduated filter to create the illusion of a blue sky in the background that is originally not painted. This adds a tiny modern twist to the traditional chinese painting.

Painting of mountainous landscape:
I experimented with an different shades of green to paint the mountains. Although, the degree of saturation is unnatural, it adds a magical and whimsical feel to the painting, making the scene seems like a place out of earth.

Painting of a snow mountain:
I choose a icy pale palette to bring across the idea of a lonely, isolated, cold winter night. However, I deliberately added a little red house at the top of the mountain to suggest that life and warmth is present even in a desolate place like this, which sets as a contrast to the whole image.