THE ISLAND
For the last couple of years I've been working on a multimedia project which I call 'the island'.
Inspired by a small man made tropical island that I visit often when paddling out at sea, where I catch myself time and time again unconsciously pretending to be on a deserted island like in my childhood favourite film; 'the Blue Lagoon' or "Robinson Crusoe".
Living in Singapore, the second most densely populated country in the world, it is nearly impossible to 'get away', a problem which I unconsciously solve by my large imagination and ability to block out views I do not want.
All around the island are hundreds of container ships.
Any island near 'my island" is developed into either touristy places where music can be heard constantly, or into industries like the so called "Shell (the company) island" or 'the garbage island', where Singapore, because of lack of space, dumps and processes it's millions of tons or trash. The horizon is basically industrial. Once these were beautiful tropical idyllic islands in a clean, blue sea.
By nature, I tend to look away from all this, and focus on beauty. The real world is often not of my liking.
Perception.
I create my own world that way.
This is resulting in a body of work; video, printmaking, large scale drawings and photographs.
In this body of work, I play with the idea of paradise, storytelling, exoticism, sanity-insanity, a voyage into discovery where I, as a naturalist, discover a world that is fake, and thus, so does the viewer. The rocks are hollow and are falling apart. The sand is imported. The rocky shore are rows of stones neatly set side by side. The island isn't isolated at all. On the contrary. The man made paradise (man as creator, acting as God) is a failure.
Utopia - dystopia..
But could you say that it is part of evolution still ? This urge to create ? Man as creator ?
Darwin writes in "the Voyage of the Beagle";
"Man at last has been enabled to understand his own role, his own true position in nature and in the world we live in."
For the last couple of years I've been working on a multimedia project which I call 'the island'.
Inspired by a small man made tropical island that I visit often when paddling out at sea, where I catch myself time and time again unconsciously pretending to be on a deserted island like in my childhood favourite film; 'the Blue Lagoon' or "Robinson Crusoe".
Living in Singapore, the second most densely populated country in the world, it is nearly impossible to 'get away', a problem which I unconsciously solve by my large imagination and ability to block out views I do not want.
All around the island are hundreds of container ships.
Any island near 'my island" is developed into either touristy places where music can be heard constantly, or into industries like the so called "Shell (the company) island" or 'the garbage island', where Singapore, because of lack of space, dumps and processes it's millions of tons or trash. The horizon is basically industrial. Once these were beautiful tropical idyllic islands in a clean, blue sea.
By nature, I tend to look away from all this, and focus on beauty. The real world is often not of my liking.
Perception.
I create my own world that way.
This is resulting in a body of work; video, printmaking, large scale drawings and photographs.
In this body of work, I play with the idea of paradise, storytelling, exoticism, sanity-insanity, a voyage into discovery where I, as a naturalist, discover a world that is fake, and thus, so does the viewer. The rocks are hollow and are falling apart. The sand is imported. The rocky shore are rows of stones neatly set side by side. The island isn't isolated at all. On the contrary. The man made paradise (man as creator, acting as God) is a failure.
Utopia - dystopia..
But could you say that it is part of evolution still ? This urge to create ? Man as creator ?
Darwin writes in "the Voyage of the Beagle";
"Man at last has been enabled to understand his own role, his own true position in nature and in the world we live in."
the island
drawings
(see more under recent work; 'drawings')
The drawings are based on film stills from the movie “Lord of the Flies”, a 1954 novel by William Golding. (Films; 1963 and 1990). The setting and circumstances are utopian. A group of boys stranded on an uninhabited island.
But the story is a different one. It portrays the boys’ descent into savagery; left to themselves on a paradisiacal island, far from modern civilisation, the well-educated children regress to a primitive state. A dystopian story about loss of innocence and savagery.
Uninhabited islands representing paradise and children representing innocence, the drawings are about the first impression and how the image is not to be trusted. The titles guide the viewer in how to read the work, provide a context and give a different view to that first impression and make the viewer have another look and wonder what really happened.
But the story is a different one. It portrays the boys’ descent into savagery; left to themselves on a paradisiacal island, far from modern civilisation, the well-educated children regress to a primitive state. A dystopian story about loss of innocence and savagery.
Uninhabited islands representing paradise and children representing innocence, the drawings are about the first impression and how the image is not to be trusted. The titles guide the viewer in how to read the work, provide a context and give a different view to that first impression and make the viewer have another look and wonder what really happened.
the island
monoprints
(see more under recent work; printmaking)
The island series.
Monoprints on paper, 2019
40 x 40 cm
In this series of prints, which are part of the island series; existing so far of large scale charcoal drawings and a video work which I am currently working on, you see film stills of the movie 'the Lord of the Flies'. The titles on the works are directly taken from the novel "Lord of the flies', by William Golding.
'The island series' plays with our ideas of a tropical paradise island. It plays with our perception of an image. Children are associated with innocence and a deserted tropical island is associated with paradise. These two combined, what could possibly go wrong ?
The boys of the island are figures in a parable or fable which like all great parables or fables reveals to the reader an intimate, disquieting connection between the innocent, time-passing, story-telling aspect of its surface and the great, “dimly appreciated” depths of its interior.
It's not a simple adventure story of boys on a desert island.
Decay-destruction-demoralization-hysteria-panic.
The drawings/prints are realistic, but also emphasise their fictional nature. It's about the deceptive nature of the image in general. The work has a photographic quality because I want them to stay close to a certain reality, or at least pretend that this closeness exists. Photographs and film have an acclaim to truth, or a documentary value. Drawings are more fictional in nature. Making drawings of photographs suddenly places them in a different, self invented universe.
Because they are stills, they demand that everything that comes before and after should be invented. That is the big difference with film. A still has a greater mythical potential but the stills together can be read as a narrated story made of cinematic freeze frames.
The titles/captions play a big role to guide the viewer into how to read the work, provide a context, but also cause confusion. The combination of what you see and what you read is giving you information that confuses slightly, but just enough to make you wonder what really happened, and makes you have another, better look and see things in a different perspective.
Monoprints on paper, 2019
40 x 40 cm
In this series of prints, which are part of the island series; existing so far of large scale charcoal drawings and a video work which I am currently working on, you see film stills of the movie 'the Lord of the Flies'. The titles on the works are directly taken from the novel "Lord of the flies', by William Golding.
'The island series' plays with our ideas of a tropical paradise island. It plays with our perception of an image. Children are associated with innocence and a deserted tropical island is associated with paradise. These two combined, what could possibly go wrong ?
The boys of the island are figures in a parable or fable which like all great parables or fables reveals to the reader an intimate, disquieting connection between the innocent, time-passing, story-telling aspect of its surface and the great, “dimly appreciated” depths of its interior.
It's not a simple adventure story of boys on a desert island.
Decay-destruction-demoralization-hysteria-panic.
The drawings/prints are realistic, but also emphasise their fictional nature. It's about the deceptive nature of the image in general. The work has a photographic quality because I want them to stay close to a certain reality, or at least pretend that this closeness exists. Photographs and film have an acclaim to truth, or a documentary value. Drawings are more fictional in nature. Making drawings of photographs suddenly places them in a different, self invented universe.
Because they are stills, they demand that everything that comes before and after should be invented. That is the big difference with film. A still has a greater mythical potential but the stills together can be read as a narrated story made of cinematic freeze frames.
The titles/captions play a big role to guide the viewer into how to read the work, provide a context, but also cause confusion. The combination of what you see and what you read is giving you information that confuses slightly, but just enough to make you wonder what really happened, and makes you have another, better look and see things in a different perspective.
the island
video
(work in process)
https://vimeo.com/user9437157
In this video work, I play the main character who is lost at sea and washes up on this uninhabited island. The texts spoken by me, are texts taken from novels and films; Robinson Crusoe, Lord of the Flies, the Blue Lagoon and Pincher Martin. It's a video piece that shows the character's fluctuation between sanity and insanity, between reality and unreality.
the island
photography
(see more under recent work; photography)
He who created the original paradise, promised to restore what was lost
Pulau Belakang Mati - Sentosa
2018 A deserted tropical island. A setting which is utopian. The idea of paradise on earth is one that originates back to the Bible; the Garden of Eden before the fall of men.
Paradise islands are highly desirable places. But does paradise exist ? How can we know that paradise on earth is not a fantasy, but reality ?
In this series of works I photographed man made tropical islands, created just for you, made to please. Its shows nature, which when taking a closer look, is not nature at all, it’s fake.
I photographed the hollow rocks at an island in Singapore formerly known as "Pulau Belakang Mati" which literally translates as "Island of Death from behind". The island was redeveloped in 1972 by the Singapore government and renamed "Sentosa" which translates to peace and tranquility. Sentosa is and artificially constructed tourist spot, a materialist decadent paradise, made to please.
The hollow rocks, disintegrated in time, decaying, empty shells held up by plastic pipes, some about to collapse, are a symbol for a paradise lost. Paradise as utopia. The fantasy of paradise on a collision course with reality. The island no longer a place of exotic, idealistic dreams, but a more interior, darker, dystopian place.
The title refers to two things;
-Firstly it refers to the Bible, God who created paradise, pronounced a curse on Adam and Eve after they committed sin and He casts them out of the Garden of Eden. However, after a life living out the teachings of Christ, the kingdom of heaven is once again promised. (paradise lost- paradise regained)
-The title also refers to the idea that 'paradise' is a man made concept. Paradise is often seen as a tropical deserted island where all is good and innocence prevails. Man here takes the role of "God" by creating paradisiacal landscapes, with artificial materials, which over time collapse (paradise found-paradise lost) and will most likely be restored over time.
Pulau Belakang Mati - Sentosa
2018 A deserted tropical island. A setting which is utopian. The idea of paradise on earth is one that originates back to the Bible; the Garden of Eden before the fall of men.
Paradise islands are highly desirable places. But does paradise exist ? How can we know that paradise on earth is not a fantasy, but reality ?
In this series of works I photographed man made tropical islands, created just for you, made to please. Its shows nature, which when taking a closer look, is not nature at all, it’s fake.
I photographed the hollow rocks at an island in Singapore formerly known as "Pulau Belakang Mati" which literally translates as "Island of Death from behind". The island was redeveloped in 1972 by the Singapore government and renamed "Sentosa" which translates to peace and tranquility. Sentosa is and artificially constructed tourist spot, a materialist decadent paradise, made to please.
The hollow rocks, disintegrated in time, decaying, empty shells held up by plastic pipes, some about to collapse, are a symbol for a paradise lost. Paradise as utopia. The fantasy of paradise on a collision course with reality. The island no longer a place of exotic, idealistic dreams, but a more interior, darker, dystopian place.
The title refers to two things;
-Firstly it refers to the Bible, God who created paradise, pronounced a curse on Adam and Eve after they committed sin and He casts them out of the Garden of Eden. However, after a life living out the teachings of Christ, the kingdom of heaven is once again promised. (paradise lost- paradise regained)
-The title also refers to the idea that 'paradise' is a man made concept. Paradise is often seen as a tropical deserted island where all is good and innocence prevails. Man here takes the role of "God" by creating paradisiacal landscapes, with artificial materials, which over time collapse (paradise found-paradise lost) and will most likely be restored over time.
Natural Selection
Natural selection;
‘Little imagination is required to fancy that so light and delicate a body must be tenanted by some wandering fairy spirit.’
(from Charles Darwin; The voyage of the Beagle.)
scratching, oilpaint on round board.
Natural selection;
‘The whole island with it’s sloping border, was adorned with an air of perfect elegance; the scenery, if I may use such an expression, appeared to the sight, harmonious.’
(from Charles Darwin;The voyage of the Beagle)
scratching, oilpaint on board.
Both works refer to Charles Darwin’s research on the theory of evolution. The long oil-paint wooden panel, has ‘my paradise island’ depicted, the little round one has a bird on it, a yellow crusted cockatoo.
The series actually, truly shows a fake island (man made and deliberately devoid of background; no industry and ships are to be seen), and a yellow crusted cockatoo, an introduced bird species.
Yet, we’d perceive this imagery mostly as harmless, peaceful and even paradisiacal. You think you see Eden, but what you see is a troubled world, out of context, where things are not always as it seem, where that pretty cockatoo might actually be a thread to indigenous wildlife.
Yet, as life evolves always, adjusts, evolution continues…one could question if this is evolution too ?
The artist as amateur naturalist, wondering if man can act as God, (by creating an deserted paradisiacal island) aiming to create Eden. If ‘man made’ is part of evolution also, as man is part of nature.
The titles are from Darwin's book 'The voyage of the Beagle'.
I call it 'Natural Selection', a reference to Charles Darwin's research on the theory of evolution.
‘Little imagination is required to fancy that so light and delicate a body must be tenanted by some wandering fairy spirit.’
(from Charles Darwin; The voyage of the Beagle.)
scratching, oilpaint on round board.
Natural selection;
‘The whole island with it’s sloping border, was adorned with an air of perfect elegance; the scenery, if I may use such an expression, appeared to the sight, harmonious.’
(from Charles Darwin;The voyage of the Beagle)
scratching, oilpaint on board.
Both works refer to Charles Darwin’s research on the theory of evolution. The long oil-paint wooden panel, has ‘my paradise island’ depicted, the little round one has a bird on it, a yellow crusted cockatoo.
The series actually, truly shows a fake island (man made and deliberately devoid of background; no industry and ships are to be seen), and a yellow crusted cockatoo, an introduced bird species.
Yet, we’d perceive this imagery mostly as harmless, peaceful and even paradisiacal. You think you see Eden, but what you see is a troubled world, out of context, where things are not always as it seem, where that pretty cockatoo might actually be a thread to indigenous wildlife.
Yet, as life evolves always, adjusts, evolution continues…one could question if this is evolution too ?
The artist as amateur naturalist, wondering if man can act as God, (by creating an deserted paradisiacal island) aiming to create Eden. If ‘man made’ is part of evolution also, as man is part of nature.
The titles are from Darwin's book 'The voyage of the Beagle'.
I call it 'Natural Selection', a reference to Charles Darwin's research on the theory of evolution.
