I was born in 1977. I studied graphic design at Temasek Polytechnic in Singapore and at the Royal College of Art in London. I never had a taste of fine art education, and I never regretted not having any. I am glad to have been obsessed with something other than art before I became an artist. But it is very easy for me to work as a graphic designer, if I ever needed money to survive. I have helped many friends to design catalogues, postcards, posters, invitations, t-shirts and all sorts of things related to their exhibitions, theatre productions, dance performances. I think I'm a pretty good designer. I can empathize well with artists and I know how to create designs that foreground their work, rather than put focus on the design itself. In fact, one of the reasons why I became an artist was because I was brought into the world of art via performing this role as a designer for a theatre company in Singapore, The Necessary Stage. I designed their printed material from 1996 to about 1998, and then I started designing for The Substation, the first independent art space in Singapore. That went on for a couple of years, and in the meantime, while being their graphic designer, I also held my first solo show in their gallery space in February 1999. But I don't really do much graphic design today. Except when its actually easier to design my own books, rather than work with another designer (especially when you don't have the budget to pay your rich friends). I am in the process of producing a book with a curator in Singapore, Ahmad Mashadi, and this book contains introductions to 100 art works produced in Singapore and I just find it much easier to work on the design since I'm so familiar with the material that we don't have to check it so much, with the hundreds and hundreds of images and texts. I know all the works and I recognize the images, so in a sense, for me, the design becomes part of the content too. It gets slightly stressful sometimes, and very distracting, especially in a situation where you have to be an artist, a curator, a writer AND a graphic designer. I guess I could have been really rich if I have decided 10 years ago to become a full time graphic designer. But I never really thought about it that much, nor wanted it enough to do so. I'm really quite happy earning a bit of money here and there from my various involvements with the art world. I am represented by Vitamin Creative Space, a very good gallery, that crosses from being a mere commercial gallery into the realms of production. Something that is very rare for a gallerist to take on, as production of art is usually a tedious and messy affair, full of doubt and uncertainty. I realized very early on that we have a long term relationship going, and I shouldn't expect an immediate monetary return on my work at this point. It is both a comforting and slightly scary situation. As with all long term investments, you'll never know what hits you till the break of dawn.
9.02.2010
9.02.2010
