THE DESIGN

Designer, Hunn Wai created an unlikely pairing of a ping pong table and a workstation with his Paul Smith Ping Pong table. Hunn combines a sense of fun with the use of flea market finds; a second hand dining table, lace, steel and acrylic paint. Most recently his table was published in VIEWPOINT, a publication from the London-based trends-forecasting agency, The Future Laboratory.

“Much like ripping MP3’s from CD’s you bought, I’ve transplanted intrinsic details from my prized possessions onto flea market finds. Resulting in new consumed products. The reference to Paul Smith has to do with the pattern found on my Paul Smith sneakers.”

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I love this colorful, semi-nonsense green monster with its gnashing teeth and its crooked eyes. It’s the work of Sonic Arts student, Hippo, whose illustrations will transport you into a mythical world.

“I have been doodling since 2005, took a one year break, then got back to business. I used to watch a lot of Sesame Street, Disney and Nick cartoons. My ‘iloveyoumonster’ is a hybrid of Oscar The Grouch -the monster in the trash can- and Mr. long-neck -the Loch Ness monster-, wearing an I Love New York style T-shirt.”

Fans of cute things will have fun looking trough the other illustrations on Hippo’s site.

Spotted! is a digest of fly work by fresh off creatives.

THE ART

With this illustration, Alan Leong creates some very interesting imagery that combines the strengths of traditional Asian brush strokes with vector art, photo imagery, and the imprint of his palm forming the sub composition of the art piece.

“I created this for Tiger Translate, to celebrate its 75th year anniversary. Pop art you can call it … it’s a perceived imagery of someone behind the wheel when he’s high on alcohol, a higher state of consciousness, the fusion of lights, colors and speed. But definitely not to promote drink driving here!”

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Nicholas Chu, Director and Ken Minehan, Director of Photography

The Ten Commandments have proven to be a very durable subject matter in the history of filmmaking. In 1923, Cecil B. De Mille directed a silent movie based on the Biblical story. In 1988, Polish director Krzysztof Kieslowski created his amazing ten-part masterpiece, The Decalogue, and just last year, American director, David Wain, released an anthology comedy assembling ten short vignettes, each based on one of the ten commandments.

This year, ten local budding film directors will unleash their creativity on the theme in a 100 minute anthology, titled Dystopia. The film will comprise ten separate ten minute segments, in which each of the directors tackles one of the Biblical commandments, adding their own style variation and personal flavor.

Culturepush nabs an interview with one of the directors, the talented Nicholas Chu.

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THE DESIGN

Meet Devil Qi, Ziqi’s first toy cum keychain in 3-D form. I’m not sure why, but I’m in love with this plushy little creature.

“Monster Little is a world where anyone and everyone is a monster. One of my characters, Mackey, was featured in “Pictoplasma - The Character Encyclopaedia”. I also had some bunnies chosen for the “Pictoplasma – The Essence of Rabbits” project. Devil Qi is one of my main characters in the Monster Little world. It is also my first character to enter 3D, and more will follow. This has really inspired me a lot and I will continue to work hard to turn, if possible, all my Monster Little characters into toys.”

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THE DESIGN

What do you get when you mix an eye-catching aesthetic, national love and fascination with mythical legends? Good-looking artsy tees designed by Reza Hasni aka Misfitsville.

“I love building and creating new characters from Singaporean myths and folklore, so my tee-shirt designs are all about these mythical legends with a modern twist. This developed into playing around with the names of certain places in Singapore. For example, I have an emotional attachment to Bukit Batok (which translates to coughing hills in Malay) and the memories I have of a particular street or place in Bukit Batok has influenced my tee-shirt designs.”

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THE DESIGN

Designer buttons sewn onto yarns, feather butterflies and faceted glass strung up with brass chains, copper charms combined with rich leather. It’s these sort of juxtapositions—hard with soft, fanciful with romantic—that define Elaine Pang’s line of consummately crafted jewelry.

“My love for nature sees me seeking inspiration in my accessories - the vital life lines that nourish, feed and anchor all plants to mother earth. They twist and turn deep into the ground, intertwining with each other to form delicate patterns …. which I try to recreate in my jewelry. I have always enjoyed experimenting with fashion accessories, utilizing different materials and techniques to create wearable art with alternative styles to what is available in the market.”

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Banner: startdrawing in green website.

startdrawing in GREEN is a project initiated by startdrawing.org, a web resource portal for Asian artists, founded by Josef Lee and Sam Lay. The project kicked off in June last year and was initially named ’startdrawing for LIVE EARTH’, inspired by the Live Earth concert. “We wanted to do our part in spreading the ‘green’ message and hence started this campaign to get artists -or even non-artists- to draw something in green. Our aim was to collect the most number of green drawings and set a world record,” says Josef.

The project was recently rebranded startdrawing in GREEN to disassociate it from Live Earth. “We are looking at injecting new life into the project,” Josef explains. “As of now, submissions are closed. However, we are looking at doing an exhibition or collecting the works into a publication. Once our new plans are finalized, we will definitely look into getting new submissions to increase our collection of ‘green’ drawings.”

A total of thirty four countries have participated in the project, rounding up nearly one hundred and fifty green artworks by more than one hundred artists, including a nice selection of Singaporean talents. All participating artists have their work featured on the startdrawing in GREEN site, so make sure to hop on down for the full run down.

We picked four entries from Singapore and found out what inspired the inspirational.

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THE ART

Click image for full view.

kenfoo is best known for his comics, but he also has some fascinating artwork. His drawing titled ‘Innocence Lost’ is gloriously executed with brilliant expressions, and is a playful reflection of today’s societal anarchy.

“Innocence Lost is about today’s world, where countries strive for a better economic existence for its people. But it’s also about the degradation of the lower social class that struggles for its livelihood. The worst hit of all, are of course, the growing younger generation. Without moral support and guidance, with a poor environment that is sometimes made worse by war, most of these children will grow up having little or no education at all. Left to the dreary and sluggish lives of adults and parents who do not set the right example, and more often than not, give little care and affection to their children, the innocence of these youths will soon be corrupted as they turn to a life of wandering the streets and making do with what they can to survive its harshness and bitter reality.”

“I am trying to depict a period in time where the kids are just about to lose what’s left of their innocence. Soon sex, drugs and crime will open its doors to them. I see beauty in such plights … the way people struggle with what seems like a wretched existence. I feel ashamed at times of somewhat exploiting such misery even though this is a type of ‘beauty’ in life which I appreciate through compassion. I feel it is through ‘knowing’ and ‘identifying’ hardships that we are able to learn about life.”

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THE ART

The Fiction We Live is part of a project by Yi Lin Juliana Ong (aka Juls) titled ‘Inasmuch as Incidentally Including all the Inconsistent and Incomprehensible Instantaneous Insatiable Insanity of Indispensable Indulgences.’

The piece contains a collection of daily journal entries with random thoughts of fabricated events and actual situations. Juls explains, “Insisting dissimilarities between two or more distant ‘realities’, questions the ever so cliché theme of what reality is and perhaps an earnest stand for insanity being the cure for living. It reminds us that the world is ours to live in any stories we want to and truth isn’t all that matters. A play with typography and line-works as divisions in the white space on paper simply enhances the visual pleasure graphically to question the need for such indulgences.”

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One of my favorite discoveries when I moved to Singapore in 2003 was alternative rock act, B-Quartet. I haven’t checked in on the boys for a while, but it looks like I swung back by just in time, since they are set to launch their debut full-length ‘Tomorrow Is Our Permanent Address’.

According to the press release, the album promises to put a stronger emphasis on song craft over instrumental pyrotechnics. Incorporating electronic elements into their usual jumble of jazz, alternative rock and pop, the band blends Bani Haykal’s poetry with its love for soft-loud dynamics and sharply tuned melodies.

Listen to the stream of Disp rs, courtesy of Aging Youth Records, and then try to resist buying the album.

BOOKMARK THIS!

2 February, 8pm: Album launch at The Playden. Charge: $16.00 (pre-sale), $22.00 (at the door). Email enquiries@agingyouth.com for pre-sale tickets.

‘Tomorrow is our Permanent Address’ is available from EarShot Cafe, Gramophone, Roxy Records, Sembawang Music Centre and Straits Records.

Kaiqun Chun is a young artist who attempts to expand an aesthetic consciousness based on joy, pleasure and phenomenological knowledge. He engages in various artforms and recently started his own Mail Art Project, titled Unfinished Adventures.

Kaiqun ‘briefly’ explains what his project is about …

“…. it’s about reviving the curiosity in people. As children we come into the world with curious eyes and see wonders in the most surprising places and the miraculous within the very mundane. Unfortunately this feeling gets conditioned out of us by culture, by experience and by conformity. There is a part in everyone that desires to get back to an instinctive approach in experiencing the world.”

“…. but it is also about the desire to make interesting or special objects for another person. There is a need for more intimate and creative communication amongst people. We are all using emails, text messages, etc. Sometimes this style of communicating feels passive and distanced. In the past, I collected many music posters from all over, the anticipation for it to travel halfway round the globe and the excitement when you finally have the artwork in your hands is something I enjoy a lot. So I think I can recreate this kind of experience or process through this project.”

“… but most of all, it’s about having fun. I don’t think one should expect to gain from submitting a work, sometimes it goes nowhere, depending on how committed I am. It can be amateurish, but it doesn’t matter. I mean the world is entirely utilitarian, everything is based on a cost-benefit analysis, it can be pleasurable to free yourself from this nature of sense-making sometimes.”

“…. oh, and on a personal note, I also take it as a motivation for me to keep making more artwork. For every artwork I receive, I respond with one of my artworks.”

There is no dateline for submissions … “maybe in six months. I really don’t know how it will grow …”, Kaiqun says. “I am planning to organize a small exhibition once I have gathered enough works and all entries will be documented on my website.”

Feel inspired? Head to Kaiqun’s website to check out the details.

I’m Keith Png. In April 2007, I started my own design company KOOPS, providing customisation, made to measure, exclusive collection and uniform services. KOOPS has since dressed celebrities like Fann Wong, Zoe Tay, Taiwanese Supermodel Lin Chi Ling and many others and has been appointed as the exclusive design company for the Scottish label, Lyle & Scott (vintage line).

BOOKMARK THIS!

Keith will be opening his first shop which promises to be an exciting retail experience with a variety of services and products available in a two storey charismatic shop house. MORE »

Little Naughty Nigel is a self-published book written by Matthew Phillips and illustrated by Michelle Lin. It is an almost true story about a boy who is always in trouble with his mum and dad. One fine day, in the middle of the night, Little Naughty Nigel discovers what it feels like to be on the other end of mischief …

Author Matthew Phillips works as a Creative Group Head for an advertising agency and has lived in Singapore for the past 11 years. Originally from Manchester, England, he now calls Singapore home. “Since the arrival of my first son, Oliver, I was on the look out for books that allowed me, as a parent, to help my children learn and discover in a fun and memorable way as part of their bedtime story sessions. Sadly there weren’t many books of this nature to be found, so I improvised and used my creativity to develop imaginary characters based on real life situations and the behavior of my kids during that particular day, never making it obvious I was referring to them. Sitting on the edge of my son’s bed, Little Naughty Nigel came to life. An improvised story that was requested every night for a week. It was eventually committed to paper, and the idea to write a book was born.”

Illustrator, Michelle Lin is an Art director whose works have been featured in international publications and her illustrations commissioned for editorials and events. “Graduating from the London school of Communications, my stay in London flourished my passion for illustration. Living with a flatmate that was an illustration major, I picked up the habit of sketching in cafés, parks and on train journeys.” Little Naughty Nigel is Michelle’s debut as a children’s book illustrator. She takes a lot of her influences from children books of the 1950s, looking into classics by Maurice Sendak, Ann and Paul Rand and Olle Eksell.

GIVEAWAY! We have one goody bag of Little Naughty Nigel merchandise up for grabs. Included in the loot are a copy of the book, postcards and a set of pins. Shoot an email with your address to Michele. Go!

Update: We have a winner!

Little Naughty Nigel will be available from all major bookstores as of 12 January.

Yolk recently launched Hardboiled,  a free bi-monthly online magazine concerning social problems and the depletion of our physical and cultural environment through commercialization.  The magazine will provide a medium for interacting with the broader social activist communities.

Chief Editor ‘Ain Aid, “Hardboiled is centred as an ecological and social medium with the aim to create social awareness between humans and their environment. It offers incisive articles revolving around philosophy and global activist commentary concerning issues ranging from genetically modified food to child labour. We aim to provide means of shaping the image and activities of the global network of artists, activists, writers, pranksters, students, educators and entrepreneurs who want to advance the new social activist movement of the information age. We want a world in which the economy and ecology resonate in balance. We try to coax people from spectator to participant in this quest. We want folks to get angry about corporate disinformation, injustices in the global economy, and any industry that pollutes our physical or mental commons.”