Prior to the exhibition, we were spinning quite busy with all the preps, including visiting the artist's studio to check out their new works.
Well, we took on the lovely opportunity to throw some questions about their artworks...;
The questions were;
1. What is pop art to you. Do you consider yourself an pop artist?
2. How do you choose your theme? Why? How did it start?
3. What is your personal interest?
4. What is artmaking to you?
5. What do you find inspiring?
6. What are you trying to transpire from the current collection?
(The answer by each artists given are written in rather frank manners but that does not mean that they are blunt, it is just the writing.)
Safaruddin:
1. What is pop art to you. Do you consider yourself an pop artist?
No, not really pop art, no specific genre.. Pop art, to me is a mere inspiration I go through. I still do get inspired by pop art, graphic arts and such.
People ask me if I'm a pop artist, if I say no, then they ask why why why why? Then I'd say yes, but that's it. I like graphic art, because there's no such thing as traditional digital arts.
2. How do you choose your theme? Why? How did it start?
My works have always been of nostalgia, about places, buildings, popular icons, things I grew up with. It actually started from when I was in school. It's about little sense of displacement. Singapore is not a big place, but despite the size, it's always changing. Not just the people, but physical landscape as well. I'm interested in such objects.
3. What is your personal interest?
I'm interested in things that makes me happy. My artwork is archiving, and documentation of my happy times. The things I like about pop art is that prior to that the access to art was limited. But when pop art came along into the scene, it granted access to art for everyone.
4. What is artmaking to you?
Making happy factor, and working on passion and living.
5. What are you trying to transpire from the current collection?
To deliver the happiness, and to make artwork that triggers viewer's older memory. Building as a theme, is like pimping them, giving them a make over.. The look of the place that I've never been there before but feels that it changed a lot over the time, doesn't seem like it's there anymore. It's like trying to immortalize the moment.
Then, moving on to Andre:
1. What is pop art to you. Do you consider yourself an pop artist?
Contemporary artist, rather than pop art. Because pop art is influenced by popular culture. Pop art is something I come across with before he transpire into the own artworks.
2. How do you choose your theme? Why? How did it start?
It's something I like. The hero paintings of putting historical figure against fictional cartoon character is my creation of new platform. How you see the relations between these characters, are up to you.
Is Mao a hero to you?
It is not up to me to tell whether he's a hero or not, it's something I kind of grew up with, just his historical figure. I think Ghandi is a hero though.
3. Personal Interest?
Well, not sure. Painting, I suppose.
Whatever I'm interested in, I start working on it, and the outcome is product is always the paintings.
4. What do you find inspiring?
Warhol, cultural magazine, music, movie. Like cover of music CD and records.
It's how you take the elements off the visual images and work into your own painting.
5. What are you trying to transpire from the current collection?
Not sure!
Process of questioning...idealization of idea...
Will definitely be asking audiences the definition of hero? Who's your hero? What do you idolize?
Well, that is quite nice insight into artists' works.
How you connect artist' saying with actual artworks is up to you.. :)
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