Squatri
Purma, Acrylic on canvas, 1970
“Shaped
Canvas” (Kite) series
Since
my return from Britain, I have deviated from the traditional Nanyang ideologies
of which I had been trained in. Further studies in Britain have exposed me to
an entirely new world of aesthetics that are rooted in Abstract Expressionism.
The
first works that depict this are the works in my ‘Kite’ (or Shaped Canvas)
series, where I have abandoned the use of the traditional rectangular format of
canvas in favour of more unorthodox configurations. (Did you guess it from my
previous post?)
My
focus in doing this is to remove the association of paintings to doorways to
other worlds. As seen from the landscape paintings emblematic of pioneer
Nanyang artists, or the skillful depictions of the natural world from the Old
Masters, paintings traditionally bear much resemblance to the world we exist
in. The naturalistic depiction of scenes in these paintings then influences the
viewer to believe he could simply step into these paintings and be part of the
image. I wish to eradicate this notion with the Kite series.
The
shaped canvas skews our perceptions of the image, with the canvas nostalgic of
physical objects that exist in our world. The painting then exists as an item,
rather than a pathway to another dimension, retaining the viewer in this world.
Furthermore,
my delving into precision-based geometric shapes has removed all notion of
substantial depth behind the canvas. In Squatri Purma, I have employed strips
of solid colour, in varying tones of pink, juxtaposing and setting them against
one another to form rotated squares, delineated from each other. These squares
contain within them, smaller squares, created by the directional change of
these horizontal strips of solid colour. The prevalent horizontal directing
strips of delineated colours create a sense of movement and rhythm across the
plane surface of the canvas, implying minimal depth into the plane. The canvas
then exists in harmony with the wall it is displayed on, wall and cavas
becoming one flat surface, preventing the viewer from entering the depth of the
painting.