Waves,
acrylic on canvas, 1983
Red
Frequency Waves, acrylic on canvas, 1985
Rising
waves on 2P, acrylic on canvas, 1988
Blue
is the colour of the sky and the sea. It is the colour of health, healing and
tranquility.
In
my Wave series, I explore the forms and hues of water waves, radically
simplifying their shapes into flat, vaguely sinusoidal lines.
The
early beginnings of the Wave series saw the systematic study of monochromatic
hues of blue, with the contrast between lighter and darker tones delineating
one waveform from the next. These waveforms are deconstructed into similar
units tessellated against each other to give rise to a lateral and vertical
movement reminiscent of the rhythm of ocean waves. Despite the vastness of the
ocean, my aim in creating the Wave series is not to depict the ocean in all its
glory, but to study it, it’s form, it’s motion, and the rhythm it produces. Therefore,
I have created a thin border of similar shape to the canvas as a ‘barrier’ to
stop the waveforms from visually propagating further beyond the canvas. With this
small section of waves created, I can now focus on the precise geometric study
of their form
Critics
have responded that these abstract geometrical paintings are entirely
non-representational, the idea of waves are clearly predominant in this series.
These waves are significant in the context of Singapore as a developing port.
Water is as essential to our physical survival as the economic growth of our
nation. Without our strategic geographical location, Singapore would not have
been able to use the sea as a medium for our rapidly growing trading port. As such,
my aim was to explore connections and disconnections between the
representational and the abstraction of reality, which I have successfully done
so with the Wave series.
Later
works in the Wave series see a gradual departure from the entirely monochromatic
and the rectilinear, giving way to less restricted curvilinear forms, and the
introduction of hues other than the analogous.