Telok Ayer, developing a zine

After touring Telok Ayer for two days, I really wanted to base my zine either on the old and new architecture in Telok Ayer, or the ornamental nature of the Temples and shop houses.

However, it soon became quite prominent that those ideas were more common then I thought. Hence, I decided on my second trip that i would start looking around the surrounding areas of Telok Ayer, specifically Amoy Street as it still has the ‘old historic’ look that echos Telok Ayer.

It became even more prominent that the harder I looked for something unique to echo Telok Ayer street, the more difficult it became. There is not much left of the Historical Dock that used to be there. Rather, the iconic shop houses were made new, painted in various shades of colour, the shops now catered international food like Korean barbecue, Thai food, western, and various bars. The temples had self inserted gift shops and some became museums, or hotel fronts in attempt to preserve the building.

In its own way it is interesting, to see how much has changed. However, with the brief in mind, to ‘portray the essence of the street’ it seems my street is giving me a run for my money. Everything that makes Telok Ayer Iconic, I feel, is the same thing that makes another place iconic. I see shop houses along Chinatown and Little India. I see Ann Siang hill and Telok Ayer green, as small inserts of green spaces common found in every other place. Bars are iconic for places like Clarke Quay, and the restaurants there are no longer serving local food.

I would describe the place as commercialized, or a Hodge-Podge of things put together in an attempt to make use of the space.

Hence I went about thinking about making a Zine that reflects this confusion that I felt for Telok Ayer, and an idea that revolved around the temple narrative. Ultimately the temple narrative got rejected, because i felt that it might be too in literal.

I still wanted to insert the intricate designs of the temples and shop houses, but to keep the graphic element of the illustration, I decided to minimalise the style into flat planes with a single coloured shading.

I made a list of what elements I wanted in the art work:

  • Telok Ayer Green, the randomly inserted park, with statues of fisherman of the past. It feels like a tourism spot, but a tourism spot to chance upon? it is honestly not very well known place. I asked my friends if they knew where Telok Ayer is, only one response came back positive, and he said he went there to drink.
  • Ann Siang Hill, actually placed at the corner of Amoy Street, it feels a bit colonial walking up the hill. It felt out of place when you think of this unchanging place called Telok Ayer
  • The surrounding Temples how they are still being preserved
  • Fuk Tak Chi Temple which became a museum or door front for Amoy Street Hotel, coexistence of old and new.
  •  The food revolves mostly around bars and restaurants for internationl food. It rarely reflects the traditional food that Telok Ayer had in the past.
  • The shop houses which are so iconic to Telok Ayer, we see almost everywhere else like in Chinatown, Little India, etc. They were also modernised and upgraded with aircon vents and elecrical boxes, which makes for quite an interesting sight.
  • There is a mosque, Al Abrar Mosque, which I felt was very isolated. I went there close to chinese new year, hence the temples were bustling with people, compared to that the mosque was quite and quite isolated. I wanted to go in but did not. It did not feel right of me to enter. i want to illustrate that sort of quiet, isolated feeling.
  • There was also a heritage center there that was closed, i like the aesthetic of it though. It was a very interesting contrast in comparison to the temples.

I began to sketch what I felt represented these aspects of Telok Ayer digitally.

I managed to get a really good shot of the pagoda that I felt reflects how Telok Ayer is. Its buildings rarely change, as it is being preserved for the culture aspect, but its surroundings does. hence i created this sort of digital aesthetic to the skyscrapers, which look as though it has been edited into old ‘Telok Ayer’.

I also wanted to illustrate the food in Telok Ayer.

I had realised, walking down the streets of Telok Ayer is that most eateries there are either Cafes, Bars or restaurants that cater Korean food, Thai Food, International food, basically it no longer reflects ‘traditional Singapore’.

Image result for mc escher tessellations

(Source is taken from: https://www.wikiart.org/en/m-c-escher/bird-fish)

I wanted to create a sort of food patter which encompasses the variety of the street, like what M.C Escher does with his textiles as seen above. I wanted this sort of overwhelmingly compact illustration.

However, it was ultimately ruled out due to the difference in style. So I went with a more food wallpaper style, with cute illustrations of food on it.

 

Image result for food wallpaper

(Source taken from: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/540572761507280597/)

However, it did not tie with the cover image as well. So I made a compromise.

Following the previous image, I had the ‘newer’ products drawn with lines, as though it were digitally add into the environment. That way there is this somewhat cohesiveness to the art style. Meanwhile the ‘traditional treats’ or food items that were used in the past but maybe not in that way are coloured in, showing that they had existed already.

Related image

(Source taken from:  https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ann_Siang_Hill_Park_2,_Dec_05.JPG)

I also had the chance to wander around the streets nearby, and I was quite amazed by how the image of a place can change so easily from one street to another. Walking about Ann Siang hill was like walking in a colonial inspired park like Fort Canning, which would not have been place here till recently, seeing as Telok Ayer was more a Chinese settlement in the past, or a place for docking. Thus i wanted to show how the place seemed to new aesthetic wise, among the traditional shop house structures.

Following the similar aesthetic of the previous images I came up with this.

Subsequently, I started looking at Telok Ayer green which is like a self insert modern park in a small part of history. Though it was more of an attempt of tourist attraction with all these statues of the Chinese migrants of that time.

From there I created two illustrations:

 

I attempted to stay close to the geometric lines as a connecting theme in my work, but i felt maybe i did not do too good of a job at that.

Subsequently, i moved onto the shop houses, wanting to illustrate them in an ‘upgraded’ manner, with the glass windows and air con vents.

Finally came the temple, where we see even less of the geometric lines.

I think this image was the most interesting to work with, despite having one of the least cohesiveness to its image. I liked the interesting cropping, and so did many of my classmates when they gave me feedback.

Overall, I think I could have done better aesthetic wise if I had more time, because right now, the illustrations look as though they had more potential to be even more cohesive.

The Day that Cardillacs Stands up

Artwork Review

(Source taken from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cadillac_Ranch#/media/File:Cadillac_Ranch.jpg)

Title: Cadillac Ranch

Artist: Chip Lord

Year created: 1974/1994

Medium: Installation

Overview

Cadillac Ranch is an installation of 10 Cadillac’s buried nose deep in a line, in the dirt along route 66 west of Amarillo.

Its almost as if they were droven off a cliff and plunged head first into the ground. Now useless, the owners wander off looking for help and the Cadillacs lay, left there buried with their tailfins in the air waiting for travellers to chance upon it.

After awhile, the work was subjugated to the whims of the travellers, meaning they were either defaced with graffitti or ripped apart as souvenirs. Whats left of these cars are but a line of rainbow coloured skins of their former selves, rebirth into comic relief for a travellers amusement.

Cadillac Fatality.

(Source taken from: https://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/2220)

Ant Farm

As mentioned by Constance Lewallen, in his writing ‘Still Subversive After all These Years’

Ant Farm — a collective of radical architects who were also video, performance, and installation artists but, above all, visionaries and cultural commentators — offers an intriguing look into the conceptual activity of the late sixties and seventies, a time that has proved to be seminal for succeeding generations of adventuresome artists.

Their work embraces ‘the latest technologies to disseminate its scathing criticism of American culture and mass media’.

In the case of the Cadillac Ranch it is a commentary about consumerism and maybe pop culture. What a car and a crashed car is in society. More interestingly is how members of the online communitty take to the idea of a crashed car.

Its almost Ironic, how one can act so indifferent and even gleeful of the idea of chancing upon a crashed car. How satirical their photos get when they interact with the car itself.

Decades have passed. The Cadillacs have now been in the ground as art longer than they were on the road as cars. They are stripped to their battered frames, splattered in day-glo paint splooge, barely recognizable as automobiles. Yet Cadillac Ranch is more popular than ever.

As quoted from roadsideamerica.com

The pink period was one of the most popular.

in an attempt to cover the grafitti

And in a way it is quite interesting as it changes in an unsual way with time.  The artwork evolves with evey added touch of a new tourist own creativity into the mix. It keeps conversations going, give people something new to talk about.

Sources:

  • https://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/2220
  • http://www.stretcher.org/features/still_subversive_after_all_these_years/
  • http://amarillo.com/stories/070404/fea_artbeat.shtml#.WpaDXK6WbIU
  • http://www.spatialagency.net/database/ant.farm
  • https://www.moma.org/collection/works/107284
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cadillac_Ranch
  • https://www.eai.org/titles/cadillac-ranch-1974-1994
  • http://slide.ly/buzz/view/0753e05835bf697ae7eee5b1329f801f

 

When your N̸̰̙̻̖̮̭͚̊͆̑̄͐̉̕̕̕͝í̵̛̫̞͖͇͕̲̤̗̳͈͍̝͋͆̕g̶̡̡̡̛̣̙̹̣̠̳̞̞͉̻̱̓̎̽̈́̂͋͑͌͌͠h̸̨̨̟̺̙̖͉̺͈̻͔̻̱̗̓̏̒̄̍̀̓̾̚ṫ̶͓̠͎̗̞̬̺̟̲̭̀͐̂͆̽̔̒̒̀̇͗́͆́m̷̰͊̆̏̅͋̓̈́́͊͘a̷̢͙̤͇͓͉͇̹̞̯̰͈̮͑͑̃̈͝͠r̵̡̤̰̥͙̝̄͒͂̾̾͑̋̈́͑͌͠ͅe̵̛̼̲͕͖̗͙̝̣̝̍͗͗̓̂͝s̴̱̼͈͇͕̣͍͇̝̍̉͝ Become Reality

Micro-Project 5

So we were playing with G̴͔̘͚̞͚̞͓̭͈͛̓͆̏̈́̅̀͒͂ļ̵̫̓̾́̃̈́́̐͝í̴̢̧̝̰̱̗̰͙̘̖̼̜̪͎t̶̬͓̙̹̊ͅč̷̨̢̜͖̪̪͇̫̼̭̳̎͒̈́̆̈͐͗̂̈́̕̚͝ͅh̸̢̭͈͈̟̖̖̙̱̼̠̝̽̑̇͛͜ͅ ̶̲̠͉̭͍̦͎̬̪̙̣̜́͐͆̎͛̉͑a̶̡̧̟̺͎̫̜̳̗̤̣͎͗͐͂̉̎͛͛́́͐̇̚͜͜͝͝r̵͇͆̓̾̓̈͊̀̅̇̇̓̉ẗ̴̨̡͓̩͎͖̦͎̘̪̟̲̲̬͔́̈́̀͆̀͌̑ Today.

We were asked to edit one group mates image and then save it. Next we pass it to the next group mate to re edit again. the process repeats till everyone has edited the image once.

So my group members edited my image something along the lines of the image below.

Its quite fun actually, defacing  each others pictures, in fact most of them did not look like ourselves after the entire transformation was over. Its more interesting when we don’t look like ourselves anyway.

Ego in Different Setting Process

First I roughly sketched out a few ideas I had in mind in my sketchbook.

(First Box: I guessed I am described as a Chinchilla, I am hyperactive and bounce around a lot.

Second Box: I’m kind of the person that wants to interact with others.

Third Box: But that is kind of when I realize that I’m more of a hermit crab.)

(First Box: There comes a time in every Chinchillas life where they have to answer a text message from an important person.

Second Box: Sending the message is hard work, with a long tiresome vetting process.

Third box: However, receiving the message is far more tiring and frightening for the fragile Chinchilla.)

(First Box: As a Chinchilla you are expected to be a highly active person with many things pile on your plate.

Second Box: But you are not God so it is expected that you would burn out.

2.5 box is the edited image of the scenario supposed to be seen in the second Box.

Third Box: Maybe its time to recharge.

Fourth box is the edited version of the third Box.)

(First Box: As a Cockatoo, I’m a creative birdie that knows how to paint.

Second Box: I create works of art that many people admire and they always ask, “What do they mean?”

Third Box: I rather them believe that the things I do is more innocent than it is.)

(First box: As a cat it is your responsibility to sleep in day in and day out.

Second Box: But sometimes you need to wake up and face the real world.

Third Box: …Nah, maybe in five minutes, or a day…)

(First Box: As a flower I am sweet and innocent, something pretty to see.

Second Box: When facing something scary, there is only two things I can advice you do. The first being ignore it and maybe it will go away.

Third Box: The second is to become more scary than the thing threatening you.

Fourth Box is an edit on the perspective of Box 2.)

(First Box: If I were a tiny Hot Wheels Car.

Second Box: I would stare out my window.

Third Box: And wonder why that hunk of a car does not notice me?)

(Here are the edits for the Hot Wheels panel and the cat panel)

The story line for them were fine, but the perspective that I put them in, in the various scenarios were not too well done, so i sketched out and edited a few panels.

In the end I picked these four.

 

I  went online to see what styles I wanted to portray them in.

I kind of already had an ink and wash idea in my head, sort of illustrative style that is more realistic.

(the above is the works of Kelly Murphy and Karen Haley respectively, I hoped to use this for the Chinchilla and the Cat illustration.)

Subsequently I wanted a sort of comic book style for my fourth panel as it references the transformers comics, but instead I went a semi-realistic, less graphical rendering.

I was referencing Henri Matisse (the first picture) more than Helena Wierzbicki (The second picture) as her work was a bit too colourful.

I like the colours patchy, it suited me more then the smooth blended techniques, and in this case it gives it a bit more edgy feeling to it, a bit more action-like.

The Last style i was referencing was the movie Antz (1998). It had this scene where the ants interacted with humans, and I remembered how foreign looking the humans were to the ants. I wanted to imitate that sort of imagery.

The sort of picture like quality where the humans come from the sky and the plants are down to earth.

So for the first two panels I went ahead and started to ink and wash my illustrations. They came out rather desaturated, so i scanned them in and upped the saturation and contrast.

Some edits were a bit more drastic then others, like changing the cool tones to warm, but I felt that the composition would have looked better in the warm tones then the cooler ones.

Next I went to photograph some flowers at Gardens by the Bay. I needed two flowers one opened and one a closed bud, yet they both have to have the same amount of mass to seem as though the flower was chomping down on it. I finally managed to find two flowers with similar backgrounds and masses to make it seem that they are the same.

Then I edited it to make a foggy back ground and some other ‘special effects’.

Lastly I drew the Hot Wheels toy car on Photoshop.

Hence resulting in this final.

The Chinchilla and the crossroads reflects my everyday mentality of prioritizing what has to be done, something that is relatable to many. The panel was originally a mix of complimentary colours orange, browns and blues. However, it became slightly more monochromatic as I felt it gave the composition a bit more tension, and it is draining/gives the feelings of dread and frustration when looking at it, which was what was supposed to be conveyed.

 

The cat represents this idea of laziness/love for sleep that I have. This panel was done in a monochromatic scale intentionally, to show a sort of simplicity in the nature of sleep. The first and last box were done in warm and bright colours, to create a more positive mood, associated with the desire for sleep. The second box is blue, like Monday blues.

The idea of the flower, kind of represents this ‘weirdness’ that kind of reflects what I am. I was told in Junior College that my humor is dark and hits when everyone least expects it. The panels are three photos that I took and digitally manipulated. I blurred out the backgrounds for the first and last picture, in attempts to make it look the same (Honestly, they were both green, so it did not make much difference after the blurring). Subsequently I added in a picture of my finger and dabbed on some ‘blood’ onto the flower petals (I’m glad this part turned out realistic, if not it would have clashed with the photo). This two were largely make use of the colour green, which brings me to my second panel which uses more blues and pink. The change in colour, gives the second image a sort of ‘foreign’ feel, hence making the human an intruding presence.

This last idea about the Hot Wheels car is a metaphor for my idealistic personality. The way I aim high, but it is out of my league/out of my reach (simply because it does not exist), and sometimes a bit more fantastical. Hence, I wanted to use colours that are a bit more dream-like and unnatural, hence the pastel palette.