Hi Everyone! We are team Shingaporu and for this project, we are working on a landscape digital painting as part of the celebration for Singapore and Japan to commemorate the 50th anniversary which is happening right here right now.

sj50 logo STB_Joint-Tourism-Logo

Claim

Commemorating the 50th anniversary of Japan-Singapore diplomatic relationship. That is the reason why we combine Japanese traditional aspect (folded screen) with modern landscape of Singapore. We feel that not many people know about this ongoing special celebration, hence this visual response might serve more than just a display but an informative artwork.

 

Artist Statement:

2016 celebrates the 50th anniversary of Singapore’s diplomatic relationship with Japan since 1966, a year after Singapore gained independence. Singapore’s history with Japan goes way back to the Japanese Occupation during World War II. Fortunately, our relationship with Japan has improved over the years and is still ever growing. This artwork is a response to this strong relationship as well as to celebrate and increase the appreciation for the ongoing celebration for the 50th Anniversary of Singapore-Japan diplomatic relations.

Shingaporu consists of the modern landscape of Singapore and Japan. The seasons are a prominent subject matter in traditional japanese screen paintings and they represent a cycle and the passing of time. The images go back and forth to signify the relationship between similar features in both the Singapore and Japanese landscapes. This artwork embodies four aspects of time – day and night, past and present. The foregrounds of each landscape to represent the past, and the backgrounds to represent the present. The “foreground of the past” consists of torn old paper texture, each country’s iconic flower and one of the oldest iconic place. Then, as we look far into the present and the future, we see the background of today’s cityscape. This way, we are able to keep traditional taste of Japanese screen painting despite using modern medium.

 Shingaporu is made in a way that when viewers move in a direction that is parallel to the artwork, they would be able to experience a change in the landscape: from Japan to Singapore, and vice versa. There would also be a moment where two landscapes intersect and exist on the same plane side by side, which symbolizes the close bond between the two countries.

As we learn to appreciate both the city and nature, we must also come to understand the rich history of our countries. While doing so, we will then be able to celebrate these wonderful events and look forward to the future.

 

Screen Shot 2016-04-15 at 2.02.50 PM

 

Group Members: Darren Ho Jian Hunt, Feliciana, Sarah and Isabella Tong

Title of artwork: Shingaporu

Size: 6 A4 and folded to make an anamorphic art style

Medium: Digital Painting plus filter to make it look like a Screen Painting

Job Allocation:

Darren Ho Jian Hunt – Digital Artist for Singapore Landscape painting

Feliciana: Concept Artist plus Final Touchup

Isabella Tong: Digital Artist for Japan Landscape painting

Sarah: Researcher, Writer and Planner

 

Research and Reference: Four Seasons With Sun and Moon in National Museum Of Singapore

Screen Shot 2016-04-14 at 2.14.04 AMScreen Shot 2016-04-14 at 2.14.16 AM

Visual Analysis

  • Both screens have subject matters of nature and landscape: trees in different seasons, hills and valleys ‘framing’ the trees, grass, flowers.
  • Golden frame.
  • Each screen is divided into 2 ‘scenery’. First image: winter (L) with its white snow on the leaves, autumn (R) with red falling leaves, and both are during the day because the tone is bright. Second image: Summer (L) with barren land and withered plant, spring (R) with baby plants, blooming flowers and grass, and both are during the night because there is circular moon at the top side of the painting

Visual Response Idea

  • The digital painting of Singapore modern landscape.
  • Might include famous landmarks, buildings and places such as Merlion, Marina Bay Sands, Singapore Flyer, Buddha Tooth Relic Temple, Esplanade Theatre and many more.
  • Nature’s element presented in the painting: rain forest trees, orchids, or other plants which are present in Singapore.
  • The painting can be folded, just like Japanese screen

 

What else is being done for the celebrations

http://www.sg.emb-japan.go.jp/events_SJ50PA_Schedule.htm

  • There are several events being held in Singapore throughout the entire year to celebrate this joyous event. Events that include food, Artwork, Travel Fair etc. Follow the link to get more details on the different events.

 

Are all the celebrations about let’s forget the past and focus on the present and the future

http://www.cnbc.com/2015/12/30/sg30-sequel-singapore-japan-to-launch-sj50-to-celebrate-bilateral-ties.html

  • From the article, we read that,

“During World War II, when Japan occupied Singapore, thousands of Singaporeans were killed for being “anti-Japanese” or for being “Chinese sympathizers.” 

But there has been a sea change in relations since the 1945 end of the occupation. The countries launched diplomatic relations in 1966 – a year after Singapore gained its independence – and in the 1970s Japan became Singapore’s largest foreign investor and trading partner. The Lion City was also the first country to sign a free-trade agreement with Japan in 2002.”

To conclude, we can tell that the relationship between Singapore and Japan is ever growing and are going stronger as years goes by.

 

Why is the painting folded into anamorphic style and its function

  • Our artwork is such that when the viewer moves in a direction that is parallel to the artwork, they would be able to experience a change in the landscape (from singapore to japan, and vice versa). While moving, there would also be a moment where the two landscapes intersect and exist on the same plane. This symbolises the relationship between the two countries. Furthermore, the artwork when viewed from the front can be seen as a combined landscape of singapore and japan.
  • Since japanese screen paintings usually come in pairs, we played along with that idea. Our artwork can be seen as two separate screens but they exists as one single screen.

 

Why this medium and how we see the co-releation

  • In relation to our selected artefact, we decided to paint a landscape of the world we live in now. While people used to be surrounded by nature in the past, we now live in a world where we are surrounded by skyscrapers. We intended to show how our landscapes have changed from past in this artwork. The seasons represents a cycle and the passing of time. The seasons has been used to portray the idea of time in our chosen artefact. In our artwork, we plan to do so with our choice of medium while keeping some elements of the original artefact (such as the gold borders, trees and flowers), since the digital medium had not existed in the past.

 

What is it’s size and purpose of the painting

  • The artwork will be printed in 6 A4 styles and pasted plus folded in a way to make it into a larger size printing to bring out the sort of impact to the audience. The printing can either be a banner to mark the Anniversary or can be used as a brochure for people to realise the existence of the relationship.

 

Process

 

Sketches

20160413124334

Singapore Landscape Painting

20160413124405

Japan Landscape Painting
20160413124332

Added on brown paper filter

Screen Shot 2016-04-14 at 3.47.38 AM Screen Shot 2016-04-14 at 3.47.49 AM

Inserting it on A3 Template and Added a Font Title

Screen Shot 2016-04-14 at 3.42.26 AM

Final

IMG_0255 IMG_0256

Singapore Landscape                      Japan Landscape

IMG_0257

IMG_0265

 

Reflection:

When we were first briefed on the project, we had a hard time deciding which topic to choose since we all researched different topics for our group presentation and research paper. So, we started off by finding common strengths and interests which led us to do a digital painting response to a Japanese screen painting. Initially, our message behind our artwork was not clear and we weren’t quite sure on how to go about doing it. Coincidentally, Feli came across an installation that commemorated the 50th diplomatic relationship between Singapore and Japan at the airport. It was a blessing, i would say! We did some research and found out that this year marks 50 years of the good ties with Japan so, we decided to use this opportunity to create something in celebration of this occasion.

While trying to come up with the final artwork, we found it difficult to find a way to link the two countries and to express their relationship. Again, thanks to Darren who happened to come across an exhibition that inspired the format of our final piece. It was a great solution to the problem we were facing! Before, we had to change the subject matter and composition of our piece a couple of times, but none of them seemed to work as well. All we had left to do was to digitally paint, edit and print out the final artwork. Sarah supported us by helping with the research and the writing of the artist statement.

I would not have been able to come up with these amazing ideas and the final artwork alone. I would like to thank my wonderful group mates for fulfilling their roles efficiently despite having finals and other deadlines to meet. This project provided me with new insights about both what we have learnt in class and the world around us. It prompts me to look at things from a different perspective and how to apply it to my art. I’ve definitely gained a lot from this project!

 

Presentation slides in PDF format

AH Last Assignment.pptx.compressed

 

Blibiography:

  • Crawcour, Sydney. “The Journal of Japanese Studies.” The Journal of Japanese Studies 27.1 (2001): 194-97. Web. 3 Apr. 2016.
  • “Momoyama Period (1573–1615) | Essay | Heilbrunn Timeline Of Art History | The Metropolitan Museum Of Art”. 2002. The Met’S Heilbrunn Timeline Of Art History. https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/momo/hd_momo.htm.
  • “New ‘Star Wars’ Characters Rendered In Style Of Japanese Rimpa Art School | The Japan Times”. 2015. The Japan Times. http://www.japantimes.co.jp/culture/2015/11/30/entertainment-news/new-star-wars-characters-rendered-in-style-of-japanese-rimpa-art-school/#.VvIMOBJ96Ho.
  • “Partition And Screen Paintings (Shoheiga)”. 2016. Web-Japan.Org. Accessed March 21. http://web-japan.org/museum/byobu/byobu.html.
  • “Screen / Painting”. 1965. British Museum. http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=782965&partId=1&searchText=sun+and+moon+four+seasons&images=true&page=1http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=782965&partId=1&searchText=sun+and+moon+four+seasons&images=true&page=1.
  • http://www.cnbc.com/2015/12/30/sg30-sequel-singapore-japan-to-launch-sj50-to-celebrate-bilateral-ties.html
  • http://www.sg.emb-japan.go.jp/events_SJ50PA_Schedule.htm

The semester and our first year is about to come to an end, and what better way to conclude than with a zine that summarises our journey in foundation 2D!

The title “Unplanned, Unlimited, Untitled” is how i would describe my foundation year in three words. Unplanned – when i first came into adm feeling confused, not knowing what to do, and still wondering if i made the right choice to be here. Unlimited – While thinking of ideas for projects, i must not limit myself. Mistakes are good. Untitled – Looking forward to the following years here and beyond. The future is like a new artwork without a title yet. For the front and back cover, i wanted to keep it relatively simple. I used the pattern i made in photoshop across the spread and placed a strip of the contrasting colour and the right most third of the front cover. Utilising the rule of third, I placed the title at the bottom right corner. Mirroring the front cover, i placed my name and social media details at the lower left corner of the back cover.

Screen Shot 2016-04-11 at 9.29.06 pm

Using the same pattern from the cover, i placed a semicircle in the top middle portion of this spread to draw the viewer’s attention to it first. This will guide the viewer’s eyes in an anti-clockwise direction, starting from the semicircle. Following, the brightly coloured title “Enter at your own risk” and onto the images of my rhyme project. Then, the text and the little doodle on the right page. I also added a solid colour strip at the bottom third of the spread to mimic the cover page and keeping the colour scheme consistent.

Screen Shot 2016-04-11 at 9.29.13 pm

The slant at the top right corner of this spread would hopefully guide the viewer’s eyes along the title that slants in the same direction. I replicated the butterfly wings from my typographic portrait project onto the top of the spread to add texture and rhythm. Again, keeping the theme of my zine consistent, i reused the pattern, this time placing it at the left most third of the left page, a direct reflection of the cover page. By blowing up one of the images and keeping the rest small, i would be able to create emphasis and the viewer would be able to focus on the bigger one first before moving on to looking at the smaller ones.

Screen Shot 2016-04-11 at 9.29.21 pm

This spread has a similar layout to the first spread, this time the viewer’s eyes are guided in a clockwise direction. Starting from the semicircle at the bottom, to the title, to the biggest two images, to the text and finally to the four smaller images on the side. I added speech bubbles here and there for a little touch of fun and playfulness.

 

Printed version:

This concludes my zine project and foundation 2d! I would like to thank Shirley for giving me great advice during the course of this semester. 🙂

Building onto the idea of a narrative, i thought my zine needed a heroine. So, i went on and started doodling. I came up with some characters that i will use throughout my zine to make it more cohesive since i’ll be using past works and they are all very different. I thought this would be a good way to somehow tie in all my works together.

me me4 me5

With the doodle, i made a pattern in photoshop to use for my zine.

pattern1

While working on the spreads, i thought it would be interesting to add some elements from comics into my design. Thus, I incorporated speech bubbles and handwriting type fonts.

The text for my zine would be as though i’m telling a story from a third person perspective. Basically describing how i felt when i first came into adm and foundation 2d class, how i felt when i worked on all the projects throughout this module, and how i felt after all of this.

Screen Shot 2016-04-11 at 9.29.06 pm

The lesson Shirley held for Indesign was really helpful for me since i was a beginner at this software. To put what i’ve learnt into practice, I used some of those techniques here as well!

See my next post for the final outcome!

I was pretty excited for this project. Firstly because i get to learn how to use a new software – InDesign. I’m always looking forward to learning new skills! And also because this would be the last project for foundation 2D! This project was also a great chance to consolidate what i’ve done and learnt.

The main theme for my zine is my experience in foundation 2D and ADM as a whole. From the start, I wanted my zine to have some sort of a narrative. So i started by looking for some inspiration.

I decided to go with something a bit more playful, nothing too serious.

Group members: Darren, Feli, Sarah, Isabella

Topic: Nihonga Japanese Screen Painting

Chosen Artifact

Four Seasons with Sun and Moon, as seen in the National Museum of Singapore, “Treasures from the British Museum”.

Visual Analysis

  • Both screens have subject matters of nature and landscape: trees in different seasons, hills and valleys ‘framing’ the trees, grass, flowers.
  • Golden frame.
  • Each screen is divided into 2 ‘scenery’. First image: winter (L) with its white snow on the leaves, autumn (R) with red falling leaves, and both are during the day because the tone is bright. Second image: Summer (L) with barren land and withered plant, spring (R) with baby plants, blooming flowers and grass, and both are during the night because there is circular moon at the top side of the painting

Contextual Analysis

  • Sun represents the male yang, moon represents the female yin
  • The way of yin and yang (‘Onmyodo’) in the religious context
  • Yang also represents brightness/light while yin represents darkness.
  • The four seasons is a common subject matter in japanese paintings. It represents a full cycle and the passing of time. Expressing a transition.

Visual Response Idea

  • The digital painting of Singapore modern landscape.
  • Might include famous landmarks, buildings and places such as Merlion, Marina Bay Sands, Singapore Flyer, Buddha Tooth Relic Temple, Esplanade Theatre and many more.
  • Nature’s element presented in the painting: rain forest trees, orchids, or other plants which are present in Singapore.
  • The painting can be folded, just like Japanese screens

Claim

Commemorating the 50th anniversary of Japan-Singapore diplomatic relationship. That is the reason why we combine Japanese traditional aspect (folded screen) with modern landscape of Singapore. We feel that not many people know about this ongoing special celebration, hence this visual response might serve more than just a display but an informative artwork.