Note: The Singapore Biennale 2008 should end on the 16th of November. Check out their website here.Â
Okay, every time I passed Raffles City, I noticed this piece of artwork on the mall.
I thought it was something about psychedelic party thingies or whatever since we were in town in a way and the colours were bright and party-ish. As if the character in the artpiece was enjoying themselves.
What I didn’t notice when I usually passed by was this…
For some reason I only noticed that when I was lamenting the lack of Peppermint Mocha at Starbucks this year. I ALWAYS have a peppermint mocha this time of year!! They replaced it with Dark Cherry… 🙁 Sadness. It was okay but it was not peppermint… And oh right. A bunch of kids were staring through the glass and I was all, “Oooooh… What’s this?”.
And so, I stood inside it.
Oh mein Gott! The picture wasn’t really about happiness!! It was a picture within a picture! Or rather two pictures within one! Waiting for some of those tourist kids to get out of the blue one, I balanced my camera, bag of stuff and my sad dark cherry mocha frap to take a picture of this in the meantime.
What would it look when I stood in the blue one?
That goes to show you, underneath seemingly a joyous outlook, there might be anguish beneath it or somewhere.
So… WHO DID THIS?
Wow, my art analyzation was pretty accurate! For those who can’t read the text for some reason here:
Montoya, Isaac
Born 1963, Spain. Lives and works in Spain.
Fantasmas (Phantoms), 2008,
Public Art
In this work by Isaac Montoya, a rainbow-coloured portrait of a young woman screams from a large scale photograph. Layered within are two more images that are revealed once one looks through red and blue filters. The initial image is one taken from our consumer laden culture, familiar and friendly. The hidden images reference the tragedy present in other places around the world.
That is so cool. What’s cool is the location for the artwork! I wouldn’t have thought that the party-ing (screaming) lady was commercial and consumerish stuff IF they didn’t put it there.
Placing it in front of the Raffles City mall was pretty good because technically that’s where the posh hotels are too and it’s a seemingly normal “look” as high class fashion boutiques are in the area.
