About
i was rather active in the local fine arts scene with exhibitions of paintings, drawings, sculpture installations and performance art a long time ago, when Singapore was still famously termed as a cultural desert. i went to UK soon after to pursue illustration as i still enjoyed drawing and painting most and preferred to work within a tighter context. i fell into animation by chance when i came to a point where i felt the only way to effectively put my idea across was to animate it. i then worked as an animator/director on TV commercials and animation shorts, representing the UK in animation festivals and picking up some awards along the way.
so I‘m not sure how to define myself…. I wear a few hats but I am an artist whose preferred expression is through animation films. I also teach drawing and old-fashioned animation, work on illustration and design work and curate animation and video works.
After graduating from the Royal College Of Art [UK] in 2000, I continued my life in the animation field working on independent films, storyboarding, and tv commercials in the UK until about 2005.
Driven by a need to build my health back and fueled by a belief that my work in animation would be enriched by immersing myself in other art forms and exploring other aspects of life which I felt I had missed out while being a full-time animator, i took a break from animation. During my studies and working in the UK, i had stopped participating in the fine arts activities in Singapore so i thought i could switch back to making paintings and performances. However, i realised that i couldn't jump right in as i needed more time to re-think my direction and contribution at a distance from the fine-arts scene.
During this time of 'absence', I worked on various odd jobs, art and dance projects, bits of design, illustration, and video editing jobs, while teaching drawing and old-fashioned-animation. Soon after, I started freelance-curating of animation and video works.
I’ve tentatively called my curation work PROJECT LITTLE LIGHTBOX [naming the project after a very small homemade lightbox made out of a thrown-out drawer. Unfortunately, I’ve only found out after registering this name that it seems to be a popular name for various childrens’ theatre groups.
There's more information if you click on 'Project Little Lightbox' tab above.