Affordable Art Fair Fred Loves Furniture

I decided to dedicate a post to my journey participating in the Affordable Art Fair Fred Loves Furniture Art Exhibition. Being able to be part of an exhibition like this was really exciting (and surprising of course!)

The flow of events:
Application and proposal of design was submitted, received a phone call from AAF, a pink chair was delivered to my place, worked upon and sent back for exhibition.

Work in progress

FRONT

BACK

 Title of Work: The Act of Seating

Statement: The Act of Seating celebrates moments of conscious awareness. This work is inspired by the occasional bouts of joy I’ve felt when I was aware that I’m well and alive, there and then. Blind contour drawings were done of someone seating down- front and back- as means to force one to examine what we tend to overlook, in this case, the very act of seating.

I was inspired by the drawing attempt I did a while back (check archives: post header- 365) titled, "WE ARE ALL ALIVE TOGETHER". In that drawing, I was trying to showcase the awareness I had of myself, my thoughts, my actions, my presence at that particular moment. Through blind contour drawing, I was trying to illustrate the intangible, what that you can not see but can be felt- in the process of drawing, in the process of mark making, in the process of creating something of finality. On an afterthought, this also showcased the similar aspects of being aware as well as drawing oneself, where one generally focuses his attention all to a single focal point. One being aware (in my opinion) triggers this subtle connection of one with space, of which I refer to only that of his surroundings then and there as well as his actions, then and there. Similarly, blind contours conforms the artist to be able to draw only what is then and there since it does not rely on false judgments of the mind when one looks at his drawing, triggering the same connection of one with space, of which now I refer to the positive and negative space of the object one is drawing. One no longer sees it as a person, but rather lines and shapes. I guess for this chair design, I was really intrigued by the idea of seeing what you can't normally see- yourself at that moment, in this case, sitting (seating) on the chair. It's more of being unable to rather than being unwilling to. That's why the blind contour drawing of my back view sitting on the chair is extremely awkward, and to be honest that illustration was also done in an awkward position. My neck was seriously strained thereafter haha (since I don't have eyes behind my back- something I realized only when I was trying to position myself to do blind contour of my back view, and so I had to make do with this slanting position). 

Oh, afterthought number two: my chair design can't be viewed simultaneously, it's either front or back. I guess that's pretty similar to the focus part mentioned above too. 

Okay so finally, at the fair.

A big thank you goes out to Affordable Art Fair and Fred Lives Here for giving me this lovely opportunity, Hwa Chong Institution/ AEP Department for the support and encouragement as well as my friends and family who gave me much advice, help and love <3