Painting with fire on chopsticks! A piece to find beauty in ordinary materials, and celebrate all that Singapore is today and in the days to come.
Facebook wanted a mural on their 10 meter long wall in their Singapore office, and requested that it be made of chopsticks as the space is right beside their cafe (which serves amazing food all day - employees are so lucky!). I wanted to explore bamboo chopsticks as a material and experiment with alternative methods to create murals, so instead of painting on the wall, I decided to set it ablaze. 15,000 bamboo chopsticks were glued, torched, then layered again and burnt a few more times to create depth and dimension to the piece.
This piece depicts the story of the Merlion - a mythical creature with the head of a lion and body of a fish, and its significance as Singapore's national icon. The Merlion is the guardian of Singapore and has protected the country from waves, storms and enemies, from its early days as a village to where it is now. The Merlion is seen smiling as it is looking forward to the the future with enthusiasm and hope.
Big thanks to Mond and Jannette of United Make - UDMK for working on this project with me on the design and construction (shown in video), as well as my team Vanessa Bong, Michael Mack and Sam Koh who illustrated, concept developed and managed this project (not shown in video). The amazing Jootz See of Back Alley Creations for shooting and directing this, and FB head chef Tim Wong for being game enough to act in this video (last-minute request! We actually really did take all of his chopsticks). And a massive thank you to Facebook Singapore for having me create this piece - it was so much fun and I loved working with your team, and in your beautiful office!
ps: Notice the little details - like the boats in his mane and the fisherman on his boat with his Facebook browser on, on his laptop (in reference to internet.org!).
