Lookback: Solo Exhibition at Singapore Art Museum, Private view evening

SOLO EXHIBITION_NICOLA ANTHONY_SINGAPORE ART MUSEUM

In October 2017 there was a small intimate opening for supporters and collectors of Nicola Anthony’s artwork, at Singapore Art Museum. Here we look back with some of the visitor images:

To find out more about the artworks check out the video below. To see Nicola’s address during the official public opening at SAM, see the video here.

Revealing the inner worlds of people from different walks of life through stories gathered from the community, this two-part presentation at Singapore Art Museum by British artist Nicola Anthony explores the human condition and threads of commonalities despite our differences. The Human Archive Project focuses on disenfranchised communities and human stories in Singapore.

Share with me in Unexpected Happiness

Do you believe in serendipity? It often seems to me that the things which occur seem to be just the right thing - even if I don't know it at the time, I do believe that life's twists and turns have their purpose. That the lows help us value the highs. I experience lots of moments of unexpected happiness, small snatches of joy, which catch me unaware. I try to be open to this - noticing when something is wonderful or good, even if it's simply the pattern of a coffee spill that turned out to be quite beautiful - it's up to me whether to decide it's a mess to be mopped up or a chance for inspiration, (or perhaps a learning about the usefulness of coasters).  

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Time is like a river that flows from the past

Underground there are many unseen streams, tributaries and flows which lead into the river itself. On my calligraphy paper this becomes a metaphor for the invisible elements all around us in life that lead to the path we find ourselves on. Fragments from Marc’s poems float alongside the inky river banks.

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Artworks featured in Auction, Singapore / Online

The Hotlotz Auction features limited edition prints of four selected artworks by Nicola Anthony. There will also be prints from Kusama, Picasso, Marc ChagaLl and local Singaporean artists. Click to bid online here or read on below for insight into the creative process behind These prints…

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On Trust: Changi Women’s Prison Artist Mentor Programme (Yellow Ribbon Project)

Throughout my practice, I have been fascinated by people’s stories, social memory and oral history. There is a warmth and kinship in connecting with people, hearing their stories and knowing that it took a lot of courage to talk about painful or life-changing experiences close to their heart. To understand another person’s existence, their joys, fears and learnings, forms an inherent and essential part of my artistic approach. Which is why the opportunity to take on the role of a mentor in the Art Programme at Changi Women's Prison is both special and valuable to my creative development.

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Scents of Singapore: a new exhibition

Potpourri – a collection of artworks, which encapsulate the scents of Singapore

11 July 2017 at 7 pm //  until 10 September // Intersections Gallery, Singapore

The word Potpourri refers to a scented mixture of spices and dried flowers that is usually kept in  a decorative bowl or jar and used to perfume a room.

Potpourri also applies to a collection of seemingly unrelated items, to an unusual assortment.

Scents of Singapore brings together artworks  by a selection of artists using different mediums and metaphors to talk about Singapore history and identity.

This exhibition encompasses artworks by nine artists, Nicola Anthony, Eddie Botha, Kavita Issar Batra, Julayla Jallil, Helene Le Chatelier, Madame, Pang, Marc Nair, Tania Nasr.

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Saint Paul’s Survives: The burned ink painting of London’s iconic Cathedral

Today I will share with you an interesting historical fact (plus a couple of interesting tangents). It’s not a religious post but this happens to be about a Saint – St. Paul, whose feast day is today: 29th June.

Earlier this year I exhibited this artwork which features St. Paul’s Cathedral in London. The artwork is a symbol of human survival, resilience and courage, as well as making a stand, and having faith in ourselves and others. As a point of intersection between Singapore and London, the former Supreme Court of Singapore which is now National Gallery Singapore is said to take inspiration from Christopher Wren’s dome design for St. Paul’s Cathedral.
Entitled Saint Pauls Survives (Ghosts of the past), this artwork is inspired by the photograph (also captioned ‘St. Pauls Survives’) published in newspapers after the night raid of 29/30 December 1940, the 114th night of the London Blitz of World War II.

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New digital fine art print: exclusive edition of 15 | Part print, part sculpture, part drawing

A swirling tangle of timeline...

Earlier this year there was a moment which made my senses tingle as I saw the final print of this artwork emerge on its gorgeous paper, thanks to the printing experts at NPE Art Residency. It is my first digital fine art print in a long time, (an exclusive edition of 15, available at Intersections Gallery). I want to share with you the journey of this artwork... I had been working on sketches and maps of connections, creating vast drawings of webbed, intersecting lines. The artwork pairs with a poem called 'Museum of London' by Marc Nair. With my traditional pen on paper technique I drew my ideas from the lines on our palm which some people believe map our destiny; the interconnections on a family tree or a social network which map our now and our beginnings; as well as timelines which span back into history to connect us to multiple versions of the past. 

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Artwork Focus: After Oud | INTERSECTION

This series entitled Artwork Focus is written by Shireen, giving her explorations of the artworks in the Intersection exhibition. Shireen is a writer, art assistant and visual arts organiser, who has gained unique insight through her visits to Nicola’s art studio, observing the creation process of the works. This article focuses particularly on the artwork After Oud.

After Oud is a collection of glass jars in different shapes and sizes that chooses Singapore’s Bussorah Street in Kampong Glam as muse. Within these jars, strings of words in blue and gold taken from Marc Nair’s poem of the same name (“After Oud”) dangle together. Like Marc, Nicola is inspired by Bussorah Street and its famous aromatic scent store that has served the Kampong Glam community for years.

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Intersection Exhibition, Part two, Singapore: (press release)

An exhibition by Nicola Anthony, United Kingdom, and Marc Nair, Singapore. Part Two: 22 Feb – 5th March 2017. INTERSECTIONS Gallery, 34 Kandahar Street, Singapore 198892. Free Admission. RSVP on facebook event

In this second part of Intersection exhibition a new way of seeing is presented, and the curation presents a key to unlock hidden stories, meanings and messages within each artwork. It is not often you get insight into a large body of work like this from two perspectives, but for this exhibition curator Marie-Pierre Mol of Intersections gallery has decided to give the viewer a deeper understanding and a whole new way of looking.

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Artwork Focus | Gotong Royong | Kinetic poetry art by Nicola Anthony & Marc Nair

Gotong Royong is a twisting, turning, tumbling, kinetic artwork, in which letters and words spill like loose sand. I am extremely proud to present this interactive piece in the exhibition, Intersection, a collaboration between myself and poet Marc Nair. Below I explain the art piece with a video and some insight into the creative process.

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Artwork Focus: Call to Prayer | INTERSECTION

The idea of the daily prayer that is comparable to a voluntary routine practiced across different cultures and religions and transcends geographical boundaries, is emphasised through the work’s duality in display – in light and in darkness. Like the journey of the sun from dawn to dusk and dusk to dawn, traditions and practices exist in time and are rarely temporal. 

The journeys across Singapore and Yangon that have inspired the creation of this work almost mimics the migration of the birds and their rotations inside the birdcage. This work is a reminder for us all: just as we are guided home “like flocks of birds”, our culture and traditions keep us grounded and remind us of our humble beginnings that have helped us shape our identity.

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Announcing: Intersection exhibition

An exhibition by Nicola Anthony, United Kingdom, and Marc Nair, Singapore. 12 Jan 2017 – 11 Feb 2017. INTERSECTIONS Gallery, 34 Kandahar Street, Singapore 198892. Free Admission.

Intersection is an exhibition about an encounter between poetry and visual art through the work of poet Marc Nair and visual artist Nicola Anthony. The work maps an architecture of memory at the junction of three diverse cities: London, Singapore and Yangon.

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Intersection Exhibition featured in Singapore Art Week

Thank you to Singapore Art Week for listing Intersection exhibition in your lineup of events! This January, Nicola will present works in a collaborative exhibition with Singaporean poet Marc Nair at the Intersections Gallery that tackles geographies, names, stories and histories in three cities – Singapore, London and Yangon.

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Debbie Cheung interviews Nicola Anthony: What is Ouroboros and other questions answered....

Debbie Cheung interviews Nicola Anthony

To start off, how did the decision to use ping pong balls in this SEA Games project develop?

Rather than be overly literal in making sport the subject of the artwork, I decided to be a bit abstract and challenge myself to use sports equipment as sculptural material, and think about the deeper message of teams and connections within sports as a theme. I knew it would carry a meaningful message because when you get so many voices together, there is a sense of a human team, and something quite magical happens.

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Making Scented clay: Children's Art workshop

I was thrilled to host an art & learning workshop at a Social Change in Action event this month. The whole SOCH event saw 1500 kids in attendance.

As well as a learning message for the children, I also learned a lot from the kids - a reminder that yes, art is for everyone, it can be multigenerational, it can help to change stereotypes, it has no language barrier, it works amazingly to bring you together with people you only just met, and, that art will always be a part of life: it's been around since the very beginning and will continue, to be.

Sign up to find out more about kids or adults art workshops

 

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VIDEO: Bottled nostalgia and food-scent memories

Clarissa Sih and Goh Chiew Tong interview Edible Art Movement for the Nanyang Chronicle, at our ‘Cirque du Scent‘: an exhibition sponsored by NTU, Jan-March 2014. Thank you to the kind journalists and film crew at Singapore’s Nanyang Chronicle for capturing the exhibition and talking with me about the concept.

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Pass It on featured on OKTO TV - Art Reborn

In the video, you will see what the Art Reborn film crew discovered when they made a visit earlier this month to the Displacements exhibition, plunging into the creative depths of 13 Wilkie Terrace to find out how the artists have used, reused, and re-appropriated a house which has spent 77 years as a family home.

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My 8000 piece artwork: Behind the scenes

I have been taking the ‘found object’ to a new level, and I will also be telling all the stories of the process of finding and collecting the individual seeds (all 8000 of them), through the artwork and via this blog. The sculpture Pass It On began with the simple idea of a sentence as a line with a beginning and end. The resulting sculpture comprises more than 8000 saga seeds, which the audience is invited to take and pass on.

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The anonymous words of Singapore

Last week through a performance and a sculpture at The Substation, I asked visitors to write a sentence about the inside of their mind. Here are a few of the anonymous contributions, secrets and words from over 100 participants. (You can still add yours here)

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