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Abstract Representations

Abstract Representations. Anthony Poon. Enduring Understanding. Students will understand that abstract art brought about new energies and dimensions in artistic creations. 2. Essential Questions. Overarching Questions - How has abstraction affected our way of viewing art?

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Abstract Representations

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  1. Abstract Representations Anthony Poon

  2. Enduring Understanding Students will understand that abstract art brought about new energies and dimensions in artistic creations. 2

  3. Essential Questions Overarching Questions - How has abstraction affected our way of viewing art? - What can abstraction achieve that realistic art cannot? Topical Questions - What are Poon’s approaches to abstraction? - How did Poon develop his abstract concepts? - What is Poon trying to achieve with his abstract works? 3

  4. Essential Questions Topical Questions What are Poon’s approaches to abstraction? How did Poon develop his abstract concepts? What is Poon trying to achieve with his abstract works? Overarching Questions How has abstraction affected our way of viewing art? What can abstraction achieve that realistic art cannot? 4

  5. 5W1H 5

  6. “I would like to end my life with a paint brush in my hand”. - Anthony Poon 6

  7. Who • Anthony Poon was born on the 21 April 1945 in Singaporean. • Poon is an abstract artist and sculptor, is widely cited as a • *second-generation artist (refer to text box below). • He is best known for his "Wave series" and wave-relief paintings which he developed. • He was probably the most commissioned artist of his generation, with innumerable works in both private and public collections. • Anthony Poon, like Ng Eng Teng and Thomas Yeo, is a graduate of NAFA and he furthered his studies in England from 1967 to 1970. 7

  8. Who • After graduating from the NAFA, Poon joined Singapore Glass • Manufacturer as an industrial artist. • He furthered his studies in fine art in the United Kingdom. He • studied first at the Byam Shaw School of Arts, London, and then at the Regional College of Arts, Bradford, Yorks. • After completing his studies, he returned to Singapore. He was • manager of Alpha Gallery from 1973 to 1978 before becoming a full-time artist. • He received the prestigious Cultural Medallion in 1990. • Poon passed away on 2 September 2006 of lung cancer. 8

  9. When (1960s – 70s) • 1964 - The Modern Art Society drew a division between representational art and non-objective abstraction. They advocated abstract art as the ‘new direction’ for the contemporary. • 1965 – Singapore was expelled from the Federated States of Malaya. (What implication did this have on the development of the arts in Singapore?) • *1967 - Anthony Poon left for London to pursue his studies. • 1970s - Abstract art was widely practiced in Singapore. Poon started on his Kite series and got involved with the Alpha Gallery group of other core artists at that time. 9

  10. When (1980s – 90s) • early 80s: Many artists began to look for local and regional themes to invoke a sense of place and identity. • 1980s-90s: Poon’s work development in geometric abstraction progressed into three-dimensional relief & sculptural forms. 10

  11. Where Singapore • Expelled from the Federated States of Malaya in 1965 and became a newly formed nation. • Focus was on building the fundamentals of economic survival and pragmatic solutions for urban development and housing. Survival is key. Art making was not viewed as pragmatic way to make a living. England • Poon studied at the Byam Shaw School of Art. Studied under Maurice de Sausmarez. Influenced by art from the US, Bauhaus aesthetic theories. 11

  12. Which • Painting • Kite series • Shape canvases • "Wave series" and wave-relief paintings • Geometric abstractions Sculpture • Abstract curves 12

  13. Which Abstract art • Poon’s approach in non-objective abstraction is conceptual, analytical and controlled. • His interests remained solely on developing geometrical compositions in pure abstraction. • The non-objective and self-referential sensibilities of Poon’s work pushes itself to refuse any hint of imagery in the titles he gives to his works. (e.g. ‘B2-B Fre-Waves’, ‘CR on Black Circle’ sounds technical. Like an inventory or classification codes.) 13

  14. Which Modern Art in Singapore • “Modern" as used by the Modern Art Society in the 1960s referred to a departure from the mainstream Chinese migrant art which, by then, had developed into a convention known by the term "Nanyang School". • A related meaning of "modern" became popular in the 1970s to indicate the formalistic aspects of art or "abstract art" which was then being discussed in relation to internationalism and multiculturalism. 14

  15. Which 2nd Generation Artists Teo Eng Seng, Thomas Yeo, Ng Eng Teng, Goh Beng Kwan and Anthony Poon, all went to study art in Europe and North America. These "Second Generation" artists imbibed aesthetics in their formative training - as the pioneer artists did -- and created a significant impact upon their return in the late-1960s and 1970s. 15

  16. Which – works by the 2nd Generation Artists A Boy from the Temple by Teo Eng Seng Paperdyesculpt, 136 x 116 cm City Vista by Thomas Yeo,1983, Collage, 121 x 183 cm. 16

  17. Which – works by the 2nd Generation Artists Dotting the Eye by Goh Beng Kwan, 1991 Mixed media, 105 x 120 cm. Red Torso by Ng Eng Teng,1992, Stoneware pomegranate red glaze, 79 x 30 x 21 cm. 17

  18. What • Poon's work centers on his interest in the spatial relationship between line and colour. • From the Shaped Canvas series and the Waves series of the 1970s, where the basic square was multiplied and rearranged, to the works of the 1980s, when he began to explore chromatic ranges in the Colour Theory series, Poon's works deal with the innermost relationship of form and colour. • In CR on Black Square, which represents the beginning of Colour Theory and the accumulation of his Waves series, brushwork and texture have been completely eliminated in favour of a carefully modulated shade of deep cadmium red contained within repetitive linear elements and his characteristic "waves". • The hard-edged precision of the work emphasises the surface plane and its two-dimensional quality. 18

  19. “from the flat to the curl and fold” - Anthony Poon on how he described his progress as an artist. 19

  20. Early Works (Pre-abstraction) Poon’s early works were instructive of the formal concerns adopted by NAFA’s students. Couple, 1965 Oil on canvas, 94 X 67 cm Collection of Singapore Art Museum 20

  21. Early Works (Pre-abstraction) Jobless Son was completed in the year that he graduated. Semi-abstract painting. The painting’s surface is built up to effect an expressive play of uneven textures. Inter-dissecting lines in the background serve to suggest perspectival depth and to break the surface in grids that recall scaffoldings. Jobless Son, 1966 Oil on canvas, 93 x 74 cm Collection of National Heritage Board 21

  22. Early Works (Influences) • Poon was influenced by 4 different artists for whom he greatly admired. They are Cheong Soo Pieng, Ben Nicholson and Marc Chagall. • Cheong Soo Pieng taught him the role of tones and virtue and economy of colours. • Through Nicholson, Poon saw the power and beauty of the abstract qualities in the structure of the painting. • From Chagall, Poon was influenced by his vivid colour sense. 22

  23. The Kite Series Background information: • Art in America in late 1960s was represented by the Colour Field, Hard-edge and Geometric Abstraction. • Art at that time follows logic and rationality as artists drew inspiration from science, which created the Optical Painting (Op Art) style. • Kite series was conceptualised during his time in UK under the influence of Op Art. • Rendered on large geometrically shaped canvases, the brightly coloured works of the Kite series present smooth blocks of colours and strong patterns, and a lack of pictorial depth that creates the series’ trademark sense of flatness. • This flatness is a necessary component in order to stage the optical effects. • Op Art is based on the retinal stimulation of the eye to produce ‘moving’ artworks. • Inspired by the historic moment of man’s flight to the moon and celebrating the triumph of technology, Poon created the Kite series made of aerodynamic shapes on shaped canvas. 23

  24. Squatri Purma, 1970, 213 x 381 cm, Acrylic on canvas Collection of Singapore Art Museum 24

  25. Ignore the black background ITwi-Forma, early 1970s, acrylic on canvas, 214 x 320 cm Collections of National Heritage Board 25

  26. This image is a little distorted Untitled, early 1970s, acrylic on canvas, 223 x 295 cm Collections of National Heritage Board 26

  27. Shape Canvases • Shaped canvases are paintings that depart from the normal flat, rectangular configuration. Canvases may be shaped by altering their contours, while retaining their flatness. • Raphael, as well as some other Renaissance painters, sometimes chose this format for Madonna paintings. • Canvases may be altered by losing their flatness and assuming a three dimensional surface. Or, they can do both. • They can assume shapes other than rectangles, and also have surface features that are three dimensional. • Changing the surface configuration of the painting transforms it into a sculpture. • But shaped canvases are generally considered paintings. • Poon’s use of shaped canvas was largely inspired by the trend in the US as a way of *circumventing the accepted practice of using the rectangle as a basic form of painting. • Poon’s Kite series and his Shaped canvases were all inspired by man’s first trip to the moon in 1969 and these canvases sought to capture the essence of technological advancements through the delineation of streamlined contours and angular forms. *circumventing: to find a way of avoiding restrictions imposed by a rule or law without actually breaking it. 27

  28. Shape Canvases Inverted Y, 1970, Acrylic on canvas, 214 x 284 cm Collection of National Heritage Board 28

  29. Geometric the basic square is multiplied and rearranged to give a sense of optical illusion of space. Squa-Forma, 1975 182.9 x 182.9 cm, Acrylic on canvas Collection of National Heritage Board 29

  30. Black and white, mid-1970s, acrylic on canvas 186 x 186 cm Collection of National Heritage Board 30

  31. The First Waves Series • In conceptualising his works, Anthony Poon also drew inspiration from the subject of colour theory. • He was intrigued by the way a human eye perceives colour and how interrelations between certain colours produce various visual effects. • Developed in the early 1970s, Poon’s Wave serie is based on the curvilinear form of a frequency wave. • Poon was also inspired by the by his environment in the new industrialised Singapore at the time. Emerging skyscrapers and newly built escalators of the period found representation in the blocks and curves that characterise this series. • Works from this series demonstrate the artists’s increasingly subtle approach towards colour usagem through colour classification (warm & cool colours) and the standardise use of colour combinations in his art. • Poon maintain strict adherence to the systematic use of colour. • He titles his artworks likes codes used in the paint colour chart (e.g. CR is cadmium red). • He made the technical aspects of his practice a key issue in the interpretation if his works. • The Wave series became Poon’s signature works in his artistic career. 31

  32. Shadow is introduced effecting an unexpected illusion against a flat background. The illusion of three-dimensionality emerged as an interest of his. CR on Black Square, 1986, 182 x 182 cm, Acrylic on canvas Collection of Singapore Art Museum 32

  33. Colour Frequency Waves rhythmic flow of colour sensations caused by the juxtaposition of the coloured squares Aqueous Waves, 1984,183 x 183 cm, Acrylic on canvas Collection of Singapore Art Museum 33

  34. Red Frequency Waves, 1985 183 x 183 cm, Acrylic on canvas Collection of Singapore Art Museum 34

  35. The Wave Relief Series • This series introduces a new interest in the curvilinear form. • The Wave relief emerges to mark Poon's progress into three ­ dimensional form on canvas, with the undulations now articulated in long panels of continuous flow. • There is freer sensibilities in his schematic arrangements. • The canvases’ geometry provided an internal schematic order. • The strict geometry of the line is entirely subordinated to luxurious curves, and the hard edge order of his early work has given way to sensuality. • Panels repeat themselves in modules of undulations, holding the potential for endlessness. 35

  36. Wave Relief Series PR8-G6 on 6P waves, 1989, 183 x 183 cm, Acrylic on canvas Collection of Singapore Art Museum 36

  37. Wave Relief Series CR-R on 6P Waves, 1989, Collection of Singapore Art Museum 37

  38. Wave Relief Series B-BP-BG on 2P Waves, 1990, Acrylic on canvas Collection of Singapore Art Museum 38

  39. Wave Relief Series Y-PI-P7 on 4P Waves, 1989, 92 x 92 x 13cm Acrylic on canvas Collection of Singapore Art Museum 39

  40. The Sculpture Series • Poon's sculptural works follow in the early 1990s. • This latter development comes with his interest to take the work off the wall and thus, to allow for an interactive play of volume and void to form. • Starting with the hollowed out circle 'folded’ cross the diameter as the basic shape from which curvilinear variants have followed, • Poon's free-standing sculptures are dynamic structures of interlocking plates that pivot and extend in volume from a central void. • Spatial void and the planes that delineate its extremes meet in heightened tension, the one conditioning and informing on the other. • The interlocking planes delicately balance and support each other at lateral points, and as if frozen in a moment of movement, they hint at the possibility of transformation. 40

  41. Sculptures Performance,1991 95 x 85 x 75 cm, Painted steel, Collection of Singapore Art Museum 41

  42. Sculptures Advance,1991 Painted steel, Collection of Singapore Art Museum 42

  43. Sculptures Advance,1991, 70 x 52 x 154cmPainted steel Collection of Singapore Art Museum 43

  44. Sculptures Joy,1997 105 x 75 x 84 cm, Painted steel Collection of Singapore Art Museum 44

  45. Sculptures Space-Time Link, 1997, Shell Tower, UE Square 45

  46. Sculptures Robust constructions that combine the geometry of curved lines and sharp angles. Aspirations, 2000 240 cm, Painted steel Collection of Ministry of Information, Communication and the Arts (MICA) 46

  47. Sculptures Affinity,2004, 400 x 490 x 300cm, Painted SteelCollection of Housing Development Board (HDB), 47

  48. Sculptures Ribbons, 2004, H30 x W40 x D7cm, Acrylic on aluminum 48

  49. Sculptures Breeze, 2005 Collection of Singapore Art Museum 49

  50. Sculptures Cheers, 2005, 95 x 85 x 75 cm, Painted bronze Collection of Singapore Art Museum 50

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