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Singaporean artist uses trees as theme in new art show

A popular avant-garde Singaporean artist will have a new body of work on display at a fine arts venue in Singapore. Zai Kuning, who resists definition in a single artistic genre, will show a new series that examines the life of trees in the form of an autopsy.

Throughout Kuning’s work, trees have been given special importance. At a show in the early 2000s, he even included a tree weighing nearly a ton in the exhibit space. This new focus on trees has been, in part, due to forest fires and the purposeful burning of trees for agriculture in forests around the world. Recently, Singapore and other nations in Southeast Asia were engulfed in choking smoke due to these burns. Kuning’s body of work maintains that if people were to treat trees as they treat fellow human beings, the world might change for the better. There would be less pollution, less extreme climate change, less deforestation, and more green spaces for people to enjoy and endangered animals and plants to thrive in.

In one of the artworks that will be on display at the exhibit, a quartet of figures rest on a single piece of paper. All four of the figures are two-dimensional, completely shaded-in forms, mostly lying flat. Two of them are small, humanlike forms — children, perhaps. Another could be a dog, cow, or some kind of domestic animal. The fourth figure could be a human, though it lacks arms. The torso of the body seems more like a tree trunk than an actual body. All of the forms lack defining features like faces, but they are similar in their presentation.

Many of the 2-D works hanging on the wall at this exhibit feature similar figures. Many are human in shape, including rudimentary fingers and toes, but most blend into tree-like shapes, highlighting the idea that Kuning would like us to treat trees as humans. There are several 3-D points of interest that round out the exhibit, including metal sculptures that reflect spines and branches in the same breath, as well as a low table of wooden tree branches and a trunk of branches cut off, abbreviating the progression of life.

Art is one of the best ways to pay tribute to the things you find most important in life. Think about enrolling in an art class today via SGArtClass.com. SGArtClass.com is a wonderful way to start investigating and learning more about art. From informative art articles to a comprehensive listing of different lessons you can take, SGArtClass.com is a truly immersive experience. Whether you’re interested in watercolor painting or 3-D sculpture, caricature drawing or nail art, or any of the many more lessons available for enrollment, you will be sure to find a class that will most interest you.

To read more about artist Zai Kuning and view a slideshow previewing some of the works that will be on display at his show, go to http://www.blouinartinfo.com/news/story/2696177/zai-kuning-autopsy-at-ota-fine-arts-singapore.

  • July 16, 2018
  • Blog

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