Henry Moore - Reclining Figure, OCBC Bank Singapore

We are only a tiny island with a population of about 4 million people and yet we have a huge Henry Moore sculpture in our Central Business district. Several years ago when OCBC Bank commissioned this sculpture, they paid a large sum of money for it and set it in front of the OCBC building. The sculpture called 'Large Reclining Figure' disappeared for a while and reappeared in the same place except that this time it looked spruced up and receiving the kind of attention that should be accorded to such a renowned piece of artwork because its immediate surroundings have been designed by I.M Pei. This is the second time that I have taken a close look at this sculpture. The first time, many years ago did not leave any lasting impression on me. All sculptures to me are mostly incomprehensible because I do not know what to make of them and my interest was more towards paintings. Having looked at the 'Large Reclining Figure' and read its description on the plaque next to it, I was puzzled as to why it was named such because the posture of the figure as I had seen and photographed was leaning forward and the sculpture did not appear to me as reclining. The figure suggested that it was uncomfortable rather than relaxed - the way it should be if it were truly reclining.

I then did a google-search for images of sculptures by Henry Moore and saw that there were a few similar sculptures elsewhere in the world. Looking at these photos I realised that in order to see the sculpture in the way the sculptor meant it to be, one has to move around the sculpture to look for the 'Reclining Figure'. In all the photos I have taken, I could see that I have missed that point of view where the sculpture becomes meaningful. All along I have been looking at sculptures the way I would look at a painting and I now understand that this is a different medium that requires me to employ a totally different way to appreciate what it is about.

Time-out at Vivocity

While the rest of Singapore were buying up the shops, I was in the midst of the frenzied crowd at Vivocity recharging my lifeforce batteries. A teapot of Passion fruit tea at a corner cafe did the job and I almost had the whole place to myself with an unobstructed view of the goings-on outside. The cafe had soothing new-age piano music and I could not have asked for a better place to hang out while waiting for my son to finish his school activities so that I can pick him up from a station nearby. Here's how I passed my time without burning a hole in my pocket shopping for things that I already have:

From studying the items before me on the table...
to sketching this baby all wrapped up in the pram a few tables away...

to these two characters outside the cafe. The one on the left was apparently waiting for someone and the girl on the right was tending a push-cart. As business was slack she spent more time on her handphone while perched dangerously on this stylish high chair than on selling her wares.

Little India

Little India in Serangoon Road was where I met up with a friend. Places like these are so rich in character that shopping malls with their standard fares pale in comparison. The sights, the sounds, the smell are like nowhere else in Singapore because it is a miniature India.

This was not where I spent the day wandering. It was only a meeting place. As I was a little early I walked round a block of shop houses recording images spontaneously as they captured my interest. In all, I spent ten minutes in the area. There is much more to explore, perhaps another time when I shall make a special trip to just take photos of the uniques architecture and the street scenes.

Moving towards Selegie Road towards Bugis Junction. Had lunch of prawn noodles at $2 a bowl (small) in this shop reminiscent of old houses in Malaysia. Look at the extremely high ceiling and the windows.
Going home in the evening, I caught a fleeting glimpse of these colourful spiral staircase, doubled back and took a whole lot of photos.
La Salle College of the Arts - just love the architecture.

Singapore River in the early 1980s

Back in the early 1980s I used a Pentex SLR camera (it is still functioning today) to record scenes of the Singapore River. The printed photos have deteriorated with age and to prevent memories from fading into oblivion, I photographed these old photos and digitally manipulated some of them to show how much the river has changed over a span of twenty over years. At the end of viewing the following photos you could scroll down to the previous post to see what Singapore River looks like today.

The river and the bumboats

The river activities

The buildings

The Artists

My work comprising two digitally manipulated photos made to look like paintings and sketches made on site on discarded computer punch cards that I had used in my university days.