By Ron Boon,
By Fion Boon,
I did an interview with Fion over email to find out more about the father and daughter team. It's heart-warming to see a daughter supporting her father, not just with words, but with action. Fion writes so well that I have decided to publish her answers intact.
Why did your father and you start this art business?
My father is a retiree, currently aged 63. The company that he worked in closed down last year, and that was when he stopped working. He has always have a passion for arts and painting, but never had enough time to do something substantial until last year. He started painting at home full-time since he lost his job.
I've set up a website for him to display his works, and I myself added some contributions as well just so he wouldn't be bored doing it alone. But most of the works in the site are mainly his.
What did your dad do for a living? What was your dad educated in?
My dad was a HR personnel in an Indian company (before it closed down) that deals with importing of foreign workers/manpower for the construction industry.
Even though he is born in a Chinese family, my dad chose to take up his education in English and Malay when he was young (he stopped school at O Levels). He was once an interpreter for the New Zealand army camp when they were here in Singapore decades ago, interpreting Malay-English for the army's office.
He developed his interest for arts (esp. painting) since young and has always been self-taught. He has never attended courses or any form of education related to arts. If you ask him about art history, famous artists and works, he would have no idea. He just simply enjoys picking up the brushes and expressing on the canvas in colors, shapes and strokes.
Do you work? Or is this your full-time job? Were you trained in art? What did you study in school?
I'm currently working in a small recruitment firm as a consultant. I too was never trained in art. Even though I very much wanted to enroll into Lasalle or NAFA after my O Levels, my mum wasn't supportive because to her old fashioned thinking, Art education cannot fill up the "rice bowls" in future. Fees was expensive for such courses as well. Therefore I took up Hospitality Management in Temasek Poly and then recently completed a part-time degree in Business Studies by Loughborough University.
Do you have siblings? Are they involved in this project? What does your mother think of your dad's and your 'artly' pursuits?
I have an elder brother who has moved out after he got married 4-5 years ago. He is not involved in this project but he does give us the moral support. So yes, only my dad and I are involved in this.
When my dad got the news of his ex-company closing down, he knew that it would be the end of his working life since he was already in his 60s, it would be tough to get another decent job. He decided to embark on this dream that he always has in mind - Paint.
My mum wasn't supportive of us. She was worried about lack of income. She felt that such a pursuit in life is for the rich and wealthy and not practical. Even though I knew there is relevancy to her negative thoughts, on the other hand, I too wanted my dad to be able to do something he has always wanted to for his life.
So I told him I will do my part in supporting him, by creating a simple site and platform for him to display his works and we shall see how this will lead us to. If it fails, he would just need to look out for a simple job for some basic income. At least we tried. That was our plan.
Do your dad and you paint at home? Can you show us a pic of the 'studio'?
Dad set up a painting corner (mum allowed after much persuasions) at a corner of our living room. There he has a simple work table, with shelves to store his paints, materials, gears and stuff. It is by the windows, so he has natural sun light in the day while he works. Attached to the email is a photo of the corner (I hope it's good enough)
How long does it take to finish 1 piece?
Time taken for a piece really varies. Sometimes he could conjure something in 2 weeks, at times a piece can take more than a month to complete. In some occasions, he complete a piece after spending a few weeks on it, then decided it doesn't look good enough and he would white wash the canvas and start all over again.
For me, I don't paint as often as he do, due to lack of time. But when an idea is conceived in my mind, I would want to put it on canvas fast. In a way, I'm not as patient as my dad when it comes to this. I work much faster because I do not want the inspiration to die off and then I lose the enthusiasm in completing it. The last work I did was a 3 panel floral set for a friend's new home, and that took me less than a week to complete.
Where do you two get inspiration from? What are you two conveying through your art?
My dad usually get his inspirations from his surroundings, the environment around him. He often go out for random walks with his pocket camera in hand. Take a bus/train and alight somewhere and start to walk around the area and take photos. Other times he would go online and look at photos of scenery (Singapore do not have 4 seasons or lots of scenic places), then he will paint something out of his own imagination.
He doesn't have specific messages for his art works, his simple goal/hope is that his works will be pleasing to those who can appreciate what he has created.
As for me, my inspiration comes from various sources, be it something I saw or read, a movie, or just plainly my own imaginations. A lot are spur of randomness. I am partially color blind and honestly, I suck big time in color combination. At times, I would unintentionally mismatch my clothes colors and my friends would have a good laugh at the unbelievable clash of colors I wore. So now I tend to wear things that are of basic colors that wouldn't go too wrong.
In my works, the colors are usually not "conventional" in a sense, like I would paint the sky shimmery purple and red, the tree in silver or blue, the ground in pink, etc. I suppose there's a child in everyone of us, unlimited by the norm or rationality. Maybe I'm also trying to cover up my lack of skills in color combination and being partially color blind by going totally unconventional in colors. :P
I love psychedelic and heavily textured works.
The styles are similar. Your works are a little 'darker'/ moodier. Is this accurate? Why so?
You are right. My works are moodier and "darker".
It could be due to the gloominess I have in my views of life in general. 80% of my works usually give others a "darker" feel. Honestly, I'm not too sure why really.
Has someone commissioned any of you for a painting? Describe the process and how long it takes.
Dad has not been commissioned to paint any yet.
As for me, a friend came to me a couple of months ago and told me he wanted something for his new home. I went to his home, took measurements of the wall he wanted to hang the work on, discussed the concept and colors with his wife and him. After that, I did a rough sketch on paper and showed them. After some minor adjustment to the sketch, I started working on the actual job. It took me about 5 days to complete the 3 panels floral set. The entire process took about 2 weeks (from the first discussion to the completion of work).
Art by Boon Facebook Page
Tidak ada komentar:
Posting Komentar