From elegant honeycomb sculptures to a graphic installation of organs, IN Exhibition has it all. This event once again proves that young people are capable of making original work of high quality. After all, Michelangelo started selling his sculptures at the age of 16.
The opening reception took place on Nov. 12 at the Australian High Commission located on 25 Napier Road. Nine International schools were represented at the exhibition: Australian International School, Chatsworth International School, German European School Singapore, ISS International School, Singapore American School, St. Joseph’s Institution International, Tanglin Trust School, UWC Dover, and UWC East. SAS is proud to have 15 artists presenting a variety of both two and three-dimensional work at the exhibition.
Senior Bianca Antonio: “Since my art concentration is ‘Human-Animal Hybrid,’ I wanted to create this piece to juxtapose a human and a peacock. It shows the difference between the true humbleness of a person who’s meditating and the pride that others see on the outside.”
Senior Clemence Morin: “If I had just one thing in the studio, it would probably be watercolor paper because of its strength. As you can see here with stitching, I put my pieces through a lot so I need the base of my work to be strong.”
Senior Ashmita Malkani getting inspiration from “Everything I Didn’t Say” by Samantha Toong from St. Joseph Institution International.
Senior Sofia Syjuco: “When I go to college, I want to get a BFA in game art.”
“Growth and Decay,” a highly graphic sculpture by Zoe Thompson from Tanglin Trust School, received a lot of attention.
Senior Michelle Lu: “If I could improve something about my piece, ‘Weathered Bench,’ I would’ve put on more layers of color. The piece turned out a little more washed out than I want it to be.”
Senior Avantika Khanna: “My art concentration is ‘Life of a Doll’ so here, I tried to portray a doll as a girl’s childhood friend. As the girl is growing up, she is trying to let go of her childhood but when she gets older, she realizes that she wants her childhood back.”
SAS was proud to have seniors Jayg Dimayacyac and Noah Thomas play music throughout the evening.
Senior Ye Jin Jeon: “I’ve been in Make-Up Club for four years so I wanted to create a work of art incorporating that. In studio art, I did a few pieces called ‘A day in a life of a make-up artist’ and wanted to continue the series. Going to London for interim definitely helped because I was able to go backstage and see hidden aspect of theatre: the work of make-up artists and techies. I used this opportunity and incorporated the pictures that I took into my concentration.”
Alexander Sant from UWC Dower talked about the inspiration behind his artwork: “One time, my brother and I were taking photos in the pool. My brother is 12, an age that I, personally, associate with vulnerability. So I put him in a pose where he’d be looking down to express this idea of vulnerability. I later used the photo to create my ‘Emergence’ piece.”
“Inhale” by Caterina Grasso from St. Joseph Institution International: harshness of a gas mask and elegancy of thread come together in this beautiful piece.
The controversial nature of student work strikes conversation between adults.
Senior Jessica Allen: “A reference photo that I took for this was at my uncle’s house. My uncle is known for collecting clock mechanisms, the whimsical nature of which inspires me. I wanted to capture that although clocks might seem minimalistic, they are extremely intricate.”
Moira Volk from ISS International School: “One time, my cousin sent me a video of an artist who is known for finding interesting building textures and laying glass panels over them. When he takes pictures of the end product, glass reflections and the background merge together, creating a unique piece of art. I wanted to do something similar with this photo called ‘Illusions,’ just using nature as my background.”
Yana Schwannecke from German European School talked about her three-piece series of work: “The first piece in this series is called ‘Opa’s garage’; ‘opa’ means ‘grandfather’ in German. Even though my granddad passed away eight years ago, his garage still looks like what it used to when he was alive. This drawing is reminiscent of earlier years which makes it sentimental.”
Yana Schwannecke: “This piece called ‘First Personal’ was inspired by video games. In video games, there are always these rooms that you have to quickly explore before you move on to the next area. People rarely look at the detail in each room, ignoring all the hidden things that take weeks to design and draw. My drawings are similar to video games in that sense: there is a lot of detail that you’re not going to absorb just by glancing at it.”
Nigina Kayumova from German European School talked about her piece called “Multiple Personality Disorder Lamp”: “I have a friend back in Uzbekistan who suffers from this disorder. When I found out that she was getting better, I decided to create this piece as a means of celebration of such great news. It took two months to make it. First, I had to make a clay sculpture of the faces and then cast it with silicon.”
The Opening Reception was extremely successful as visitors were impressed by the number of original ideas seen at the exhibition. One of the organizers noticed that “the presented artwork lets the inner protest of young artists shine through.”
If you haven’t had the chance to look at amazing student art yet, head down to the Australian High Commission before Dec. 12. Don’t miss this opportunity; who knows, maybe one day these young artists will be signing autographs.
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