Biographical Info

Email: sunleo27@gmail.com

Studio: Singapore:11 Upper Wilkie Road, Singapore 228120

Education: St Patrick’s Art Centre (Now LaSalle College of the Arts), Singapore

“The commonplace and ordinary astounds me when it sometimes reveals its cloaked charm. That, for me, as an artist, who fond of poems is impossible to ignore. This beauty may present itself as the rising morning light, the creatures of our Earth—oblivious to my gaze, the shifting shadows of dusk, and even the devastating forces of nature: the everyday scenes that remind me remarkably of our place in the universe,” Says Sunar Sugiyou

Sunar adds that these are the fleeting images he immortalises as poems, some of which are translated onto canvas. “If poetry were the reflection of the soul, then painting is its manifestation,” he adds thoughtfully continuing, “To paint, to me, is to portray the myriad faces of the world.”

Sunar experiments with diverse mediums. Acrylic, ink, thread, fabric and found objects, among others. Since the early 1990s, he has traversed the abstract, which with the passing years has proven succinct in expressing my subjects and exploring my Javanese heritage, gradually incorporating Chinese ink and brush techniques.

Sunar tries to create a world that exists parallel to the one we see and feel. Some of them have a poem origin. There are more delicacy and dynamism of lines in his early works. His later works are more ponderous yet no less lively. My ink works are comparatively restful, muted, yet retaining an almost impressionistic vigour. Although painting for Sunar is mostly abstract and symbolic, he explores his representation side via occasional sculptures and clay forms. “Earth is my muse, ink and paint her blood and tears; clay is her body. Shaping clay reminds me of our fragility and our psyches in symbiosis. When I choreograph pigments on blank slates, I pay tribute to the Earth’s and life,” says Sunar.