Interview With Singapore Artist Suzann Victor
Suzann Victor wowed the crowds at Art Stage 2015 with Contours of a Rich Manoeuvre. We talk to her about her work
THE FIRST ARTWORK I EVER SOLD…
It was a large scale mixed media 2-D work on paper that crossed the boundaries between drawing and abstract painting entitled Break. It sold prior to the opening of the first group exhibition I participated with fellow artists Daniel Wong, Phillip Lim and Khairul Anwar Salleh.
THE WORK I’M MOST PROUD OF...
The Third World Extra Virgin Dreams 1997 shown at the 6th Havana Biennale. The work stages an everyday object—a metal bed—as the centrepiece. It was suspended below a skylight at Havana’s historic Cabania Fortress. Literally and metaphorically, the bed is a site of both beginnings and endings, rest and restlessness, birthing and death. It is where dreams and nightmares take hold. The bed and the glass quilt presented an ambiguity—is it levitating upwards or falling out of a hole that obviously could not fit? This is appealing to me.
THE CHANDELIER WAS INSPIRED BY….
I am interested in “disturbing” the roles of everyday objects such as the chandelier that operates easily as a western signifier and yet, has become ubiquitous in this region. And I was inspired by the fact this swinging movement is basically the most comforting movement in nature. You have the swaying of trees in the breeze, a child on the swing or rocking babies to sleep in a sarong… I like the idea that a heavy object such as a chandelier can become so free in movement, and in a
group of eight or 12, behave
so coherently.
THE MOST SURPRISING COMMENT ABOUT MY WORK…
It was not a comment, although it can be seen as a wordless one. A lady was looking at my work His Mother is a Theatre. As her husband held her closely, tears started to stream down her face.
I CAN’T LIVE WITHOUT…
The humble cable tie. I am indebted to it. And I was really excited to learn that they also come in stainless steel material, so minimal, polished, elegant and versatile. If hardware shops had membership schemes, I would be a premium member.
A WORK IS FINISHED WHEN…
If my heart still quickens in pace and blood still rushes around loaded with ideas, thoughts and feelings when my gaze settles upon it, I know it is ready to do its own thing without me.
MY NEXT PROJECT IS…
It’s not one project, but several projects at the same time. I have been invited for large projects celebrating Singapore’s Jubilee.
YOUNG ARTISTS IN SINGAPORE SHOULD…
Be human, stay hungry, have integrity.