Aung San Suu Kyi

I am seeing this gutsy woman everyday and several times today on TV. She is definitely the woman of the decade or the century, the feminine half of Nelson Mandela. I can't resist showing off a painting of her by Mother Nature. Don't expect a photographic representation of Suu Kyi as the canvas used by Mother Nature is nothing but water. The nature of water is ever fluid and changing and any images will be changed completely the next moment. This did not prevent Mother Nature for creating an image of Suu Kyi displaying her as a very strong will lady. In the painting she is all cool and filled with steely determination to stay her course and her fight for the freedom of Myanmar. Mother Nature likes her.

This painting is done using the Art of RAR Technique with Mother Nature as the master painter. This technique is developed by yours truly, a native art form invented by me, a Singaporean. Yes, it is a new Singaporean art form, not recognised by the conventional art community yet. The uniqueness of this technique is that you do not need an object to take a photograph. I have shot the Tree of Life without a tree and Suu Kyi without her presence. I have painted women, historical relics, celestial beasts, abstract faces, fishes etc etc, all from nothing.

In this aspect, it is like a painter painting something from his head, an image or form that he conceived of but not necessary an object. Only a painter can do that but no photographer can, until now. Photographers must have an object to shoot. Shooting an ideal or imaginary image is just not possible in photography until I discovered this technique. The images forming in the water are just like the images inside the head of an artist that no camera can capture. Now in a way I can.

I am claiming this unique photography technique as a Singaporean invention. It is still in its nascent stage of development and all my paintings were captured in environment that I have no control of. If I have the facilities and set up I would be able to make a more conducive environment and condition for Mother Nature to show much more of what she could do.

Today is May Day and the workers rest and celebrate. I rest too, and indulge in this hobby or art form of mine that gives me many satisfying moments. Oh, I even painted Michael Jackson, Bugs Bunny, Red Indian Chief, an Ascetic on a Mule, a girl lying abreast on top of two beasts and a Bali Dancer. These rar arts were the works of the first stage of my experiment with this technique, and all the images were actually created from Koi fish. I blew a whistle and they formed up for me to shoot: ) The pieces were not as refine as the second phase of my work. There were two masters showing me two different concepts on how to get these paintings.

My early paintings are also posted in my Art of RAR Gallery. Would this technique blossom as a truly Singaporean art form?