This week, SEC did something different! We took a look at artworks and let imagination run wild. With our combined creativity, we have come up with a few fun entries inspired by beautiful yet complex artworks from all over the world! This activity allowed our members to let loose and write to their heart’s content, while warming us up for future articles. So while you await those articles, sit back, relax and enjoy these writings by SEC!
1. Jaques Tati’s Playtime, reimagined by Zhe Ning (24J12)
A different medium of art, a film still, Playtime is a protest against urbanisation, the outpacing of everyday life in France, and the seeming loss of individuality and freedom. Zhe Ning explores this in her short story.
“Descending the shifting steel plates, the green matrix expanded and multiplied into cubicles to cubicles. Each seemingly duplicates, strictly abiding by the black-and-white construction guidelines, afraid to step out of the grids. A panopticon, the dark-suited inmates tirelessly clack on their typewriters, afraid to stop for their superiors may notice. The sound of keys clickings, doors slammed shut, merge to form a heart rhythm, substituting the heart which once pulsed with life.”
2. Ikeda Manabu’s Rebirth, reimagined by Zesen (24J20)
Zesen recounts what he feels about this grand painting.
“When one first takes a look at an artwork made by Ikeda Manabu, their eyes would be bombarded by the amount of details and colours it has, and one could look at it for a month and still find new details in his artworks. Ikeda Manabu himself actually doesn't know what his artworks would look like, so he's kinda going along with the flow, which is impressive considering how his artworks end up. He must be quite creative to be able to achieve such a feat. In fact, he actually takes 2 years to finish a single piece, with 8 hours put into making the artwork per day. That's a long time, about 5,800 hours spent on a single artwork, with every minute spent on it being building up the artwork in blocks.
This particular artwork is named Rebirth, which he spent about 3 years on (2013-2016), and proudly stands at 3 meters tall and 4 meters wide. It depicts a tree rising from the debris of the tsunami as giant waves envelop the tree, but a closer look reveals thousands of tiny details, the individual stories of anonymous beings as they fight for survival and try to change their world back to one with order. Ikeda says that in his work he seeks to replicate the beautiful chaos of life that rarely fits a simple narrative. Indeed, he shows that in his style of art, as he often goes with the flow and the story isn't obvious until near the completion of the painting.”
3. Arnold Böcklin’s Self-Portrait with Death Playing the Fiddle, reimagined by Chyi Quan (24J07)
Chyi Quan researched Böcklin, who developed an obsession with mortality following the death of his infant daughter. From that moment on, it became the crux of his work, though never as obviously as in Self-Portrait with Death Playing the Fiddle. Böcklin is not looking at himself; instead, he is listening. Listening to the entrancing words of a gleeful Death, the morbid spectre perpetually at his back.
“Death is scary yet entracing, a single note encaptures you, a snap of its string snatches your soul away. It accompanies you, day by day, your light grows dimmer and dimmer, until you part ways with it,”
4. Peter Fendi’s The Sad Message, reimagined by Reiko (24J08)
This melancholic painting, about a soldier not making it home from war, elicited strong feelings from Reiko, which she translated into the piece below.
“He always came home on the 3rd Wednesday of every month, but not today. She wasn't particularly worried. Sometimes he was a little late. He'll come home.
The children were quiet, for once. The older one had just learned to recite a poem! He couldn't wait to show his father. He kept asking her, "Where is Papa? Where is Papa?" She simply answered, "He'll come home."
Hours have passed. Still no sign of him. All is well, she thought. He might have been caught up on his deployment. Surely, he'll come home.
He will, right?
There was a knock at the door. He's here! Youngest child in her arms, she rushed to the door, heart soaring. "He's home-"
Two soldiers at the door, yet neither was him. For a split second, she panicked, but she regained her bearings. "Where is he? Has he come home?"
The two soldiers, solemn, shook their heads.
He'll never come home.”
5. Vincent van Gogh’s The Arles Sunflowers, Third Version, reimagined by Ming Hui (24J07)
When looking at this artwork, Ming Hui wondered, “What did the world look like, from a warped mind?” Perhaps the sunflowers of his eyes were too realistic and remorseless a portrayal of not only nature, but life in and within itself. When appraisers stare at it, poignant, what would he think, the artist who attempted to love the world enough to leave a reflection of it through his eyes? She conveyed this in her beautifully written poem.
Credits for image: https://medium.com/national-gallery-of-australia/the-seven-sunflowers-7784b0f364fe
“Perhaps they yearned for the sun once,
A height greater than their lived months
But when relentless incandescence scorched away
every petal of its vitality, diminished were its rays
Hunched over was it, once standing tall and proud
Now it stays in the dark, shadowed and without a sound”
6. Nata Sin’s Menotaxis, reimagined by Jazz (24J07)
This recent work of Russian artist Nata Sin intrigued Jazz, prompting her to write a touching short story.
“There was once a butterfly whose sole role was to flutter, blessing each flower it passed, spreading love and beauty. Each bug who saw it would smile and muse at the colours that donned its fragile wings. The butterfly knew its innate ability to attract marvel towered over every others’, its daintiness inviting, its uniqueness dazzling.
As the winter months approached, the air cooled and the butterfly’s once rosy pink hue faded to a strange, plaque yellow. Its pretty white spots faded to gray, then brown. The butterfly no longer flew with as much confidence, its wings appeared wrinkly and heavy. It no longer carried the same spark it did, muting its companions’ wonder upon sight.
Just as the butterfly’s wings grew heavier, the sky reciprocated with strong steady rainfall and equally strong, unwelcomingly chilling wind. Despite the cold, the butterfly stood in its home, its heart burning with a passion unheard of.
“I never asked to live this life.”
A gust of wind snatched the butterfly off its feet and it felt the all too familiar weightlessness, a final moment of liberty. Then, it let go. The butterfly felt the stabs of rushing winds as it rappelled downwards, guilt and regret creeping nearer.
And then, there was flight…”
8. Poem of Fish by Shu Chang (24J19)
Though not directly inspired by art, Shu Chang made some art of his own, writing a poem!
The picture of fish that inspired Shu Chang!
“In the ocean, in the river
Many kinds of fish, dancing in the water.
Tuna, salmon, clownfish and so on.
Those mysterious creatures under the water,
Construct a new world.
Their faeces feed the microorganism, their flesh enriches the dining tables of humans.
How helpful they are, how elegant they are!
Swim circles in ponds, their lives align.
Each splash a rhyme,
In the quiet of water,
Let us appreciate these aquatic souls,
Their liquid poetry, their mysterious roles.”
We hope you have enjoyed this walk through a virtual museum as much as we have!
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