Acrylic on canvas, 2021
Christiyani Kabul
River Valley High School
The title is a spoof on the title of Hieronymus Bosch’s painting ‘The Garden of Earthly Delights‘ in which people are depicted engaging in a variety of pleasurable activities. However, unlike the famous painting, the little figures here are shown eating their meal in isolation – a reflection of the current situation in Singapore and in many other countries. People have to buy takeaways when dining-in is banned under the prevailing safe management measures.
Eating therefore can no longer be a social activity. People become more and more lonely as they are pushed to retreat into their individual caves-their inner space-which are represented as the discrete food containers in the painting.
The square dimension of the painting is reminiscent of an Instagram post, but instead of a photograph of fancy, well-styled food, it is a snapshot of takeaway dishes in their most basic form, only for the consumer him/herself to see.
Since young, Christiyani has been interested in drawing and this led her to studying art at NTU School of Art, Design and Media. Majoring in visual communications, she has a passion to explore how messages can be effectively conveyed in a variety of visual forms.
Christy likes to draw comics as the medium enables her to express issues in a fun, light-hearted manner through little whimsical-looking characters. She publishes her comics in anthologies and on social media like Instagram.
As an art teacher, Christy hones and reflects on her own artistic process through guiding her students in their art making journey.
Read more about a e d g e 2022 and the existing artworks.
aedge 