Breaking Out Of Comfort Zones: Singapore's art scene breaking ground for emerging international artists

In a recent encounter with Singapore-based artist Divyam, we were allowed to communicate and witness his artistic eye during a current public installation we were involved in.

Divyam is a Fine arts graduate from LASALLE College of the Arts Singapore, he grew up in India and found a new creative space to grow in Singapore, and it is such a blessing to witness his contributions to the local arts scene. He spent a part of his youth within a boys boarding school in India during Deepavali, an uncanny encounter with a family asset that birthed his inquisitiveness to explore his innate gravitation to fine art. After returning home from his stay away, he noticed an easel that belonged to his mother in his family home in 2010. He was tasked to paint a reference, and to both his and his mother’s surprise, he was able to paint the reference in watercolour with immense precision and detail. The shared passion for art then cultivated into a resolute decision of pursuing fine art as a career. 

Divyam’s practice initially revolved around realism and vivid warm tones that reflected his ethnic roots. Although this was a comfortable space, his time in Singapore inspired him to expand his time within contemporary art and what that meant for him as an emerging artist of Indian descent. Out of the 1.38 billion people within India, Divyam believes that the understanding of contemporary art and its ability to expand into the lived experience is not widely fathomed by art audiences. Hence, he took it upon himself to embrace and explore the global contemporary art world. 

He recollects two pivotal moments in his artistic process in Singapore. One included a portraiture exercise where he realised the differentiation brushstrokes when he was emoting differently as he painted. He then observed closely and practised and researched the nature of his brushstrokes. The second pivotal moment in his process was the introduction of performance art. Although performance art was a challenging medium to explore, as he came from a highly protective environment, being vulnerable in this pivot emboldened his current practice.

For the first one and a half years in Singapore, Divyam stuck to his technical excellence and overcame the challenge to embrace new concepts. While in Singapore, he experienced a tension between safe spaces and opening up to his audience through his work, a sign of maturity. 

Being an artist in Singapore means doing something out of one’s comfort zone to affect people and their lives.

- Divyam

Divyam’s work I Love Your Skin required him to present himself semi-nude inviting audience members to paint him with their colour of choice while Divyam was blindfolded. Divyam did this as an attempt to explore what different people groups saw in him. 

Photos taken by Andrea Tan

The touch of the brushes upon his bare skin, a dialectic acceptance from others and of self. Through this work, he experienced a deep understanding of gestural abstraction, paying close attention to human connection within the art experience with the slightest hesitant hand versus the boldest of strokes. 

Divyam aspires to continue creating artwork. His recent developments include exploring still life through a nature series investigating the contradictions between old and new generations during the pandemic. 

About Divyam Raghunath

Originally from India, Divyam Raghunath is a fine artist based in Singapore. He is a graduate of LASALLE College of the Arts, Singapore, with a degree in Fine Arts from Goldsmiths, University of London. Using canvas as an aide-memoire, each colour and brushstroke has significant meaning to him personally and figuratively. Divyam's art practice is concerned with perception and identity, both personal and cultural. Whether using traditional canvas, digital platform, found objects or performance art highlighting the corporeal, all gestures and movements are ripe for use in his work. Changing the perception of art is his driving force.

The following is a short description of my performance "I Love Your Skin":

The photo series is taken from an intimate performance piece. In I Love Your Skin, the artist, blindfolded, urges participants to paint him with colours of their choice. Since the blindfold stops the artist from seeing the colours, he cannot participate—an allegory to identity and discrimination enabled by a stranger's gaze. The piece deals with the narratives surrounding 'the other' whilst unravelling a universal discourse on choice and self-acceptance.

For more information follow him on Instagram.