Remember the times you had spent running around void decks playing with friends, getting your hunger pangs fulfilled at the ‘mama’ shop near your school, or just sitting around watching the moonlight at night before bed as a child?
Those memories may be past, but did you know that you can relive them through art?
Singaporean artist Lee Kow Fong, more fondly known as Ah Guo, aims to do just that by painting colourful illustrations that take inspiration from the heartlands we’re all so familiar with.
Taking the characters of children as well as various animals such as penguins, hedgehogs and rabbits, he paints them in childlike fashion to appeal to both young and old.
Here are 2 of his paintings in iconic Singaporean style. Have a go at whether you recognise these places!
- The Vanishing Rainbow Castle When it was announced that the Rochor Centre public housing estate would be demolished in June 2018, photographers from all walks of life came to catch a shot of the four distinctly coloured buildings before its impending fate.
While the hues of yellow, blue, green and red are now a thing of the past, let’s take pride in its numerous angles of beauty we have collected – such as in this painting – that we can showcase for generations to come.
- So Lucky We may be all-too-familiar with local provision shops – or ‘mama’ shops as we fondly call them – that are very conveniently located in our neighbourhoods for a quick fix when our hunger pangs kick in.
Follow-up activities (choose one to write in your journal):
- Write a letter to Ah Guo to request him to hold an exhibition of his illustrations at your primary school.
- Imagine an idea for a TV show that will teach viewers to draw manga.
- Draw your own illustration that depicts an interesting place in Yishun. Explain why you chose this place.
- Invent a game that will enable primary school pupils to understand Ah Guo’s illustrations.