Cover Visual artist Ahmad Abu Bakar
Visual artist Ahmad Abu Bakar
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Through a SG$50,000 donation from Tatler Singapore, the National Gallery Singapore acquired his installation work as part of its permanent collection. The visual artist discusses the inspirations behind his body of work and his role as an artist and educator
From Angkor Wat in Cambodia to Borobudur in Indonesia, Ahmad Abu Bakar’s fascination with ancient architecture captures a significant part of his artistic practice. The various forms of his works are often reminiscent of the stupas and domes of such architecture.
Case in point: Journey from a Point to Geometry #2, an installation of nine clay objects he created in 2001, each one standing on its own point on a steel plate. Through a SG$50,000 donation from Tatler Singapore, the National Gallery Singapore acquired the work as part of its permanent collection. It was recently unveiled at the Tatler Ball 2023 on November 11.
“I’m fascinated by the dynamism and monumental quality of such architecture,” says Ahmad. “When I was doing research, I discovered the idea of a point of geometry, the philosophy behind dots and points. I started presenting the works in such a way that the whole idea is about life itself: how we are always looking for a sense of balance and, at the same time, perfection.”
The Journey from a Point to Geometry series, which stems from his master’s thesis, features 17 works at its culmination. While Ahmad mainly works with clay as a material, the artist stops short of calling himself a ceramicist, preferring the term visual artist instead. His multidisciplinary approach to art also sees him producing works using other materials such as metals, wood and plastic, in various mediums including installation, video, photography and performance.
But what is it about clay that has captured his imagination? “It can tell you about the history of a place—maybe not in the context of Singapore because most of our clay is imported—but in its natural form.” He shares an example of Shigaraki ceramics, where potters harvest their clay from the area, “so the ceramics produced in Shigaraki will represent and tell the stories of its people—and that’s the beauty of clay”.
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Above ‘Journey from a Point to Geometry #2’, an installation of nine clay objects Ahmad created in 2001, with the wood stand reconstructed with steel plate in 2022
‘Journey from a Point to Geometry #2’, an installation of nine clay objects Ahmad created in 2001, with the wood stand reconstructed with steel plate in 2022
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Ahmad graduated from the Lasalle College of the Arts with a Diploma in Fine Arts (Ceramics) in 1989, and started “making figurative and abstract works; more expressions of ‘feel’, not so much based on an idea or narrative”. He counts himself lucky to encounter other artists, including Tang Da Wu and Teo Eng Seng, which offered another level of exposure to various ideas, thus influencing a more conceptual approach to his art.
He later went to the University of Tasmania in Australia, where he received his Bachelor of Fine Art in 1995, majoring in sculpture. Upon his return to Singapore, he joined Lasalle where he taught ceramics and 3D studies until 2008. While teaching, he also pursued his Master of Fine Arts. He is currently an adjunct lecturer at the National Institute of Education.
Besides his work as an artist, Ahmad considers his role as an arts educator to be of equal importance. Since 2009, he has dedicated his time to working with the Singapore Prison Service as an art instructor, mentoring inmates in an art programme, and encouraging them to express their creativity while instilling confidence and conviction through the process.
The Changi Prison inmates also became his muse and collaborator in the work Telok Blangah, which was installed in the foyer of the Singapore Art Museum as part of the 2013 Singapore Biennale. “I requested them to write their aspirations on labels which I placed on glass bottles. I put them on a wooden sampan I bought from my hometown in Malacca,” he shares.
Above ‘Journey from a Point to Geometry #2’
‘Journey from a Point to Geometry #2’
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These nuances of homeland and identity are also other aspects that Ahmad explores in his works. Born in Malaysia, he has been living in Singapore since young. “Singapore is my country, and Malaysia is also my country,” he says. He talks about “land, origin, and my personal experiences of being a Malaysian, and a Singaporean in that sense” in his 2019 solo show Tanah Langit Bumi, or The Land of the Heavenly Sky in Malay, at Chan + Hori Contemporary.
He considers the two aforementioned exhibitions, along with his master’s show at Lasalle and a 1992 group show called Bread and Butter at the National Museum Art Gallery—where he presented a work made of wood, a clock and other materials—as showing some of his important developments as an artist. They are “all about changing the whole dynamics of ceramics making, at least from my perspective”, says Ahmad, who adds, “If people ask me, ‘What’s your contribution to the local art scene?’ My answer would be to give another narrative to ceramics making—a way of exploring my ideas, my stigmas, and adopting a more adventurous approach.”
This is also where his curiosity currently lies, “in my approach towards ideas about the storytelling of art making itself”, Ahmad says. “I’m also challenging myself when it comes to questioning the whole narrative in art making, from the artist to the concept, to the object. It would be quite a major project, which I hope will also involve writing. So we shall see in one or two years’ time.”
Credits
Photography: Darren Gabriel Leow
Grooming: Angel Gwee
Images: Max Chan at 101TeamWork
As Senior Editor of Tatler Singapore, Hashirin champions and refines the storytelling across platforms—curating and crafting compelling profiles, cover stories and features that spotlight visionaries shaping culture, business and impact. Driven by curiosity, she draws inspiration from the artists, changemakers and trailblazers she encounters through her work. Beyond the pages of Tatler, she is an avid supporter of local theatre and delights in seeking out art in every city she visits.
