My composition is inspired by the painting which I had seen in the National Gallery Singapore named “Dancing Mutants” by Hernando R. Ocampo c. 1965. Hernando was a Filipino artist. He is known for writing fiction and plays. He usually presents flora and fauna from the Philippines in his artworks.

I chose to base my painting on it because it invoked a sense of curiosity in me when I had first seen it. Looking at it for the first time, I was puzzled. All I could see was random red and green shapes, which to me vaguely resemble hexagons. However, as I kept looking, I started to see those random green shapes combine and turn into figures of animals and people. I decided to use this painting as inspiration for mine because it has a theme of animals and nature which was a subject I wanted to create this painting of.

After much thought on the number I should use in this painting, I have chosen 58. This is the number of years since Singapore became an official country. It is also the period of time which it took to make Singapore the diverse natural haven it is today. The numbers are represented by animals in the middle of the painting.

In my painting, I wanted to use a similar colour scheme of green and red, while also integrating the original colours of objects in reality. I also wanted to use the shapes which I had seen when I first looked at the painting. Therefore, I used a hexagon behind the wings and Supertree, which I then painted red. I added lots of foliage towards the bottom of the painting to draw attention to the nature in cities theme of the painting, while also keeping to the colour scheme of “Dancing Mutants”.

I wanted to create a painting based on Singapore because it is the place where I have spent most of my life.