This Awkward Space Isn't That Awkward

After All

Matte Enamel on Wood, Acrylic, Metal Pieces

2020

In Faris Nakamura’s latest works, the artist ponders on awkward spaces in architecture with oddities such as peculiar walls placements, stairwells that lead to nowhere, barricaded balconies and gated pathways that does not seem to be of any function and he wonders why they were built that way.

Perhaps, he muses, they present construction techniques driven by more artistic freedom pursuits. But do they justify straying away from their functions?

Faris’ works are coated in lush, rich colours that command attention and demand significance - a stark contrast to the bizarre design of the works with the aforementioned architectural oddities that most would avoid.

However, with this avoidance, the artist eventually becomes aware of a quiet world that is inadvertently created and is cherished by those who inhabit them. The function of these spaces then becomes less and less odd and Faris asks himself, was that the architect’s intentions from the beginning?

This artwork is a part of Streets of Hope, the first and one of the largest presentations of local artworks, raised high on street banners initiated by the National Arts Council Singapore.