FEATURES HAN SAI POR

Han Sai Por:

An Interview
Text: Yow Siew Kah

Award-winning Artist Han Sai Por Talks About

Her New Solo Exhibition, How She Relates to Her
Materials and Her Creative Process.

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FEATURES
Han Sai Por is a top Singaporean
sculptor who was awarded the
Singapore Cultural Medallion in 1995
for her significant contribution to the
arts. She was educated in pedagogical
methods, the fine arts, and landscape
architecture, and has exhibited in such
prestigious locations as the Fukuoka
Museum, Japan, the National Museum
of Modern Art, Seoul, Korea, and in
the Landscape Sculpture Exhibition
in Beijing, China, during the 2008
Summer Olympic Games. She talks
to art historian Yow Siew Kah on her
new solo exhibition in Singapore.
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Can you tell us about the show?
My upcoming solo show is entitled “The
Changing Landscape”. I have always been
interested in the tropical landscape, and the
body of works I have made for the exhibition
shows my continued involvement in this line
of inquiry. The works are responses to what I
see as violence inflicted on the tropical flora
and fauna of Singapore.
Such violence occurs on at least two
levels. First, in the last few decades, we
have seen the physical infrastructure of our
country developing at a giddying pace.
Large parts of the natural landscape have
now been replaced by steel-and-concrete
structures. Massive destruction of wildlife
has accompanied this change. Some of the
plants and animals that I used to see as a
child appear to be extinct. Second, while
attempts have been made to re-introduce
nature into urban spaces, imported species
have been given preference over indigenous
ones. What we have now are well-manicured
gardens rather than the untamed vegetation
that used to strive under our humid tropical
conditions.
The tropical rainforest is an important feature
of the landscape of our region: it marks
the difference between us and the more
temperate areas of the world. Many places
in Singapore were named after tropical
plants which used to be abundant on the
island. Now that the flora has disappeared,
the names no longer have the same
significance.
I have grouped the works into four sub-
themes: Deforestation, Destruction,
Extinction and Transformation, each
addressing a different aspect of our
changing landscape. Instead of using the
usual pedestals, I will display the sculptures
as installations.
How are the drawings in the show related
to the sculptures?
Drawing is an important part of my art
practice, and I have been doing it for many
years. I do not draw only to conceptualise,
although it certainly has that function. If it
is possible to say that an art work can be
“complete”, many of my drawings, including
the ones in the exhibition, are “finished”
products.
We usually think of drawing and sculpting
to be two completely different activities. For
sure, there are differences, But they have
more similarities than one would imagine.
Both are creative acts that involve mark-
making: drawing lines on paper can be like
carving on stone. Of course, the media and
tools are not entirely the same, and I need to
be sensitive to the differences. For example,
sculpting is usually about removing material,
while drawing is “adding on”. But as
movements of the hand, they are really not
that dissimilar.
One of my key concerns in creating a
sculpture is the effect of light, including how
light and dark areas can be juxtaposed
to create interesting visual effects. I also
explore light-dark in my drawings.
HAN SAI POR
At the risk of over-simplifying, for me,
drawing is a more relaxing form of sculpting.
Making a sculpture out of a material like
granite is hard physical work. The sound of
the machine tools is always whirring in my
ears, and the air that I breathe in is thick
with dust. Very often, the process is so
messy that it is hard to visualise the finished
product. In contrast, drawing can be done in
a more comfortable setting, and it is easier
to see where I am going: there is a better
sense of the overall image.
Please tell us how you work with
materials.
After having worked as a sculptor for
so many years, I have developed an
intimate relationship with the materials that
I commonly work with, such as bronze,
granite and marble. Depending on the
natural appearance of a material, I decide
on how much work needs to be done. Some
materials have such beautiful forms that
I leave them pretty much as they are, but
others require more manipulation. In general,
granite has highly patterned surfaces
and need a different kind of treatment
from marble, which tends to have a more
homogenous appearance.
Different materials respond differently to
treatment. For example, granite is really
hard, and cannot be carved the same way
as marble. Also, not all materials can be
polished with good results: granite shines
easily, but sandstone never does.
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FEATURES HAN SAI POR

As you can see in the works in

the show, I like to create artificial
textures on the stones, which would
then interact with the natural ones
in interesting ways. The textures are
made using a variety of methods,
including sand-blasting and polishing.

What about your creative process?

Many of my works are rather large,

and to complete them, I need help
from skilled craftsmen. They are
really hard to find in Singapore and
Malaysia, but I have access to some
good ones in a workshop in Fujian
province, China, where I spend a good
amount of time.

I usually make a maquette, which

is a scale model, of my design, and
consult with the local masons on the
choice of material. I may even need
their help in making the maquette: the
model is usually about half the size of
the final product, so depending on the
design, it can be quite sizeable.

It would be incorrect to assume that

with a scale model, the craftsmen
can complete the work unsupervised.
There are several reasons. First, the
maquette is just a model, and because
it is much smaller than the actual work
and is made quite quickly, it does not
have many of the details in the original
design. This means that I will need to
add in the finer points when executing
1. Destruction series 1, 2009, Marble with Honed
Finish, H58.5 x W38 x D34.5 cm

2. Destruction series 2, 2009, Marble with Honed

Finish H67 x W64 x D20.5 cm

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FEATURES HAN SAI POR

the final work, either by myself or by directing a

team of masons. This occurs rather frequently.
Second, the masons are not trained in art. They are
good in replicating a design, but tend to be less
competent in making aesthetic decisions. There is
therefore a great deal of need for my input.

What projects are you working on?

I usually have ongoing special commissions to work

on. At the same time, a party has expressed interest
in publishing a small catalogue of my public art
works. A significant portion of my portfolio consists
of large, outdoor pieces. Some of these are in
private collection, while others are installed in public
spaces. Existing catalogues of my sculptures have
tended to focus on the smaller works, which means
that a large part of my oeuvre has been left out. I
look forward to seeing a publication that features the
bigger works.

The Changing Landscape is at The Luxe Art

Museum, 6 Handy Road, #02-01, The Luxe,
Singapore 229234, from 1 March 2010 to 25 April
2010. The exhibition is open Tuesdays to Sundays
from 11am to 7pm. It is closed on Mondays and
public holidays. For more information, contact
the museum at: phone: +65-63382234, fax: +65-
63372234, email: info@thelam.sg. //

Tropical Legacy, 2009, Ink on paper, 36 x 39 cm

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