Nicole Phua
- Wuwei
- Feb 21, 2020
- 3 min read
Updated: Jun 25, 2020
Nicole Phua, based in Singapore, is a visual artist who works primarily in installation and performance art. She was formally trained in Western painting in Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, and has graduated in 2017 with a Diploma in Fine Art (Distinction). She has performed in several group exhibitions such as A.void, ORTHODOX, The Only Paradise Is Paradise Lost, and Wu Wei Performance Art Series. She is the founder of therightbelief, a platform to showcase contemporary works by young artists.
The Sweetness of Idling
First Series + 17 Jun 2018 Your Mother Gallery
Peanuts are often seen as a symbol of something auspicious; long life, good health, and prosperity. The Chinese character of the word peanut, 花生 (huāshēng), can be translated to several other meanings such as spending life, or growing flower.
During the performance ‘the sweetness of idling’, the figure who sits in a white fabric bag filled with peanuts, will peel the nuts from its shell and offer it to audiences as a form of blessing. The audiences are only able to see the silhouette of the figure in the bag, spending her time peeling peanuts for the receiver to grow and bloom.
Will the blessing be granted to those who receive? Do they have to work, or are they just waiting for good things to come?
。the circle never goes backwards
Second Series +
10 Mar 2019
Stamford Arts Centre
。the circle never goes backwards is a performance art piece influenced by the Chinese full stop character, 句号 (jù hào). Resembling a circle, Nicole draws in an attempt to create the perfect circle, finding harmony in the contradiction between a full stop and a circle. She questions the mundaneness of her daily routine, as she devotes her energy to present the unending, the un-measurable and indefinable aspects of Eternity.
Audiences are invited to sharpen a pencil and draw with her. The pencil is a powerful tool used in daily lives universally. It is used to write in any language and draw in any way. It is undeniably something that anyone and everyone is familiar with. The artwork encourages individuals to take the initiative to pick up the pencils and start sharpening. Much alike how we live our lives watching days go by, as we grow up and grow old with time, waiting for the full stop. How do we truly live if our days are not in our control? The act of drawing in repetitive circles symbolises the timelessness and the search for wholeness, as the artist seek to reconnect with herself.
sol.still
Steeped Strong +
29 Nov 2019
Far East Plaza 01-79
sol.still is a performance piece that reintroduces the artist's body with an element that is solely dependent on for life; the living soil. Playing with the idea of our living ground being soil/ dirt/ earth, Nicole performs mark making actions onto turmeric leaves using turmeric powder and soil. The colour yellow of turmeric, in contrast with one another, symbolises both purity and decay, in which she feels that is representational of life and its happenings. This performance is part 2 of 5 of her ongoing exploration into natural elements series, namely void, earth, water, fire and air.
irregular regularity
Seventh Series +
25 April 2020
Online
irregular regularity: cactus, water, candle, soil
'irregular regularity' is a performance piece depicting the break of structure and routine within life in this odd and confusing time. Leaning against the wall to stand tall, the cactus is a symbol of persistence towards the flow of time and the change of surrounding. As long as it is given what it needs to survive, it will live no matter where it is placed.
This reflects onto how I perceive the situation is right now, where time and space has shifted yet the body and mind has to constantly work with where it is placed in. The feeling of loss, hopelessness and grief are the emotions the self encounters while having to be expected to succumb to change.
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