#1 Speak Cryptic (Singapore)
In the summer of 2018, I attended the Koganecho Bazaar, an art festival in Yokohama, Japan, and was introduced to the work of the artist “Speak Cryptic”. At first glance his work intrigued me. A majority of his work were drawings of men depicted in black and white tones. The drawings are only of men with deep carvings in their bodies. These are characteristic of the males in the Malay tribe to which he belongs, a minority in Singapore. He draws inspiration from his friends, using a variety of themes from everyday life, from broken hearts to the setbacks unemployed people face.
His unusual artist name, Speak Cryptic, was created while he was an art student and tagged his unique moniker on street pillars and graffitied throughout the city of Singapore. These pieces caught the attention of a Singaporean art scholar, and landed his artwork in an exhibition at a local museum. Later, he exhibited in France and Japan, and this quirky name gradually became known to a wide audience. In fact, the BBC has named him as one of Singapore’s most influential artists.
The name Speak Cryptic seems political in nature for him. For each question I ask him he responds with a question that reflects that feeling. “Malays are minorities in Singapore. Are they having problems?" “Are minorities having problems around the word?"
“Is graffiti illegal in Singapore?" “Isn't graffiti illegal around the world?” He gives the impression that he’ll never be satisfied with the political situation in Singapore. His work expresses his opinions to these social issues but he says, "I express them indirectly, not directly."
His decision to choose art as a means of expression came early for Speak Cryptic. While he was only an elementary school student, he was impressed by the American artist Jean-Michel Basquiat so much that he decided to become a painter. At that young age he felt that Basquiat was able to convey vast amounts of feeling and information through relatively simple techniques and expressions in his art.
Speak Cryptic at Yokohama in 2018
One might think the Singaporean uses only black and white due to the influence of Basquiat but actually it is because of his inability to identify colors. At face value, his work features sad figures, giving a dark impression but as you spend time looking they also present a certain humor. The paintings have an exquisite balance between darkness and levity. All of his work convey to viewers emotions that cannot be easily identified. Is it sadness? Or happiness? Personally, when I first saw his work, I felt my emotions gradually move to a neutral position. That is always the feeling I eventually land on when I come across a good artwork. To that point, I feel that Speak Cryptic is among the best of emerging young artists who are expressing the universal challenges of today's world in unique ways.
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