BIO
Cara is a painter and sculptor who works with a variety of mediums including acrylic, watercolour, ink, charcoal, paper, clay, plaster, metal, spray paint on found materials such as wood panels as well as on linen canvas. The artist also teaches art and is a registered art instructor for schools with the National Arts Council – Arts Education Program.
Her artistic curriculum leans towards 2D/3D abstract works (wall-sculpture paintings and free-standing sculptures) using wood, clay, plaster, fabric, paper and metal – each material assimilated and expressed in her vocabulary of emotions. Cara's works are a narrative journey that portrays the world in a different light – the goal being to capture its essence in a manner that touches our deepest senses. She combines many techniques including woodworking, casting, collage, and assemblage . Upcycling is reflected in her sculptures. They underline the unspoken beauty of found materials in its most natural, brutalised or decayed form – the beautiful colours and diverse patterns are purposeful in more ways than one. She also expresses the emotions of each collective series through graphics and music as part of her artist statement. Cara's artistic influences are sculptors Louise Nevelson (1899-1998), Marcel Duchamp (1887-1968), Anne Truitt (1921-2004), painter Henri Matisse (1869-1954), and living artists Ai Weiwei as well as fashion designer Yohji Yamamoto, who is known for his deconstruction approach and movement. Cara is a fellow of the Berlin Art Institute, completing her residency in 2022. She took a gap year in 2023 to redesign a new studio space and practice, and will launch her open studio in April 2024 to present a new, highly diverse collection of artwork, and share the creative process. She will also collaborate with classical guitarist Ivanessence and painter, TheUnskilledBoy. Cara's works have been exhibited in private and public shows since her first outing l_st & found in 2013, in Singapore. In 2021, she held her third private show, Zero, presenting a collection of 20 wall-sculptures for family-office clients. In the same year, she exhibited at the multimedia M.A.D.S. Art Gallery in Milan for the Philo-Poem show as one of its artists, and was selected to participate in the XXl Florence Biennale. She also participated in the Grand Tour of America group exhibition in New York for a billboard display on Clarkson Street. In 2020, A State Of Mind collection and Lucid Dream series were presented in two private viewings. This was followed by a group exhibition by MetroExpo at Alexanderplatz, Berlin. Cara also supported minority-run and indie spaces such as Kunstwerk Gallery in Varel, Germany, for their opening exhibition, Identity. ORIGINS Cara is the co-founder of Infected Studio, which focused on creative or corporate projects such as books and artists' promotions. She is a former journalist – a winner of the international SOPA prize in Human Rights Reporting, She has also written and edited more than 10 books on pop-culture. The book series, Nightlife [Confidential], was inducted to Cornell University Library – John Eclors Southeast Asian Collection. Cara speaks English, Mandarin, Bahasa Melayu, Cantonese, and French (A1). She has worked, studied and lived in San Francisco, New York and Kuala Lumpur, and is now based in Singapore. |