Pearls in Green, Orange & Blue, 2024

Automotive paint on aluminum

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120 x 120 x 50 cm

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Have you been to the Pearl Bank Apartments?

Completed in 1976, it was touted as the tallest apartment building in Southeast Asia, nestled in luxurious landscaping and offered unobstructed panoramic view of the Singapore skyline. Designed by local architect Tan Cheng Siong of Archurban Architects Planners, each apartment was distinctly styled, arranged in split level and served by high speed lifts from the car park.

As a young architect and budding photographer, I won my first photography award after submitting images of the Pearl Bank Apartment's unique horseshoe shaped structure in 2008. 16 years on, it is the same inspiratation that I am drawing from to create a set of new work for ART SG 2024.

Presented as a triptych of wall sculptures in green, orange and blue, the colours represent the apartments' lush surroundings, the building's facade and the open sky respectively. While the repeated 3/4 cylindrical shapes are housed in floater frames with gently angled sides that remind us of the Pearl Bank Apartments' hilly site, each piece is arranged in a slightly different permutation that when viewed together, resemble watch faces and the suggestion of the passage of time.

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Alas, it is time that governs and limits the lease of land use in Singapore. After standing proudly as an architectural lodestar and iconic landmark in Chinatown area for close to 50 years, Pearl Bank Apartments was demolished in 2020, to make way for a new high rise private residential project. As a homage to the OG building, my wish is for personal stories and memories, through my work, to continue to grow and be shared.