We can’t see what he’s doing, but there is a sense that we have invaded his private bubble.
This is just one of the many quintessential Singaporean scenes that Singaporean artist, Jonathan Lim, manages to transform into paintings. In a style reminiscent of American realist painter Edward Hopper’s depictions of everyday life, Jonathan similarly captures the mundane parts of Singaporean living, yet does so in a way that his paintings are heavy with both sentiment and familiarity.
As one of his commenters on Instagram says, they evoke “feels”.
Yet this seems to be the precise reason he picks them.
In elevating the ordinary, Jonathan’s visceral paintings remind us to appreciate the present, and to never forget the past, so that we may realise the little things in life are in fact the big things.
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