Anthony Poon (Singaporean, 1945-2006)

B-Ri Waves

Footnotes

Provenance:
From the private collection of renowned chef, Richard McGeown's family who acquired it in Cotswold, south Central England around year 2000.

方謹順　B-Ri波浪　壓克力畫布　木框

簽名：AP

來源：
知名廚師McGeown之家族約於2000年，在英國中南部的科茨沃爾德購得此作，珍藏至今

'I like things to be neat. Even in my works the effect is geometrical and calculated. I don't want things to happen by chance. I'd much rather work on it for accuracy.' - Anthony Poon, 1987.

Pioneering Singapore second-generation abstract artist Anthony Poon
graduated from the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, Singapore, in 1964. His early figurative works, under the influence of teacher Cheong Soo Pieng, show traces of Cheong's signature elongated limbs and torso and a keen interest in colour. Poon's paintings subsequently changed profoundly. The crystallisation of his abstract ideologies took place in the late 1970s, after studying at the Byam Shaw School of Art, London and his postgraduate course in printmaking at the Bradford Regional College of Art, both from 1967 to 1971. The vibrant London art scene of the 1960s introduced him to fresh concepts such as Geometric Abstraction, Hard-Edge painting (in which abrupt transitions are made between areas of different colours), Colour Field (where solid colours are spread to create a flat plane with no brushstrokes) and Optical Art.

This was evident in his first major body of works, the Kite Series. Inspired by Optical Art and the traditional motifs of Malay kites, he painted smooth blocks of colour and patterns of optical complexity on geometrically shaped canvases that did not emphasise pictorial depth. During the late 1970s, he produced his signature Wave Series, abandoning the shaped canvas for the square frame of which the current lot is a fine example. Here, order and symmetry remain the operative logic, as Poon examined the curvilinear quality of frequency waves. The title 'B-Ri' maintained his meticulous practice of using codes in the paint colour chart for naming works. He also specifically chose the acrylic medium to create a distinctively flat surface, so that traces of brushstrokes and evidence of the painting process would be understated.

Although reduced to monochrome, undulating, billowing waves of varied tonality flow horizontally outwards to the edges of the canvas, suggesting movement and light. He was also stimulated by industrialising Singapore's emerging skyscrapers and newly built escalators during this period as they found representation in the pattern of blocks and curves. Playing with visual effects of the sensuous black, optical illusions of the waves, and the disciplined composition on a grid, Wave paintings like this defined his career and became precursors to his three-dimensional relief paintings and large-scale, site-specific sculptures.