Asia's Artists To Watch

Celebrating the meteoric rise of Asian art, we've taken on the colossal task of identifying the region's new stars. From emerging to established across lands and cultures, these visionaries are enriching our cultural dialogue, one work at a time.

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SINGAPORE

SHAVONNE WONG

Shavonne Wong is a Singaporean digital artist with a passion for creating and imagining art through various mediums. After a 10-year career as a fashion and commercial photographer, she switched to 3D art after the pandemic disrupted her work. A turning point came when she began incorporating NFTs in her work, which opened up a new world of possibilities for her as a creator, enabling her to connect with a wider global audience. Her greatest achievements, she says are being collected by actor Idris Elba, having her works auctioned at Sotheby's and her debut at the Venice Biennale.

Wong's works incorporate storytelling with 3D technology, utilising virtual human models and Al to create scenes and narratives that draw on her background in photography. Her digital art is visually impactful, merging her expertise in both photography and 3D art. It showcases her understanding of lighting, composition and posing, as well as her grasp of technology and its power to enhance and transform traditional art forms.

Her most ambitious project to date is her series Love is Love, for which she challenged herself to create 500 unique pieces of art with different variations. A piece she feels the most for is The Kiss, an early work representing her conviction that love has no limits. The digital piece features a close-up of two people about to kiss, with the couple changing with each rotation. The models have a range of skin colours, genders, sexual orientations, body shapes and sizes - highlighting the universality of love.

Wong's first solo exhibition, The Ties That Bind, is showing at Ultrasupernew Gallery in Singapore from Mar 17 to 31.

HOWIE KIM