Anthony Poon (Singaporean, 1945-2006)


Untitled, c. 1970s oil on canvas116.5 x 116.5 cm. (45 7/8 x 45 x 7/8 in.)
|方謹順 未命名 油彩畫布 約一九七零年代作Provenance:Acquired directly from the artist in 1975Mr Larry Tay, Singapore"An artist for whom I have a very high regard is Paul Klee. It was said that he took a line for a walk. It is fascinating how a simple line can bring about so much creativity. I wouldn't say I take a line for a walk. But I try to make a line alive. As a constructivist, what intrigue me are a painting's formal elements. These are lines, colours, shapes and forms. Pull them together in a painting and you see their power."Anthony Poon (Lim, Richard (ed.). 'Anthony Poon'. Singapore Artists Speak. Singapore: C.H. Yeo, 1990)One of Singapore's most acclaimed abstract artists, Anthony Poon engaged in new explorations with forms and concepts that characterised the abstract art movement in Singapore during the 1960s and 70s. After graduating from Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, Singapore in 1964 – where he was primarily painting figurative subject matters – Poon enrolled in Byam Shaw School of Art, London, and then Bradford Regional College of Art for printmaking, from 1967 to 1971. His time in London during the late 1960s was paramount to cultivating and crystallising his interest and explorations in abstract art, as avant-garde art movements centred around abstraction dominated artistic discourse. Before Poon ventured to develop his relief and sculptural works later in his career, he worked principally in painting. The optically complex Untitled is a rare early work by Poon, similar to the work titled RI-Square in the collection of the National Gallery, Singapore. The varied geometric shapes and tonality of colours that contrast with the jet black background of Untitled creates texture, luminosity and dimensionality. Additionally, Poon's specific choice of cadmium red within the composition corresponds to Minimalist artist Donald Judd's theory on the colour's ability to accentuate the contours of an object, enhancing its dimensionality. This exemplifies Poon's formal knowledge and meticulous deployment of colours and forms. Untitled is a painting of pure form that is potently neat, calculated, and unconstrained by conventions.