Lully's List | Finding My (Art) Style


It's been almost 5 years since I've graduated yet this piece of paper which I tore from my college newsletter is still up on my inspiration board.  

Back when I was pursuing Fine Arts, there was always a struggle to find my personal style and thinking: "What will I paint today?"  The famous quote, "An artist fears the black canvas" is definitely true. Being asked to produce numerous paintings with themes likes Human and Machines while juggling group projects and art theory presentations meant that we constantly had to come up with new and interesting pieces all the time. 

Ever since we've started Lully Selb and as we approach our 1 year-mark, I've been feeling slightly nostalgic and thinking of past work and how far it's evolved to today. There's always a thin line between creating fine art and developing prints for wear that are equally artistic yet commercial. Since we'll be celebrating Lully Selb's 1 year anniversary (PS. Sign up for our mailing list to get invites!) , I wanted to share the evolution of my creative journey so far and hint at what's to come! 


Wearable Sculpture

This was the closest experience to walking on a runaway like Victoria Secret Show – Fine Arts style! It was a specialization project at the end of foundation year where we had to pair up and create sculptural wings in the styles of pop art, surreal or dynamic art noveau. The theme was harajuku, biblical, superheroes/villians.

(I chose my partner well...we got the highest marks for this!)


Drawing
Life drawing sessions are inevitable when you major in Fine Arts. Here are some of my favourite charcoal drawings. Here's a drawing tip for those who want to start: Draw what you see, not what you know.

 

 


Painting

The artwork's composition can make or break a painting and this is also true when it comes to designing textile. This is my version of Chinatown painted in oil.

The best projects besides school's work were mural painting gigs. My friends and I were invited to paint at Bishan Fire Station. 

Here are my favourite parts of the mural painting: 

The hard work and late nights were so worth it and I'm proud to say that the mural is still there!


Photography
In the last two years of school, there came a moment where I did not feel like painting and confessed that to my lecturer, He then replied, 'Then...don't paint.' I took up fine art photography and video art as my electives and chose the theme Portraits and Identity for my final project. 

One of the photographs which was exhibited at the end of my Fine Art Photography elective. This was printed life-sized.

The video art elective was the best for me. It was all about being tactile and scanning your hands-on work for each frame in the video. 

These two life-sized photographs were exhibited for my degree work brought a closure to my theme on Portraits and Identity. My concept revolves around how the face is actually secondary in portraits. In reality, how we choose to dress brings about the identity of a person. 

 


The emergence of Lully Crooelly 

This was the real turning point in my art practice. After graduation, I was keen to pursue Fashion Textiles and focus on surface design/ digital prints for garments. I started producing repetitive mark makings and signed off my artworks with the name Lully Crooelly.

These are the key artworks which led me to pursuing my Fashion Textiles dream.

Just shortly after graduation, the faculty of Fashion Textiles organized an exhibtion, Pens and Needles. 

I showcased this artwork – Restless Sunday.

For one of my group shows, I produced monotypes with the intention of having it on garments. A monotype is a one of a kind, hand-pulled print. Even though a monotype is a print, it is an original, not a reproduction. 

At the opening of this show, Kae Hana- a local designer fell in love with my prints and decided to use if for her AW2012 Collection; Monoloco. 

I got addicted to making monotypes after that and had a phase where I would make these rorschach looking visuals. They even ended up as a calendar alongside other mark makings.

 

I thought I would end the phase with this group show...

...but I also use them when I became part of an art collective.

The largest monotype I made with my partner were displayed in a local bistro, Moosehead.




Here are some other art pieces made during my times in the collective. 

 

These neon "rocks" are actually photo stands that ended up being part of decor for a friend's wedding!

 


Lully Selb & Beyond

For the past year, I've been continuously making prints for Lully Selb. It's been a dream come true and you can see how my past explorations have influenced the patterns of Lully Selb's collections. There's still a lot to learn in surface design and experimenting with new patterns, textures and methods so I look forward to many more unique prints and hope you enjoy wearing them as much as I enjoy making them!

Lully


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