This Singapore visual artist on how his LGBT identity and childhood has shaped his work

A rising star of the Singapore art scene, mixed media artist Masuri Mazlan talks to The Peak on key influences of his works.

By Michele Koh Morollo / 29 Oct 2022

Artist, LGBTQ, Mixed Media, Visual Art

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“It’s a difficult world out there. What if our world was softer?” It is this train of thought that led Singaporean mixed media artist Masuri Mazlan to show that industrial materials — normally hard, angular, rigid, dull, and unyielding — can actually be soft, likeable, and even intriguing.

Mazlan’s 3D paintings, sculptures, and installations explore identity politics, queer aesthetics, and the domestic sphere as a destabilising realm using materials such as silicone, polyurethane, and gypsum.

Raised in Singapore by his late grandmother, he says his inspiration comes from the country’s built environment and his memories of life here. He remembers his grandmother used to pick up and flatten empty aluminium cans for hours to sell to the karang guni man for $2 each time. “She would then give that money to me as my school pocket money. My body of work is a tribute to her memory, to how she nurtured and raised me into the person and artist I am today,” he says.

Remember us — if at all — not as lost are amorphous blobs that mimic architectural structures. (Photo: Jonathan Tan)

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Because they did not have much money, Mazlan had no toys as a child. To entertain himself, he would instead play with discarded industrial materials when he followed his grandmother around as she worked cleaning HDB flats and swimming pools. “As I grew up, I attempted to comprehend how these objects I played with were created. It inspired me to design and create my own ‘toys’. The process of transforming these materials into play objects was particularly liberating and exciting. As a small reward for my creative efforts, my grandmother would give me a packet of iced gems biscuits. I have retained these visual and tactile experiences over the years.”

The iced gem biscuits of Mazlan’s childhood are embodied in his fantastical 2022 Be Like Flower, Soft As Thorns series of wall sculptures, incorporating silicone, polyurethane, stopping compound, Swarovski crystals, Preciosa crystals, fibreglass, beads, synthetic polymer paint, latex paint, polyvinyl acetate adhesive, and cheesecloth.

Mazlan says he’s always been interested in the transformative potential of industrial materials through domestic, feminine craft techniques such as cake design and embroidery. However, critics often pigeonholed his work as “crafty and kitsch”. “This compelled me to look into the origins of crafts like embroidery and textile as a means of exploring my identity politics.”

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Abstract art “exists to resist scrutiny and surveillance

The iced gem biscuits of Mazlan’s childhood are embodied in his fantastical Be Like Flower, Soft As Thorns (2022). (Photo: Masuri Mazlan)

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Through research and reflection, I realised that craft has long been relegated to the feminine sphere as a by-product frequently regarded as inferior. Essentially, my work pays homage to and celebrates feminine power. It also addresses the fact that, historically, a woman’s handicraft labour has received less recognition than men’s.
His abstract works such as There’s Nothing Wrong Contemplating God (SOS d’un terrien en détresse) — an installation of a shiny, alien-like, black, epoxy resin object lying on a bed set close to a wall with three haunting black and white photographs — and Remember us — if at all — not as lost, which uses plaster, concrete, and insulation foam to create amorphous, electric- coloured blobs that mimic architectural structures, illustrate the experiences of living with a marginalised social identity.

Mazlan believes abstract art “exists to resist scrutiny and surveillance”. As a gay man, he has constantly asked himself, “How do I forge my identity by moving away from the representational?” He adds that there is a power in abstraction that allows it to “disrupt the heteronormative structure with its ambiguity and fluidity as it pertains to identity.”

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Making art about “otherhood”

Masuri Mazlan. (Photo: Christine Yan)

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“By rejecting the hypersexualised, provocative, straightforward mode of representation as common queer strategies that pander towards the mainstream, my intention is to redirect attention to the haptic quality of materials and the equivocal form, shape and texture.”
Besides making art about “otherhood”, Mazlan is also a cultural advocate and co-founder of Tekad Kolektif, a creative collective that supports and promotes independent Singaporean artists. He wants to raise awareness about Singapore’s burgeoning art scene, encourage artistic talent among youths, and increase public interest in the arts.

“Art is something a person, regardless of social status, race, religion, or lifestyle choices can enjoy and find solace in,” says Mazlan.

His advice to aspiring artists young or old is to “listen to your inner voice, be kind to yourself, and have the courage to follow your dreams.”

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Artist, LGBTQ, Mixed Media, Visual Art