Ethan Sim is a Singaporean illustrator and artist based in New York City. He works across media to create landscapes and visual narratives that explore the uncanny realm between the fantastical and the mundane, as well as themes such as death, memory, and the absurd.
Ethan, your works often delve into the whimsical and uncanny aspects of everyday life. Can you share how you identify and incorporate these elements into your art, and what messages or emotions you aim to convey through them?
I grew up surrounded by antiques that my father collected over the years, mostly cultural artifacts from around Asia such as Balinese theater masks and statues of mythical creatures. As a child I found them bewildering and unsettling, but over the years I came to appreciate the stories that these objects told through their form, function and context. Likewise, I find that there is a similar narrative to be found in the uncanny artifacts and rituals of the present day. Sometime in the distant future historians will look back on fidget spinners and garden gnomes with a sense of wonder and intrigue, and it’s this sentiment that I aim to capture in the subject matter of my work.
As an artist who works with illustrations, prints, paintings, and comics, how do you approach each medium differently? Can you describe your creative process when deciding which medium to use for a particular project?
While all of these mediums are core components of my practice, each has its own set of qualities and limitations, and what I work with depends on the nature of the project and what kind of story I am trying to tell. For instance, I make illustrations and comics mainly as a form of documentation, and as a result my drawings are heavily researched, and tend to be cleaner and more minimalistic in order to better convey the narrative of the piece. On the other hand, there’s an element of unpredictability in painting and printmaking, which is why I prefer to use these mediums when experimenting with new compositions and ideas. In my paintings and prints, I also employ a more introspective approach to storytelling, allowing for my subconscious and imagination to fill in the details of a piece.
Your recent works, 'Crimson Hour' and 'Raid on Club Boar', have garnered attention for their unique narratives and visuals. Can you talk about the inspirations behind these pieces and how they reflect your overall artistic vision?
These works draw from my experiences living in between New York City and Singapore, two vastly different places that I considered home at one point or another. ‘Crimson Hour’ portrays the eccentric inhabitant of a blazing high-rise cityscape, and speaks to the pursuit of cultural identity in the modern world. Meanwhile, ‘Raid on Club Boar’ depicts a police raid on a seaside nightclub, inspired by the wild boars that roam Singapore’s beaches. The landscapes of these works are a pastiche of both cities, and I wanted to channel through them the fantastical, yet chaotic aspects of each place.
You often explore cultural narratives in your work. How do your own experiences and background as a Singaporean artist living in New York City influence the stories you choose to tell?
Moving to New York City was initially disorientating, leaving half of my life behind on the other side of the globe. However, it was a creatively invigorating new step for me. Coming from Singapore, a multicultural hub that’s in a constant state of urban redevelopment, I was overwhelmed by the sheer amount of physical history that still exists in New York, and found it fascinating how transplants and immigrant communities have clung on to their customs, seeing traces of them throughout the city oftentimes in the strangest places. Urban landscapes are frequent subjects of my works, and I include these cultural references as my way of invoking histories that are often overlooked, as well as my own Singaporean heritage.
As your practice evolves, what new themes or techniques are you interested in exploring? Are there any upcoming projects or concepts that you are particularly excited about and would like to share with our audience?
I’m currently illustrating a graphic memoir based on my experiences working at a funeral company in Singapore during the pandemic. It’s my first time tackling this type of deeply personal subject matter and It’s going to be a huge undertaking to complete, but so far it’s been a really exciting project to work on.
More info:
Website: https://www.ethansim.art/
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