Creative Capital: Jazzing up old neighbourhoods and brands with street art

CNA Lifestyle

Creative Capital: Jazzing up old neighbourhoods and brands with street art

Singaporean creative collective DPLMT (pronounced "diplomat") is responsible for the wall murals you see at *Scape, on brands such as Adidas, and even augmented reality exhibits at the Art Science Museum.

09 Nov 2022 06:30AM (Updated: 04 Jul 2022 08:51AM)

Their names are Araikreva, EBAO, The Terror Troopers, Myl, and KAT. And no, they aren't video game characters or members of a postmodern music grouping. They are artists and graphic designers who have come up together to piece of work on corporate commissions and artworks. And together, they are DPLMT (pronounced "diplomat").

As DPLMT, they're best known for street fine art and murals, and clients take included Adidas, MediaMonks, and Bricklane SG. Virtually recently, they take been experimenting with augmented reality to make their pieces more immersive.

One artwork that showcased this new surface area of exploration stunningly was titled The Mount That Keeps Growing. Deputed by The MeshMinds Foundation, the work exhibited at the Art Science Museum in March was a commentary on the growing mountain of waste matter produced by modern order.

DPLMT's spokesperson is Raihana Abdul Rahman, who prefers to get by her artistic nom de plume Araikreva or Arai for short. She is an illustrator, artist, and urban artist, and parents might recognise her work from the illustrated book Elizabeth Meets The Queen: A War Heroine's Journey written past Gwen Lee.

Here's what DPLMT'due south spokesperson has to say nearly the creative collective.

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WHO IS DPLMT AND WHAT DOES Information technology Practice?

DPLMT is a multi-disciplinary art collective formed one evening in a now-defunct cafe in Serangoon in 2022 by me (Raihana aka Araikreva), Iqbal (EBAO), Shakir (The Terror Troopers), Kath (Katkucing) and Shamyl (Myl). It started equally an avenue for the team to piece of work on mural projects together. Our showtime commissioned wall came that very year. It was a 20m-long mural for a Japanese restaurant called Don & Tori.

For me, DPLMT is a dream team because each individual has a special skill set. That allows us to explore and expand on any medium that nosotros desire to utilize. I am glad that the 4 of them feel the same fashion.

Since then, DPLMT has worked with various companies and brands to create what we call "experimental visual solutions". Our philosophy is to infuse our cultural heritage and experiences into experimental art practices, such as immersive experiences and augmented reality.

WHEN AND HOW DID ALL OF YOU Meet? WAS IT LOVE AT Showtime SIGHT?

Our shared passion for working on murals and street art was the goad. Some of usa were colleagues in the same design agency, and some of united states of america occasionally met up to depict or work on our fine art together. It wasn't really dearest at first sight simply nosotros felt that every bit a collective, nosotros're better able to learn from each other'due south experiences and collaborate on projects nosotros want to work on.

HOW DID YOUR Piece of work EVOLVE FROM STREET MURALS TO BRANDED EXPERIENTIAL Piece of work? WAS THAT SOMETHING Yous ANTICIPATED AND WANTED TO HAPPEN?

The evolution of our work comes from both the collective and individual strengths of DPLMT. We have this clamorous hunger to experiment and try various techniques and mediums. When you put yourself out there, yous are ever jump to get interesting projects.

I am grateful that we met MeshMinds, which gave us the chance to work with augmented reality for the Art x Tech For Good exhibition in January this year. Technology and fine art are moving closer together and we felt that this is an area that we should accept heed of and explore further. From there, we decided that information technology would be good to work on experiential projects as we desire people to immerse in our art. You might say that we are moving towards more commercial projects but our principal objective is to ever work on fun projects.

HOW IS DPLMT RUN?

Nosotros take turns to pb projects. Whoever is liaising with the customer will be the ane leading that projection. The rest comes in to support. Even though we may not run DPLMT like a traditional business, it is importance to give the client confidence in us. So, we try to handle processes as professionally as possible.

WHAT WOULD Exist THE DREAM PROJECT FOR DPLMT?

There are many projects nosotros would love to work on. From a big-scale mural as tall as a 12-storey building to collaborating with a famous streetwear make, working on visuals and curating an art installation for events like ComplexCon, SXSW or Wonderfruit, we desire to work on them.

WHAT WAS THE TOUGHEST PROJECT TO Appointment?

A tough project in our opinion is something that requires a lot of physical effort or a really complex execution process. Working on a really large wall when the weather is extremely hot and erratic tin can exist tough. We've had a few of these incidents but as a team, we always pull through. You just accept to have each other's back.

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WHAT Practice YOU Hope PEOPLE WHO VIEW YOUR WORKS REMEMBER ABOUT THEM?

We are advocates of the cultural aspects of our Malay archipelago, and we hope that one day, art from this part of the earth will be admired overseas in the same way that people here admire Japanese and Korean visual arts.

Even though we've been working on murals and projects for most ii years, we take yet to lock on a singled-out style. But nosotros hope that people will remember the experience of interacting with our works. I promise audiences appreciate how we express and tell stories.

TELL US More than Near Y'all. DO YOU CONSIDER YOURSELF AN ARTIST?

I would prefer to call myself a creative equally I like to dabble in various mediums. I was trained as a traditional artist but I immersed myself into many unlike crafts over the years.

My love for cartoons guided me when I was learning how to draw. I was self trained until secondary school when, for the kickoff time, I had admission to materials that allowed me to take my training a chip further. Only I graduated with a business organisation diploma from Ngee Ann Polytechnic instead, and worked as a marketing coordinator for three years.

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I had e'er wanted to exist a professional creative. I could non work on art or design projects just as a hobby. And then, I attended art school at the Nanyang Academy Of Fine Arts (NAFA) and graduated at age thirty. While it was a long journey to become what I am today, I have no regrets.

IS Information technology DIFFICULT TO Be A PROFESSIONAL Artistic IN SINGAPORE? WHAT ARE THE Mutual MISCONCEPTIONS?

In that location will always be challenges for whatever professional person creative. You have to put yourself out there by getting to know other creatives and potential clients. You lot need to notice ways to make people remember your work. It's important to continue to create heady content to keep people interested.

The biggest misconception almost existence a creative in Singapore is that information technology'southward a useless profession or information technology is essentially career suicide. If you feel strongly that you lot produce skilful work, you take to put in the hustle and have that leap of faith.

People likewise call up that nosotros have a lot of fourth dimension on our easily. Because our work is our passion, people assume that what we do is easy. It'south not. It can take time. Lots of information technology.

DO YOU THINK SINGAPORE Every bit A CITY EMBRACES THE ARTS?

Yes, I believe that the people here believe in creating a place where creatives tin can express themselves. There will always be communities in every state open to the arts and encouraging artists to create their own movements.

WHAT'S THE One CHANGE YOU'D Like TO MAKE REGARDING NATIONAL POLICY TOWARDS THE ARTS?

If this change could be permanent, information technology would be to work with the government agencies to comprehend street art more. Past increasing the number of walls street artists can paint on, we tin can give more than neighbourhoods a change of scenery.

Street art shouldn't be seen as graffiti or vandalism but every bit a form of expression meant for the public. Street fine art is likewise of import because to me, it is a documentation of the neighbourhood'south stories and history.

WHAT'Due south Adjacent FOR DPLMT?

Nosotros have yet to have our first DPLMT exhibition, so stay tuned for that. We are also looking forward to projects that are across Singapore, hopefully in Japan or somewhere nearby like Indonesia or Thailand. We are always seeking innovative ways to express our art. The most important thing is for united states to stay true to DPLMT'south tagline, Go JE, which ways "just go".

Creative Capital: Jazzing up old neighbourhoods and brands with street art

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