By Britt Appleton
Keng Lye is an artist from Signapore who specializes in realistic, 3-dimensional resin paintings, mainly of small fish. It is the type of art where the process is as magical as the finished product. I spoke to him about his work and this is what he told me:
"In 2011, my photographer friend, Gerald Gay, showed me a video on the great Japanese artist, Riusuke Fukahori. Gerald gave me a challenge - try and create 3-D resin art similar to the works of Riusuke Fukahori. That was how I began to experiment in this art form. Since 2012 I have devoted myself to resin art, inspired by the great Japanese artist, Riusuke Fukahori.
After seeing the video on Riusuke Fukahori and experimenting with the resin & acrylic layering process, I have gained some experience and knowledge about this technique.
I start out by pouring resin into a container. Cover it with plastic wrap so as to protect it from dust and let it harden and dry. After that I start to paint on the resin with acrylic paint. I will paint parts of the object first; for example, the fins or tail of the goldfish. Then when the acrylic is dry, I will pour another layer of resin over and let it dry. When dry, I will continue to paint with acrylic. This process is repeated until the object being painted is completed.
By painting layer upon layer of resin, this helps to create depth to the object. It also makes the entire composition more realistic.
I have also experimented using a pebble, immersing it in the resin and painting over it, to create an even more outstanding 3D effect. I have also started to use eggshell as the base of the tortoise shell.
It takes 4-5 days to finish a relatively simple piece. Definitely having patience is an advantage as there is waiting time in between as you paint then pour then wait for it to dry before painting again." - Keng Lye
Photos by Keng Lye