Born in 1967 in Singapore, Hong Sek Chern graduated from Goldsmiths College, University of London with a Master of Fine Art in 1998. Her interpretation of the Singapore urban landscape in Chinese ink has won her several awards in Singapore, including the top prize at the Philippe Charriol Foundation Contemporary Art Competition (1996), several Jurors’ Choice awards at the Philip Morris Singapore Art Awards (1996, 1998, 1999) and the 26th UOB Painting of the Year Grand Prize (2007). She was a recipient of the Young Artist Award (1998) from the National Arts Council and was selected to participate in the President’s Young Talents Show (2001) and the 25th Sao Paolo Biennale (2002). ‘Construction with Flats in Bishan’ is part of a series of works based on a deconstructive study of the distinctive architecture of the ubiquitous housing blocks of Singapore. The artwork captures simultaneously the interior and exterior of a housing block and the unique rooftops of the Bishan district. The structural bones of columns and beams, aligned in a fashion to amplify the sense of space, create multiperspectives of the blocks to form the overall composition.
