Khairul Anwar Salleh is a Singapore artist. He received his art education from La Salle College of Arts (1986-1989), where he majored in Painting, and the Curtin University of Technology in Western Australia (1991-1993), where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts with a focus on Film & Television, Sculpture and Visual Culture. He was frequently featured in local newspapers between 1983 and 1993 — during this time, he was an active young member of Angkatan Pelukis Aneka Daya (APAD) and The Artist Village, as well as a talented screen and stage performer. A Study of 3 Thermos Flasks is one of Khairul’s most iconic paintings. Its stylistic features are quite different from his other works, which tend to encapsulate the moving body while alluding to his performance practice. Produced when Khairul was most active in Singapore’s arts scene, the work resembles a simplistic caricature; the marks scribbled and smudged across the painting give it the appearance of a work in progress, or perhaps vandalised. This was intentional: Khairul wanted the still life to be a critique on the arts scene at that time. He felt that the paintings produced in Singapore then were either too beautiful, decorative, or serious, and often represented a kind of formality and compliance with the rules. Khairul wanted to break away from these rigidities and remind the local arts scene to be a bit more playful and carefree. A Study of 3 Thermos Flasks was one of the several whimsical and light-hearted paintings featured in Khairul’s first solo exhibition at The Substation in October 1990. Its novel concept and form inspired a fellow student at La Salle College of Arts to create a sculptural work with the same name the following year.
