A Day in the Life: Daniel Chong

Seeking and growing ideas

A Day in the Life is a series by A&M where we invite artists to share a day in their life through images accompanied by brief descriptions.

Daniel Chong. Image courtesy of Berny Tan.

Daniel Chong (b. 1995) is a Singaporean artist who transforms everyday objects into artworks that investigate memories, human emotions, and absurdities in life. For our first A Day in the Life story, Daniel takes us into his studio to showcase his new series of works, and how sunlight and tending plants play a role in his practice.

Studio view. Image courtesy of Daniel Chong.

I usually arrive at the studio in the late afternoon. At this time, the studio glows and I would watch how the light interacts with my works.

Studio plants. Image courtesy of Daniel Chong.

The first thing I usually do once I arrive at the studio is to check, water, and prune my plants. It helps to put me in the right frame of mind for art-making.

Work in progress for Absurd Intimacies installation. Image courtesy of Daniel Chong.

I have been working towards an installation with these biscuits, but it is still far from complete. Every day, I would come in and shift things around to grow the ideas around these enlarged biscuits.

Work in progress of a drawing. Image courtesy of Daniel Chong.

Whenever I am stuck with the biscuits, I switch to working on a new series of torn drawings depicting slept-in beds. This particular drawing is the size of a single-sized bed.

Detail of drawing. Image courtesy of the Daniel Chong.

This is part of a new series of drawings I have started this year. The highlights of these works are built up by tearing away at the surface of the drawing. It creates mundane folds that are charged with this gesture.

Follow Daniel on Instagram to see more of his day-to-day routine.