Avatar of Vengeance RRWW

4/3
Whenever you or a permanent you control becomes a target of an opponent's spell or ability, you may pay RW. If you do so, Avatar of Vengeance does 2 damage to target creature or player and you gain 2 life.

Vengeance: blind, blatant and bloody.

Avatar of Decay GGBB

7/7
Flying
Avatar of Decay comes into play with three -1/-1 counters.
Tap, Remove a -1/-1 counter from Avatar of Decay: Each player sacrifices a land.

I imagine Decay to be a wispy female figure with a long rustling gown of skeletal leaves and wings of papyrus.
She is faceless, with only a beaked mask as her visage.
Her left hand is made of spotless, shiny steel, constantly twitching and squeaking - the only sound that she ever makes.

(Yeah I used to be a Magic cards geek =) )

Naturalization of My Personal Space

Another fun activity I've been involved in: redecorating! Was thinking of how to create designer-looking stuff for my room at a fraction of the cost, while keeping in my favoured theme of nature-inspired forms. Here's some of my mini-projects. And yeah, I have kinda quirky taste sometimes.


Cactus Spine Lamp -
Made from $5 Ikea lamp and 3 x Polyetylene spiky mats to keep birds off surfaces (dunno what the hell is that called)

Foliage Frames -

White frame from Ikea and 3 different artificial grass tufts that I got from Daiso.

Monstera Clock -

I ripped out the clock mechanism + hands from an old obiang clock I've had for years, and cut out a Monstera leaf pattern (you know, those tropical ferns) out of Bristol board. Kinda like this one the best. =)

The Architecture of Archival

Recently I've been intrigued by the language of archival and instruction, and the way that diagrams map out the complex organisation of the world. While the illustrator of the diagram seems to be engaging in a very scientific, methodical process, there is a subconscious point of view that is being reflected.

These are experimentations in digital collage: basically I stitched together a composite scene from images of a 19th-century illustrated encyclopedia, and an IKEA furniture assembly instruction manual. Both, to me, are forms of archival that pay specific attention to an object that evokes hidden worlds: the foreign exotic lands, or the idealised domestic realm of the catalogue home. These collages aim to unveil the hidden fairytales and scenes that have supposedly been torn apart by archival.

Enjoy.


Geological Shrines

The Budkeeper's Ritual

Happy CNY

03:14:14:12:08

Room of indeterminate length
A table that stretches into the thick darkness
Two endless rows of people I know and once knew
Sitting in a pregnant silence; Staring at the space before them.

As I move quickly to find my place
I see, between the shadows of their heads
Spheres of varying light that breathe luminescent
They stare unblinkingly at the radiant orbs that dance in the dark.

I find the only gap - a seat that is undeniably mine.

Five empty cards that lay neatly on a tabletop of velvety black.
A glance to my right and left: like the space between two mirrors.
I look at my cards
and I do as they do.
I breathe and I think and I concentrate.

And nothing happens,
and the stasis freezes into infinity.

Eklipse | Modular Seating

It's been a long time! Just wanted to post a little project that I've been working on recently. It's a design of a modular public seating unit made of polyproylene that can be aperiodically tiled due to its shape, creating a seamless flexible seating surface that suits all spatial situations.





Here's a drawing of what I intended it to look like:

Comes in 3 shades that are (pretentiously) named after varying shades of shadow, as the name Eklipse suggests - Lumina (white), Penumbra (light gray) and Umbra (dark gray).

Here's a really badly taken photo of a great 1:6 prototype kindly cut by my really nice friend Guofeng:

Got my funding to do a life-size prototype of my design, so stay tuned for more updates!

Dripping The Darkness of Night

Evisceration

Thin Air

Some time ago this very dark, twisted image came into my mind - a person being strangled by brightly-coloured balloons that take him high into the sky. Recall the Greek story of Icarus, the man who made wings out of feathers and wax, and flew so close to the sun that his wings melted and he perished.
Ambition kills us sometimes; sometimes you grow so blinded by the threads that hold together your success and your dreams that you hardly realise that those are the very threads that tighten around your neck and threaten to end it all.
And so the hypothetical voice of reason responds, "Cheemz sia. Wah lau why you so angst like wan to die die liddat?"
Errr... no idea man.

My Love and Hate of Architecture

I randomly created this composition, and somehow felt that this really really embodies the love-hate relationship with what I study - Architecture.
It's something that grows and feeds on your energy like a parasite or a virus, yet there's something strangely compelling about it that you cannot tear yourself away from. If you were to ask me now, I think my relationship with the Big A would be quantified as:

48% HATE and 52% LOVE

I guess.

Postcard from the Mind

It's been a long time since I've said anything in this space, and I've decided to break the silence with a snapshot of what's happening with me now - some things are best described wordlessly, and things that don't make sense sometimes are the things that are perfectly, crystal clear.

Just for your info, this collage started from a scrap piece of paper with my architecture design project in progress printed on it. I sort of stared at the thing for awhile, and I had this really really strange feeling looking at something somewhat familiar yet very foreign to me, like suddenly finding an unusual tree in the place where I unknowingly planted a seed long ago.

Kami Kami Kami!

Remember the Kami Chair I posted about half a year ago? Here it is under construction, welded by my favourite uncle from Sam Seng Metalworks. This was such a painful project to execute, but I must say, at the end of it I feel the greatest sense of relief looking at it done.

So where is the final chair, you ask? Stay tuned to find out.. haha. The best things in life are earned through patience. Bleah.

Collage: Deep Dark Dirty Secrets

Deep, dark, dirty secrets are the stars of the freakshow of life: when we hear one, it doesn't really matter who it's about or who it concerns. We gawk and marvel at the abominable beauty of the secret, the excitement of anonymous voyeurism, and the strange power of forbidden knowledge.

Stripped of their previous owners, here are 15 deep, dark, dirty secrets, sheared naked for your perusal. Fact or fiction - this would be up to your judgement. But be careful as secrets without origins, due to their inherent parasitic nature, tend to new owners to feed on...

1. I hate it that I'm fat.
2. I should have used a condom.
3. I cheated my friends of their money
4. I did it, and did it again until I was sore. I could not find a way to stop.
5. I get turned on by dirty socks.
6. Eating raw meat gives me a thrill.
7. I wanted to turn her gay so we could be together.
8. I killed the rabbit. I was curious about death.
9. When she broke up with me I took pills to end it all.
10. I cry myself to sleep.
11. I cheat in everything I do because I am incapable.
12. I hate her. She never told me I was adopted.
13. I stole the plastic dinosaur from the shop.
14. Not being able read or write hurts because I'm useless.
15. He touched me in a place that he shouldn't have.

Dreamscape 1

I opened my eyes and found myself in a dim, open place that smelt of an unwashed cage. Above me were large, boulder-like objects that were held precariously in mid air by stilt-like legs, forming a space not unlike a crypt. The boulders seemed to be carved to resemble animals heads: birds, fish, cats, and many other strange creatures I knew not of.

Humming in an indiscernible pitch were clocks hanging from these mysterious boulders..

Haiku: Lost - Loss

Loss

A valley so wide
The sparrow died; Trying to
Find its way across.

- Haiku

This is a post that has been waiting many many months to appear on the Little Plastikk Qube, but I'm just glad that I have found some time to continue with my entries.

This post is dedicated to all who has felt lost before, or an inevitable sense of loss. Sometimes, when things are down for you, what you need isn't really someone to cheer you on, to tell you things are better, to pick you up. Sometimes all you need is a quiet, white space in which you can mourn. A space where you can put down your heavy, heavy backpack for a moment, to stretch your limbs enjoy the vast emptiness and solitude, and eventually move on.

No, I'm not sad or feeling angst in life - I just feel a need for such a space in life.

A quiet nameless grave by the roadside, where anyone can sit down and think of what you have lost.

I hope I can provide this space.

The Elements - (in progress)

木 / wood - Shop in Daikanyama, Tokyo

If you know me, you will know that I am Wood.

Wood dreams.
Young saplings that buzz with
Summer and spring, of revels in the almond sun
and all of creation in its cornucopia of
feathers, fur, flowers, fronds.
Beauty that comes with the price of fragility.

Wood bends.
Around immovable rocks, towards precious light,
swayed by the currents and vortices of the world.
Indeterminate, yet focused in its direction of growth.
Nobody can predict where
or when -
Things grow in a pattern that most do not comprehend.

Wood is inward.
If hurt, the forest closes itself to the blinding world,
With no reason.
With no exception.
A dark fort of black trees; leaves that blot light, matted branches that scar the sky.

金 / metal - Steel sculpture in Tokyo Midtown Park

汽 / air - View from 5th Station, Mt Fuji

土 / earth - view from 8th station, Mt Fuji

水 / water - Water Temple by Tadao Ando, Awaji Island

Toyrings - Acrylic Fashion Rings

Toyrings is a product that my friend and I are working on at the moment. Although these rings are not for sale at the moment, be sure to drop a post or email me at kenkqb@gmail.com for information or even complimentary rings for friends and anyone who's interested to have a little piece of quirky fashion at the tip of his/her fingers. =)

Rift Lamp

This is a lamp to be placed in the corner of a room, creating an illusion of a hole torn, and an expanding star-like object spanning the rift created.

7 other parallel dimensions are revealed through this rift.

The illusion is created with the use of 3 mirrors placed perpendicularly to one another.

"Kami" Chair

Inspired by paper construction and origami, I designed this chair as an exploration of the structural and formal qualities of folding. Designed as a continuous loop of folding planes, the chair resembles a delicate paper construction that deforms slightly when one sits on it, creating a visual tension of strength and immateriality.

It will be made of powder-coated aluminium (white) with a continuous layer of black polyurethane foam on its inside face of the loop.

Blood House

I've long had this idea of doing an ongoing comic strip, making use of 3D software to actually model out the scenes and places that the characters will be in. Once these iconic places are actually modelled out, I just have to move objects and place the camera as if with a dollhouse, basically capturing the scenes as I go along.

Of course what would be interesting is the design and feel of these environments. This is Blood House, possibly the dwelling of a predatory seafaring character; a location that eventually culminates in some form of hurt or murder. The idea is to have the lowering tide change the look of the house from inviting to intimidating.

The sad and weird thing is, I feel more excited about this 20-min architectural creation than my entire Year 3's work. I guess the disillusionment of the architectural profession is really setting in.

Lava and Polarity Mazes

Ok... new maze concept!

1st one is just a normal maze for you to get warmed up.

The 2nd maze I call the Lava Maze. Basically the red squares are hot lava, which means you can only walk across a maximum of 5 red consecutive squares, after which you overheat and fry. Make use of the white squares as "rest stops", and be sure not to underestimate your travelling distance in the lava!

The 3rd Maze is the Polarity Maze. When you walk through a colour (pink/cyan) it charges you with the colour polarity (e.g. pink). You can no longer walk through the same colour that you are charged with (pink), but when you walk through another colour it charges you with a new polarity (e.g. cyan).

Enjoy.

New Photography Manifesto

1. The Subject shall no longer be of primary importance; gone are the pictures of budget holidays and pseudo-artistic shots, gone is the capture of old people and shophouses and stray kittens and children laughing. Just as the representational paintings of masters lay dusty in galleries, these photos must lie in dust as well.

2. What is true and beautiful is Komposition, the balance of Lyte and Shadow, hyperrealism of Tex-tures, and evocative geometric Shapes. The photograph should be an ageless work of art.

3. Emotional response shall only be created by visual Tension and Release, and strategic abstraction of Shapes. Beauty lies in the simplicity of the image - in a world full of real complexities, visual art should serve to distill visual Beauty.

4. O! The beautiful Shapes of koncrete and metal, eroded by Nature's hand herself. Why should leaves and birds dominate our canvasses of light when Nature has chosen to lay her hand on Man's own built masterpieces.

5. Let us unite and march forth in a blinding future devoid of Photoshopped images, unidentifiable sunsets and tiresome blurry Lomographs. Let our destiny be one of purity and pristine Beauty. Let us embrace the New Photography of tomorrow, brothers and sisters of the Lens!

Blind Staircase

Some people dream in monochrome,
some people dream in numbers or words,
some people dream in sounds.

My dreams are almost always hyperchromatic visions of deep colours, fringed with colours that serve to densify the bold colours. Even the sky seems a saturated liquid that flows endlessly through space.

I dream of places. Places I've been before, but twisted as if seen through a glass bubble. Curtains flap soundlessly in the invisible wind. Things that should be there are ripped from the world, leaving a silent void that maintains its boundary with the rest of the polychromatic world.

I dream of trains. Of parks. Of houses that I've stepped into before, but now as a helpless intruder.

I dream of people. The soft warm faces that I know and love, the transparent ghosts that shuffle through the maze of my life, the glowing seeds that are people who are yet to be.

I dream of a blind staircase, leading to a blind door.

30-sec Portraits of Idling People on the Train

When you're on the MRT train and you're bored, one of the most entertaining things is to draw. And the most interesting subjects you could ever hope for are sitting right in front of you in a row, sitting still, engaged in their own little space, unaware that someone is watching them....

This really nice auntie sitting beside me peeked over to see I was doing and started giggling loudly once she figured out which people I was drawing. She then thanked me for making her laugh. Glad I was able to make a random person happy today. =)



"Woman With Pursed Lips SMS-ing Boyfriend"

"Big Hair, Big 'Phones"

"Dog Tags Are Macho"

"Immersed In Canto-Pop on My IPod"

"Uncle Turtle"

"The Seat Beside The Glass"

"PSP Boy"

"Momma's Mountains; Sista's Valley"

Fibrous Sticky Cocoon

It's been a long time since I last updated this blog, mainly because of work and reservist training commitments. Thanks to those who regularly checked for updates here, and I promise more exciting content will be added in the near future.

We had an 2-day exercise which involved setting up a defence position in forested area somewhere in Marsiling. The thick jungle vegetation consisted mainly of large fruit trees like durian, jackfruit and rambutan trees, and we were tasked to dig shellscrapes or trenches in the ground in which we would sleep in. Very much like sleeping in a shallow grave, I suppose.

I lay in this damp hole in the soil, slipping in and out of consciousness as I struggled to sleep, the strange intoxicating stench of rotting fruit, the sounds of metallic rifle magazines clicking in the dark, and the texture of crisp leaf litter and moist organic matter brushing against my skin, the depthless freckles of light that streaked through the aged leaves of old trees, completely immersing me in a surreal, deeply tactile environment.

Call them visions, or dreams; these few images vividly surfaced in my mind as I sank further and further into a sub-conscious state of mind, a distorted reflection of the reality around me....

cilia on sticks
pustule-like, glistening like insect eyes
nowhere to shift without touching them

a heaving mass of scales
some brittle and skeletal
some black with age and decay

fibrous husk of tissue

like frozen muscle

deep scars that hide dark secrets

feathery antennae that bristle

that curl and wisp and fray

invade the crevices of your body

Don't Bottle Up Your Feelings...

Bottle A: Darling, your eyes are gorgeous. They're so....clear and transparent.

Bottle B: That's because they're made of glass?

Bottle A: Errr.... your beautiful head is so.... shiny.

Bottle B: That's because my WHOLE BLEDDY HEAD is made of glass?

Bottle A: Well... I love your... transparency. And your... openness towards me. It's as if I could see right into you, into your beautiful, pure soul.

Bottle B: In case you haven't noticed you could probably see right THROUGH me. And that's coloured water by the way. Probably food colouring... you know.

Bottle A: Come, let me hold you tight!

Bottle B: You've got no frickin' arms.

Bottle A: Oh. Crap.

Teleportation Puzzle

Care for a little bit of of cerebral stimulation?

This is a little invention of mine called the teleportation puzzle. Basically it's a grid of patterns which act as pairs of teleportation gates, and you need to get from the top left hand (entrance) to the bottom right one (exit).

The trick is, when u step into a gate, you immediately get teleported to a gate of similar pattern, and from there you choose another gate, moving only horizontally or vertically. So eventually u have to get teleported to the pattern at the bottom right, and then you exit.

Sounds easy? Try for yourself lor.

Sounds hard or don't get it? Just take it as just another drawing lor.