Vivien Yang was a mathematics teacher before she enrolled at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts in 2010 to pursue her dream as a painter. She majored in Western painting and graduated with a Degree in Fine Art with honours. While pursuing her studies, she developed an interest in painting buildings to express her observations of people, places and their relationship with architecture and society.
Rising Towers is a personal commentary on the material aspiration of some Singaporeans, particularly the obsession with owning a luxury home. The luxury sea-front property, Reflections at Keppel, as depicted in this work, becomes a metaphor for this phenomenon. The iconic architecture is a work of grace and strength, towering curves in glass and steel rising towards the sky in sleek, clean lines. While it is glamorous and beautiful on the outside, the interior of this dream home imprisons the ambitious by trapping those in an endless cycle of debt, stress and worry.
