Focusing on erosion of local culture, changing identities

BORN in Iran, artist Steve Lawler grew up in Hong Kong and has lived in Singapore since 2003. Couple that with his love for B-grade movies and trash cinema, and it's no wonder that his works are a heady mixture of B movies, Bollywood movie posters and Chinese medicine packaging. "I've always been exposed to the mix of cultures like Hollywood movie posters with Chinese writing, or Chinese shows with English subtitles," says the 38-year-old artist who goes by the art moniker Mojoko.

His works since 2005 have had that colourful and graphic pop culture look to them, but in his most recent solo, at SPRMRKT on McCallum Street, they have taken on a blue-and-white veneer. "Much like Wedgewood as I reference the antique quality of the frames," he explains.

In Mystery Island, he shows a more serious nature, reflecting on the erosion of local culture and changing identities of Asians. He's silkscreened his works onto ceramics and fit them into antique frames he bought from auctions and flea markets. "I usually like to make bigger works and especially installations, which wouldn't suit the space at SPRMRKT. But I recently bought a whole bunch of antique frames - some are 300 years old - so I realised I could use them for this idea," he shares.