Roy Payamal

Mammoth advice; acrylic on canvas, 13x17"

Backstory of a dream

After almost 40 years as one of Singapore's most endearing street performers, Roy Payamal could not busk for two years due to the global pandemic. He had a brief (and ironic) stint as a security officer. Salty Xi Jie Ng (close friend, collaborator, supporter) woke up one morning after staying with painter friends, with a vision that Roy, at age 58, would be, could be a painter. Her painter friend said, "Painting is a beautiful friend to grow old with." Roy, an endlessly creative being with countless artist friends, always had a penchant for drawing and painting, but never pursued it seriously. 

And so they set about making this happen. Things fell into place in a way that felt ordained. Roy painted a lot, transforming stagnation into abundance, channelling withheld creative energy. And now, thanks to Art Outreach's Hearth open call,  come end May, Roy will have his first solo exhibition, Pareidolia: Journey of an Eccentric.  

We hope you will support this dream and share it! The Hearth open call offers space, but no budget if you need or raise more than $500 — hence we absolutely need to raise funds. There is a plethora of prints and original paintings available in exchange. Please get in touch with us to discuss anything and creative options! Click here to go directly to Roy's painting portfolio for available original work. Please also feel free to leave comments here for others to read!

Sun dog on a wakeboard, acrylic on paper

Pareidolia: Journey of an Eccentric solo exhibition - painting rebirth

27 May - 5 June 2022

47 Malan Road, Art Outreach, Gillman Barracks 

Pareidolia: Journey of an Eccentric, Roy's first solo exhibition, is an existential constellation of his evolving and diverse artistic practice.

Self-taught, Roy’s paintings are raw and intuitive, conveying an inimitable, honest sense of humanity ringing with both playful naivety and deep emotion that characterise his performance practice. A serious practitioner of pareidolia, Roy perceives forms in public spaces and found objects to conceive paintings. Conversely, he begins paintings with wild movements before interpreting meaningful shapes and patterns in them as the work locates him.

Continuing their collaboration from the final night of The (original) Substation in 2021, Roy will perform again with magnetic musician and fellow street performer Cruise Chen in Journey of an Eccentric, a performance art piece in two variations, exploring states of play and harmony with nature and the world. 

Cruise Chen and Roy Payamal in Shears; The Substation, 2021 (image by Ho Choon Hiong)

"People say, 'Trust me, I’m a doctor', but why can’t they say, 'Trust me, I’m an artist'"

(image by Kira Anne Satwant)

Roy will spend the duration of the exhibition working on a large-scale painting in the space, as well as experiment with sculptural forms reflecting on the act of painting. Also contained within the exhibition are his pareidolia studies, poems as well as sketches from passing long hours as a security officer — a brief and ironic digression from the street performance life.

Pareidolia: Journey of an Eccentric is curated/produced by Salty Xi Jie Ng.

Roy:

"I’ve never expected to have an exhibition, much less a solo one. I hope people get to see something raw in Pareidolia: Journey of an Eccentric. As this is my first I feel there's alot of childlike play in it. I'm not too familiar with techniques or traditional styles of painting. In fact I've no choice but to give the brush and paint alot of leeway. Instead of me steering the brush, it’s controlling me and going its own way. At the moment I'm just trusting the wave of my brush, that it knows what it’s doing. It’s better to trust art in that sense, that art knows what it’s doing.

I also get to perform in my exhibition, something I've done many times for other artists’ exhibitions. Been always a fan of other artists and am fortunate to have many friends who are artists themselves. As I've never been to any art school, the only lessons I've got is by looking at other people's work and be curious about it. And now it seems full circle as people will be coming to watch my work. 

Pareidolia is a natural obsession for me — I don’t look for it, it just comes to me all the time, especially in my everyday life, on the street where I live. While painting, I always spot things that look like something but it’s not. It’s about dripping that first drop of paint on a canvas, looking at its trajectory and seeing where it flows. I’ve learnt to not be afraid to paint."

Playthings in the sand; acrylic on canvas, 13x17"

And a 4, 7, 8, 10; acrylic on canvas, 12x15.5"

Salty Xi Jie: 

(Pareidolia: Journey of an Eccentric curator/producer)

"In half-jest and half-seriousness, imagine if Roy's paintings were worth a lot in the future. You could be collecting very early work, while investing in a piece of a dream. As an artist, I have made Roy's life and work part of mine — from feature film Singapore Minstrel (2015) to publication/event STREET FOUND (2021) and Pareidolia. Roy was born to express himself honestly and emotionally, connecting right to people's hearts on the streets or in a gallery. I believe in the raw, outsider, self-taught, wild, heart-centered spirit from which all this springs and is guided by."

Roy busking at Orchard Road, 2020

Thank you for your unending encouragement, support and positive thoughts.

Come hang out with us at Pareidolia: Journey of an Eccentric!

With gratitude to the moon and back,

Roy Payamal and Salty Xi Jie Ng

May 2022, Singapore

BIOS

Roy Payamal (b. 1963) is a Singaporean street performer, performance artist, painter, poet and clown. Existing on the margins of society and of the art world, he embodies a raw, playful humanity in the face of the draconian nation-state he lovingly calls home. Blurring the line between art and life, street and contemporary art, he expresses a wild search for freedom and joy while contemplating the human relationship with nature and the cosmos. One of Singapore’s earliest and most enduring buskers, he has performed locally and internationally on the streets, in museums, and at festivals. His busking life and inner world were portrayed in feature film Singapore Minstrel (2015, directed by Salty Xi Jie Ng). In 2021 he published STREET FOUND, his first collection of poetry, drawings and images. Pareidolia: Journey of an Eccentric, his forthcoming and first solo exhibition, presents his rebirth as a self-taught painter. // royrocketstar.net

Salty Xi Jie Ng is a transdisciplinary artist co-creating semi-fictional paradigms for the real and imagined lives of humans within the poetics of the interdimensional intimate vernacular. In 2015, she made feature film Singapore Minstrel about Roy Payamal and street performance in Singapore. // saltythunder.net 

Art world labour is real work. The world is slowly coming around to this! We believe in paying ourselves, and hope you do too. Roy getting some amount of artist fees to paint safeguards against work not being sold and not making any money from this venture. Resources (rent, paints, etc.) have gone into SpaceLoLo studio where the painting happens. These resources are not reflected directly on the budget, but absorbed across the budget and the paintings for sale. Salty Xi Jie Ng is paid for curation/producing/marketing/all-round organising. Cruise Chen is paid for his time and energy as a musician. 

Without getting a grant for presenting this (because the timeline was too short), we are relying on people power. Any amount you can contribute will help this dream go forward.

Budget

Artist/producer fees (Roy, Salty, Cruise) - $2300

Photographer, gallery sitter, installation assistance - $600

Framing & canvas stretching - $450

Installation equipment/tools - $150

Performance props - $100

Printing - $50

Transport - $150

Crowdfunding platform fee (5%) - $200

Total = $4000