SINGAPORE – Seen from afar, you might mistake Singaporean artist Sunar Sugiyou’s Wiseman (2023) for an arcane sinograph dashed off in Chinese ink.

Upon closer inspection, the illusion dissolves. The black brush strokes are in fact a mix of Chinese ink, acrylic and latex – set against a canvas and not rice paper. At the edge of these “brush strokes” are almost invisible Javanese spiral motifs.