Born in 1953, Kumari Nahappan is a prominent artist in the region of Southeast Asia; her practice encompasses inter-disciplinary genres, painting, sculpture and installations. Trained in interior design in Willesdon College of Technology in London UK in the mid-1970s, Kumari pursued a successful interior design career before studying fine art at the LASALLE College of the Arts, Singapore, securing a Masters of Fine Art from the RMIT University, Melbourne.
Kumari is celebrated for her iconic sculptures in landmark locations in Singapore including Saga for Changi Airport, Nutmeg & Mace for the ION Orchard, Pedas-Pedas for the National Museum and Pembungaan for OUE Bayfront (the largest bronze mural in Singapore at over 45m) and other sculptures for corporate developments. Her sculptures have graced sites overseas including the G Tower in Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia), the J.Y. Campos Centre in Manila (the Philippines), and the Chengdu International Finance Square (China) in 2014.
Kumari was invited to show at the Museum der Kulturen in Basel in [2007/8] and at the Tropenmuseum in Amsterdam [2010]. More recently, she has enjoyed critical and popular acclaim for her installation Anahata, a monumental work comprising of 4000kg of saga seeds for the Singapore Biennale 2013. Her works have been exhibited at the Mori Art Museum, Tokyo and Singapore Art Museum, Seoul Art Centre in Korea, Museum Rudana in Indonesia as well as in gallery exhibitions in Sweden, Germany, London, Italy, New York, Australia, Hong Kong and China.
As an acclaimed artist, Kumari’s works have also been collected by Singapore Art Museum, Art Bank, Ken Tyler Collection, New York, Rudana Museum in Bali, Ritz-Carlton, Singapore, Rolex, Thailand, Changi Airport, Singapore High Commission, Japan and Thailand and various other important public and private collections across the world.
Images of artworks
