NATALIETTE is the angry hedonist: former designer who gave it all up to become a poor and starving but happy artist instead. She illustrates awkward women in uneasy dilemmas with that loving touch of macabre.

She likes her pepper black, her wine red, her man amusing, chips unsalted, shoes exquisite and her beer cold.

Scalpel for the Paintbrush

Your typical run-of-the-mill Singaporean in her scholarly pursuits, Nataliette dreamed of becoming a doctor, preferably the kind with a scalpel permanently in hand. One day, in the middle of her pre-university studies, she suddenly realized that she hated the academic path she had taken and upon completing her course, took a great leap of faith and enrolled into a local art school.

Designer, Interrupted

She held her graduation show in March 2007 at Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, displaying a short film she had produced (with two other friends). Then, armed with her diploma in Multimedia and a great zest for the creative world, Nataliette spent her day time working as a designer, convinced that she belonged in the industry she loved. Two years down the road, her enthusiasm was killed by countless irritating self-appointed art-director clients and numerous encounters with people disrespecting the design profession. Thoroughly frustrated, she impulsively quit her job, taking a year off in order to avoid the downward spiral to madness. With her newfound freedom, she happily pursued her interest in art and illustration!

Stories in her Pictures

Nataliette enjoys telling the world her life’s little stories in her art.

“They are re-interpreted selected instances of my exceedinglynormal life, no matter how big or small. Despite being selfish in nature, the apparent situations of my illustrations become easily identifiable with anyone: the next door neighbour we never speak to, the stranger we pass by, the acquaintance we lost touch with.”

She touches on motifs that fancy her: from personal insecurities to fascisms, from self-confessed obsessions to her own ridiculous behavioral theories. Often Nataliette’s subjects are in situations where she has been through before, believing that the ultimate uniformness of Man will ensure at least someone would understand that person in the picture. She enjoys wordplay and synonyms, duality in words and meanings, but most importantly, the picture’s affinity with the viewer. Nataliette resents abstractionism and thinks art should be accessible.

She strongly lives and creates by the words of her most revered idol, Oscar Wilde: “To reveal art and conceal the artist is art’s aim / The highest, as the lowest, form of criticism is a mode of autobiography / It is the spectator, and not life, that art really mirrors.”

Home Sweet Home

Born in the ultra-modern city of Singapore and currently still resides there with many dreams of wanderlust. Nataliette is also sadly a victim of this modernness: unabashedly materialistic and excessively whiny. Also, ashamedly, she does not deserve her ethnicity — how preposterous to label her Chinese when she can barely hold a simple conversation in mandarin.

Her Art Travelled…

Nataliette has been featured in:

1. NOISE Singapore 2010. aug’10
   commissioned illustration for a 6×2.4m glass panel displayed at Changi Airport Terminal 3 and selected illustrations featured island wide in bus-stops in a Noise×Y.O.G. collaboration.
2. ShapeShifters: Zirca celebrates Singapore’s 45th. aug’10 @ Zirca Megaclub
   participated in Shapeshifters, a celebration of all things creative and the unconventional ’shapeshifters’ who have contributed in carving the local arts scene.
3. Red®um: an exhibition inspired by Stanley Kubrick’s THE SHINING. aug’10
   took part in a group show to commemorate Kubrick’s classic horror film ‘The Shining’. created a new piece “Come Play With Us”.
4. 45: Iluma National Day Project. aug’10 @ Iluma shopping mall
   commissioned to decorate/illustrate a diecut peacock stand for Iluma’s celebration of National Day.
5. ROJAK 15 Artist Sharing Session. jun’10 @ Emily Hill
   invited to speak and share about my art at the 15th installation of ROJAK, a local initiative by FARM to promote local artists in an intimately curated session. (Singapore)
6. NAFA Artist Showcase, mar’10 – current
7. invited as an alumni to display my work for exhibit and sale at the NAFA gallery at Meritus Mandarin on Orchard Road (Singapore)
8. Iluma Artist Showcase, november 2009 – aug’10 @ Iluma shopping mall
   invited as an alumni to display my work for exhibit and sale at ILUMA as part of  SCE-Arts Display and Installation, a collab between ILUMA and NAFA with ART EMBASSY. (Singapore)
9. Love is a Dog from Hell, oct 2009
   a mini group show in celebration of Bukowski at 15minutes cafe in Lasalle campus
10. Published/featured in magazines: Catalog, Juice, I-S and portals: CulturePush, SCYA, OMY. oct 2009
    promotionals in various media for my first solo artshow at HOUSE@Dempsey (Singapore)
11. Live on national radio 93.8fm, sept 2009
    selected to speak about my first solo artshow, live on national radio 93.8fm (Singapore)
12. Food & Obsession, sept – oct 2009
    held a first solo exhibition at HOUSE@Dempsey (Singapore)
13. Minispace Portfolio of the Week, july 2009
    selected for weekly portfolio feature and interview (Minispace, an urban initiative by MINI)
14. Yen #39, july 2009
    invited to be a guest illustrator for Yen, Australia’s #1 independant women’s magazine (Australia)
15. Interstizi #4: Ethereal, june 2009
    selected guest artist published in a print & online zine  (Italy)
16. M.I.S.S. article, may 2009.
    handpicked artwork covering the Curvy book 6 launch (M.I.S.S, a premier women’s online lifestyle magazine)
17. Sticker Phiends, april 2009
    participated in sticker exhibition (Arizona, USA)
18. TEST EVERYTHING issue 001: Everything’s Okay, I Drew This For You, april 2009
    zine by indie publisher Test Everything Press (Texas USA)
19. Curvy 6, april 2009
    prestigious artbook featuring “120 of worlds best female artists” (Sydney, Australia)
20. NOISE Singapore, jan 2008
    featured & published in annual art/design festival (Singapore)

Nataliette is also very happily available for art commissions and web/design work. Contact her!

Contact Nataliette

Hi there! You can use this contact form below to get in touch or email me at nataliette@theangryhedonist.com.