Visitors and staff using the link bridge between the Mochtar Riady Building (MRB) and Shaw Foundation Alumni House would have come across a striking new addition – a brightly coloured mural on the MRB’s fourth floor. Featuring our core value, “Innovation”, and mascot, Tycoon, the mural was created by our very own Daphne Chua, an in-house graphic designer from the Corporate Communications team.
Daphne developed the concept as part of her vision to enhance the look and feel of MRB. Taking it upon herself to move the project forward, Daphne put in time outside of her daily duties to paint the mural, with some support from the rest of the Corporate Communications team. Over the past two months of painting, Daphne’s work in progress has captured the imagination of our colleagues.
“The business school’s spirit of innovation is vividly and vibrantly captured in this mural. I love how Tycoon, our mascot, is represented as an explorer in this rich landscape of innovative and creative possibilities. It’s a gem of a mural with its details and colours, and we should have more of these around campus!” said Wedad Sunny, Head, Marketing & Admissions, MBA Programmes Office.
Now that Daphne has completed the project, she shared with BIZBeat her mural journey.
Q: Please tell us more about the mural.
The mural features one of NUS Business School’s five core values: Innovation. It shows our mascot, Tycoon, the tiger, charting into new territories within a universe of ideas, connections and creativity. Perhaps he is thinking of setting up an enterprise on this unknown land; who knows?
The mural was meant to add life and vibrancy to the plain white walls of MRB. It was motivated by a longstanding conviction I’ve held ever since I chose to be a designer at 17 – to stay open-minded, experimental and adaptable to continually create new visuals to better humanity and cope with life’s challenges. But I guess with my hyperactive imagination and experimental nature, it was only a matter of time before I “vandalise” the walls here with permission from the management. I was also inspired by the latest tech buzzword, “metaverse”, hence the alternative universe concept.
Q: It must have been a labour of love. Please tell us more about the process.
The mural took me at least 60 hours to complete, over two months. The mural was painted freehand without a projector – I sketched the reeds and flowers at the bottom before weaving in more cartoons (such as the mountains, robots, and stars) to fill in the gaps as I progressed. My art style has often been described as whimsical and uncanny.
Q: What were the challenges you had to overcome during the painting?
The biggest “mental” challenge was accepting that the outcome would never be as detailed and perfect as what I imagined it to be at the start. However, halfway through the mural, I learnt not to care about the outcome and simply enjoy the process.
The biggest physical challenge was finishing the top half of the mural. I did not paint detailed cartoons and gradients as I would have liked to because of how many hours I had already spent on the bottom half. I guess completion is better than perfection; knowing when it is time to let go of a piece of work is good, and moving on to other projects.
It felt like a long art jamming marathon, but I wouldn’t mind doing another mural for the school because I simply enjoy creating new things. My itchy hands and hyperactive imagination are always up to something.
