Paradise Birds of Eve (triptych)

Kim Li, Raina 金麗 (b.1982, Singapore) 

Born in Singapore, Raina was trained in and practised architecture until 2014. She has lived in several different places- New York, Santiago, Tokyo and Silicon Valley before finally settling back home in Singapore where she is now based. 

She works primarily in oils & acrylic and is fascinated by the materiality of medium and colour. She seeks the ever elusive balance of richness and happiness in her explorations and loves to push what she can do with a brush, palette knife, texture and colour. Often the results are a mood or landscape of the mind- the pastoral abstract. She greatly admires the works of Joan Miro, Matisse, Cy Twombly, Mark Rothko, Gerhard Ritcher and Wu Guanzhong, among many others. 

Raina’s artworks have been featured in Singaporean design and architecture magazine D+A, issue 86 in 2016, and she has exhibited in 6 group exhibitions, “Double Lives: The Works of Hyphenated Artists”, “100 Ways Home”, “100 Ways Home II”, “Artists’ Night Out”, “A Touch of Spring” and “Eastside Open Studios”. 

Alongside her work as an artist, Raina is currently the founder and entrepreneur behind Gentle Beast Art Club, a creative platform used as a studio, event venue and exhibition space. Raina has used her studio as an art charity stronghold, most recently committed to using art to help Tekanpur, a village in Nepal, that was severely affected by the 2015 earthquake. After two exhibitions, she and a team of international professionals known as DXM, have successfully managed to rebuild the only school serving the village. 

Raina signs off her works as Rei. There is a story why she signs off her works that way, and she might tell you if you can spot her at exhibitions and talk to her. 

Education:

2005: Bachelor of Architecture (Honors), National University of Singapore, Singapore

2009: Master of Architecture, Columbia University, GSAPP, New York, USA

Exhibitions:

2015: “Double Lives: The Works of Hyphenated Artists”, Singapore

2016: “100 Ways Home”, Singapore

2017: “100 Ways Home II”, Singapore 

2017: “Artists’ Night Out”, Singapore

2018: “A Touch of Spring”, Singapore

2018: “Eastside Open Studios”, Singapore