Anton Poon
Inside the artist's mind
“ Be Strong, stay true and don’t forget why you have chosen this path.”
- Anton Poon (a message to artists coping in this strange time)
Anton’s sculptures use complex geometric shapes to create open, diverse, and multi-angled forms, presenting the dialogues between different cultures in a relaxed, pleasant, and light-weighted tone and manner. He uses Corten steel, a material that rusts and naturally changes with the environment and weather; creating works whose unique weathering qualities reflect the place in which it situated.
In 2016 he graduated with honours from the Australian National University School of Art and Design (ANU SoAD). The artist has bagged a few awards internationally and has some of his works permanently displayed at the Australian National University Art Collection, ACT (Permanent Public Sculpture, Synergy) and at the Canberra Grammar School, ACT (Permanent Public Sculpture, Not Quite There).
In 2020, Anton was also a semi-finalist for the Artbox Projects in Barcelona, Spain. He had his works displayed in various exhibitions around the globe since 2009 until the present.
A young, talented artist, and true genius in his craft; we wanted to dig in deeper in his thoughts, so we asked…
If you were to create one last piece, what would it be about and why?
“At this point, it is hard for me to imagine creating one last piece as my vision is to continue and make art pieces until I am unable to such as old age. However, if I were to create one last piece of artwork. I would hope this piece to be a calibration with my family or with those who are close to me. I envision the work to be something of a large scale that has enough room to facilitate all of the people’s ideas in it.
When I was in art school I was taught and always be reminded to question everything and to develop individual, constructive and critical thinking. The feedback from others about your artwork is only a suggestion and not a must-do. I would be interested in having a play on that by making work base on the thoughts of others would be very interesting. Although the work might end up being a complete disaster, the more important aspect would be focused on how it captures the experience and the journey of making and how they can be translated physically into art object through the use of colour, materials and forms. I think this work would be a very good ending note for a chapter and an opening for another to come.”
If you weren’t an artist, what do you think would you be doing now?
“I think I would either be working in the field of architecture or a pilot.
When I was young I used to love constructing certain structures using Legos without following the instruction manual to the end. Adding additions to their suggestions was a must because it was a way of making those creations my own.
In college, I used to take flight courses and I had an opportunity to work for a private flight company in exchange for flight hours, a requirement for becoming a commercial airline pilot.
I ended up not pursuing any of the above due to a visit to the National Gallery of Australia where I’ve encountered Clement Meadmore’s Virginia. A sculpture situated in grassland that completely dwarfs me with its scale. I was curious to understand the process of making such a sculpture on this scale and how it was supported without visible support structures.
Such influential power continues to be very evident inspiring across generations nowadays and which is why to this day I continue to visit art galleries whenever I can and encourage future generations to do so too.”
Why make sculptures?
“I think this has something to do with my personality—who I am as a person and my early childhood influences which has fueled my obsession with making sculptures.
I’m a person who is very obsessed with shapes, forms and how they can be combined and arranged in various configurations to create visually complex compositions. When I was young I used to love building structures with Lego and toothpicks without following any particular instructions. Since then this method of making has transformed and become the preferred method of making maquettes for my art practices.”
Anton Poon
Sculptor, Founder and Director of SWAP Creative Studio
E-mail: antonpoonsculptor@gmail.com
Shield Industrial Centre,
84-92 Chai Wan Kok St, Chai Wan Kok,
Tsuen Wan, Hong Kong