Star Struck

A4 sized autographed pastel portrait of Rui En.

(Top Left: Shaun Chen's, Bottom right: Rui En's)

Year 2008

A pastel sketch of Mediacorp actress, Rui En, in anticipation of meeting her at myartspace studio, where a segment of her drama serial, "The Dream Catchers", was filmed and I had volunteered myself as a TV extra.

It was not so much the prospect of being on TV as the opportunity to meet the cast in person that enticed me into this venture, something which I would not usually be game for.

Seeing the stars in flesh as opposed to watching them do their stuff on TV was an experience akin to admiring artwork in the galleries instead of the reproductions.

You could not escape their hypnotic presence. I may be dramatizing it, but it was as if they were almost unreal, like fallen celestial beings, beautiful and untouchable objects made to be appreciated from a distance.

It felt like being at a gallery where you have the gilded masterpieces on display, and you would just stare and immerse yourself in the grandiloquent visual language of sweeping brushstrokes and coloured textural tactility.

I was somewhat perturbed by my reaction, but more disturbed by the observation that TV actually dilutes the aura of the actors despite it being the device with which one's celebrity status is judged and created. But maybe it was the expectation that the actors belong to the goggle box which somehow mythologized them, that made it momentarily unacceptable to see them as only our human equal. In any case, I surprised myself by getting Shaun Chen and Rui En to autograph on the portrait instead of presenting it as a gift to Rui En as I had originally intended.

Perhaps I too, could not fight off the spell that one too many fan has fallen prey to in the presence of celebrities, to rub off some star dust in an inexplicable desire to immortalize the experience....