The Singh Twins are two contemporary female artists from England. They are twin sisters who create their highly detailed artworks together and have exhibited their pieces around the world. The Singh Twins are famed for their intricate, brightly coloured artwork which combine traditions from both Eastern and Western art.
The Singh Twins are twin sisters Amrit Singh and Rabindra Kaur Singh. They were born in Richmond, Surry but raised in the Liverpool area UK where they still live and work near and have an art studio. The Singh Twins work collaboratively on their art pieces, which are inspired by traditional styles from across the globe, especially those found in Indian miniature paintings and in the Art Nouveau and Pre-Raphaelite Movements.
The Singh Twins’ paintings are often decorated with complex patterns, symbols and motifs. Parts of the artworks look 2D and, in contrast, other parts look 3D thanks to the subtle use of shadow. Some of the Singh Twins’ paintings have large areas of bold, block colour which make the subjects seem like they are floating in surreal landscapes. Can you work out how The Singh Twins make their tiny details so precise?
Top facts about The Singh Twins:
- The Singh Twins are twin sisters called Amrit and Rabindra Kaur Singh.
- They are British artists of Sikh heritage.
- The Singh Twins have been awarded MBEs for their achievements and contributions to contemporary art.
- Their artworks explore current social, political and cultural issues.
- The artists mostly work together on pieces, however sometimes they work alone.
- All of the artwork they create (either collaboratively or alone) is always credited to The Singh Twins.
- Their artwork has been exhibited around the world, including the USA and India.
- They were the second British-born artists to have their artwork exhibited in the National Gallery of Modern Art in New Delhi. The first artist was Henry Moore.
- Some of The Singh Twins art work takes up to 1000 hours to create!
The Singh Twins use a range of tools, materials and techniques to create their artwork. Their highly decorative and intricate ‘miniatures’ are painted by hand, whereas their fabric pieces are produced digitally but incorporate details from digitally scanned hand-painted and historical material. Their digital fabric artworks are large-scale and stretched over lightboxes to enhance the bold colours.
Take a close look at one of the artworks by The Singh Twins and you should start to notice a range of symbolic objects interspersed with text, patterns and motifs such as plants or flowers. Their artwork often comments on social or cultural issues, so you can also usually find famous people or references to important moments in history. Do you recognise anyone in the artwork?
Look at the artwork below. How have the Singh Twins used complementary colours? Even though the piece is visually complex, we can still see all of the tiny patterns and details in the borders thanks to the clever use of colour.
The Singh Twins – Nanak Shah Fakir II (Illustration for Jewels of Sikh Wisdom book) 
The Singh Twins – Nanak Shah Fakir II (detail) (Illustration for Jewels of Sikh Wisdom book)
The Singh Twins’ artistic style is rooted in tradition, and they still use traditional materials such as paint brushes to create some of their artworks. However, they also embrace modern technology and many of their pieces are created digitally. This helps them achieve rich, detailed and multilayered work with precision. They even use the latest VR technology in some of their exhibitions to make their artworks interactive! Download their VR app here!
Use this interactive app with augmented reality features to explore the creative processes and detailed stories hidden in The Singh Twins’ artwork ‘Indigo:The Colour of India’ – part of their ‘Slaves of Fashion’ series
Creating artwork digitally means that the Singh Twins can have large-scale print outs of their work, and they often print onto fabric instead of paper. Why do you think it is important for them to print their work on a large scale? What might they want the viewers to focus on?
If you have a phone, tablet or computer- there are plenty of apps you could use to create digital drawings.
The Singh Twins are renowned for their visually striking, brightly coloured artworks that are enriched with figures, faces, text, animals, patterns and landscapes. Many of their artworks have an array of complex layers, making them look almost like collages. Through their work, the viewer can find new, fantastic and strange worlds that still bear some likeness to what we recognise; famous faces, landmarks and symbols that we see daily. In contrast to what we can recognise in their artwork, The Singh Twins intersperse their pieces with surreal beasts, creatures, text, objects and saturated colours.
The Singh Twins – Battle of The Giants – SpoRtLight series 
The Singh Twins – Battle of The Giants (detail) – SpoRtLight series
How have The Singh Twins used negative space and colour in these compositions? What effect does their use have on the overall look of the artwork? How have they created balance in their work?
The Singh Twins – EnTWINed (Collections Museum of London) 
The Singh Twins – EnTWINed (detail) – (Collections Museum of London)
How to create artwork like The Singh Twins
Here are the materials I recommend to make digital artworks like The Singh Twins. There are an array of apps (both free and paid-for) that can be used to create original art.
What do you think of The Singh Twins’ artwork? How could you describe it? What messages of meanings can you interpret from the work? Watch the short documentary below to learn more about The Singh Twins’ fascinating work and inspiration.
I would like to say a huge thank you to The Singh Twins for helping out with this profile by providing the images and kindly agreeing to check over the text to make any necessary changes. Their support is much appreciated!
The Art Teacher 