‘A Decade Apart / Together’ at Richard Koh Fine Art
Bringing together two groups of Singaporean artists
By Ho See Wah
The notion of time frames ‘A Decade Apart / Together’, a Singaporean group show at Richard Koh Fine Art (RKFA). The title succinctly describes the group of participating artists: half of the six are born in the 1980s, while the other half are born in the 1990s. Apart from the age difference, however, more similarities than differences can be perceived. “These two group of artists grew up during the internet explosion and their way of perceiving the world is very interesting,” says founder Richard Koh. “Though they are a decade apart, their quick access to knowledge and information has tremendously shaped their artistic constitution.” The exhibition is also a fitting celebration of Singaporean artists in the nation’s birthday month.
The curatorial essay penned by Euginia Tan, ‘What We Make of Time’, further teases out the concept for thinking about the show in relation to cultural production. In a subtle gesture, Tan steers us from trying to find a grand take on the show and instead draws our attention towards the act of giving space towards artistic praxis instead. “We cannot deny that they are producing under certain circumstances, but I also wanted to appreciate other elements of their art making roots and processes”, says Tan. Amidst the backdrop of a fixed set of norms for artistic production, this is an attempt to balance the scales between regulated parameters where time is often a luxury we cannot afford, and giving the artists a sphere to assert their own timescales.
Odelia Tang, ‘AUGUST’, 2020, woodboard, polyurethane, foam putty, knife, untempered glass, mirror shards, acrylic paint and tulle fabric, 120 x 90cm. Image Courtesy of the artist and RKFA.
Taking part in this exhibition are Genevieve Chua, Hu Qiren, Ian Tee, Melissa Tan, Mengju Lin and Odelia Tang, who will be showing works that represent their current artistic trajectories. Occupying a room by itself is Tang’s ‘COILING’, an impressive sculptural installation out of the two that the artist is presenting for this show. The artworks are part of a new series focusing on the unconscious mind and the negotiation of pain in mental and physical forms. In their abstractions and materiality, the works are suggestive of the kind of pain that exists and affects the individual even as it is invisible to the naked eye. This ties into her artistic practice thematically, where her monochromatic works are an exploration of the human psyche in relation to society at large.
Ian Tee, ‘FIRE BLANKET 07’, 2019, fibre-glass fire blanket, bleach, old clothes, reflective strips, elastic and safety straps, 190 x 183cm (including borders). Image Courtesy of Yavuz Gallery.
The exhibition also presents a pair of Ian Tee’s grand and colourful collages. The artist builds upon two bodies of work with an existing piece, ‘FIRE BLANKET 07’, as well as a new work ‘SEEK AND DESTROY’ from his Target Painting series. The artworks from his Fire Blanket oeuvre manifest themselves through a patchwork of unlikely materials, from unwanted clothes to reflective stripes, to create something anew with care. At the same time, tension surfaces among the meanings spurned from the materials’ relationships with one another, the hard-edged compositions, and the idea of a fire blanket itself. In such a way, the series prompts us to consider anxieties of the present in an urgent manner and thereafter, methods of reshaping them with deliberate tenderness.
Ian Tee, ‘SEEK AND DESTROY’, 2019-20, acrylic, target papers, comic strips, compass and collage on destroyed aluminium composite panel, 150 x 122cm (panel), with hanging elements. Image Courtesy of Yavuz Gallery.
A similar tension exists in ‘SEEK AND DESTROY’, where layers of paint and collage coat an aluminium composite panel. Always present in the Target Painting series is the target motif, which serves to position viewers as an active executor of violence though we are not certain of what we are firing at. Another instance of brutality occurs through slashing into the work to reveal the hidden layers beneath. In this case, a strange intimacy and vulnerability is evoked in spite of the disturbance enacted. Put together, juxtaposing feelings of alienation and desire for closeness arise. The two works are representative of the artist’s ongoing focus of “collage as strategy”, as he describes it, where new meanings are brought into being through the act of reworking.
Hu Qiren, ‘Ensō #007’, 2019, archival pigment print, 106.7 x 129.5cm. Image courtesy of the artist and RKFA.
In contrast, Hu Qiren veers towards a softer display with his contemplative triptych of an annular solar eclipse, ‘Ensō’, which considers photography’s relationship with the natural environment. For Hu, his medium and the eclipse are in direct conversation given that photography is about drawing with light, whereas eclipses bring the phenomena of light in nature to the forefront. The process of creating is also as meaningful as the final product, from capturing the eclipse on his home-made viewing apparatus and Polaroid camera, to digitally scanning the films and enlarging them through large-format printing. This purposeful act of capturing and preserving a passing of time is laden with intention as it differentiates itself from the current period’s ways of rapid image circulation. The strong attention to his medium and its possibilities constitute a contemplative exercise at this point in Hu’s artistic career. Just recently, the artist arrived back in Singapore after spending some time abroad studying under Japanese photographer Hiroshi Sugimoto.
(Left) Melissa Tan, ‘Kaali’, 2020, mirror finish stainless steel, epoxy resin and pigment, 88 x 62 x 12cm, (centre left) ‘Nephthys’, 2020, mirror finish stainless steel, epoxy resin and pigment, 136 x 128.5 x 19cm, (centre right, top) Mengju Lin, ‘Dancing Bones’, 2020, acrylic on canvas, 61 x 91cm, (centre right, bottom) ‘Love Sound Fortissimo’, 2020, acrylic on canvas, 61 x 91cm, (right) ‘Cebu Blue’, 2020, acrylic and gesso on canvas, 50 x 60cm, exhibition installation view. Image courtesy of the artists and RKFA.
Equally riveting is Genevieve Chua’s ‘Breeze Blocks’ series, which is a formalistic and conceptual investigation into breeze blocks through the process of painting. In ‘Kaali’ and ‘Nephthys’, Melissa Tan deftly weaves feminine mythology and its astronomical relationships together to conjure up new imaginations. And in Mengju Lin’s works, ‘Dancing Bones’, ‘Love Sound Fortissimo’ and Cebu Blue’, she masterfully delves into the universe of a word through the delicate play between text and aesthetic.
Accompanying the exhibition is a documentary where the main focus lies in expounding the artworks’ content and context in relation to the artists’ oeuvre at large. Meant to be a substitute for ‘A Decade Apart / Together’ in the event that the physical show could not take place, the video brings out the artists’ presence in the works as they speak directly about the featured works. Directed by Singaporean artist Kray Chen, he asserts that his practice and the documentary are distinct entities though his body of work frequently utilises the medium of film. “It overlaps in many ways to the broader craft of film, and perhaps inevitably, you sense a little bit of me in it,” says Chen. “The main difference is that this is not about me, but more importantly, it is to showcase the exhibition and bring the viewers to the artists.” To that end, he credits the whole team’s equal efforts in realising the film, which consists of Content & Script Researcher Euginia Tan, Producer Jeremy Chua, Cinematographer Russell Morton, Editor Han Fengyu and Original Music by Bani Haykal.
(Left) Genevieve Chua, ‘Breeze Blocks 7 and 8’, 2020, acrylic on linen, 28 x 19cm (each), (centre) ‘Breeze Blocks 9 and 10’, 2020, acrylic on linen, 28 x 19cm and 28 x 13.6cm, (right) ‘Breeze Blocks 11’, 2020, acrylic on linen, 28 x 21cm, exhibition installation shot. Image courtesy of the artist and RKFA.
‘A Decade Apart / Together’ will be a welcomed breath of fresh air for many as museums and galleries start to receive visitors back into their spaces. The documentary will be screened onsite to complement the presentation, and will also be available online for those who cannot make it to the exhibition. The film deepens our understanding and appreciation for the show from the artists’ unique perspectives, and provides agency for the practitioners to articulate their modes of cultural production.
‘A Decade Apart / Together’ at Richard Koh Fine Art, Singapore will run from 28 August to 19 September 2020. Click here for more information.
Art & Market is pleased to exclusively release the documentary for the exhibition. Watch it here.
