-
Singapura
Ota Fine Arts Tokyo is delighted to present “Singapura”, a group exhibition featuring a selection of five artists from Singapore, the city-state known for its diverse mix of cultures. The artists are equally diversified in their own ways – their multi-disciplinary practices span from conventional painting and drawing to performance, installation, film as well as curatorial projects.
-
Zai Kuning
At the forefront of avant garde practice in Singapore, Zai Kuning (b. 1964, Singapore) is known for his research on Melayu history around the region, in particular the Orang Laut (sea gypsies) around the Riau islands. His most recent large-scale installation work – consisting of a rattan sculpture reminiscent of the structure of a ship – was exhibited in the Singapore pavilion at the Venice Biennale in 2017, and later travelled to the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa. In this exhibition, we present Zai’s ink drawings from the Ombak Hitam (2016) series, which means Kuroshio (also known as "Black current" or "Japan Current") in his native language, expressing various forms of the colour black. Japan and Riau are both composed of diverse islands and people live through interactions with the sea in various ways. The artist's strong interest in Kuroshio, which flows in between Japan and Riau and has carried and spread many cultures, led him to creating an array of multi-layered expressions.
-
Hilmi Johandi
Landscapes and Paradise V (Poolscapes), 2020Looking closer at Singapore’s modern history, Hilmi Johandi (b. 1987, Singapore) takes reference from archival materials such as film, photographs and postcards from the 1960’s to 1990’s. In his recent painting, Landscapes and Paradise V (Poolscapes) (2020), motifs such as the refreshing blue pool and tropical greenery gives one the impression of an island paradise that makes Singapore an attractive tourist destination. Upon closer observation however, one will notice that the figure, plants and walls appear to be stage props. This idea of an artificial façade leads one to question whether the scene portrayed could be an imaginary one, and the extent of truth or accuracy in Singapore's written history.
-
Liao Jiekai
Taking on a more anecdotal approach, Liao Jiekai’s (b. 1984, Singapore) short film Silent Light (2015) shows personal footage that the artist recorded during his grandmother’s funeral. Shot on expired 16mm film, the scenes of modern-day Singapore appear in sepia tones, giving one a sense of nostalgia. This is juxtaposed by an elderly female voice who narrates her childhood memories of growing up in Singapore in the 1940s during the Japanese occupation when Japanese soldiers used to play with her while getting their haircuts at her father’s barber shop. She goes on to describe how she also grew up in Malaysia with relatives from China, her days spent on Hainan island, and her view of life and death. Such mixes of cultures and backgrounds is common in Singapore even up till today, and Liao raises questions the identity of Singapore through the artwork.
-
-
Guo-Liang Tan
Amphibian Wisps, 2020Guo-Liang Tan’s (b. 1980, Singapore) work introduces an abstract visual that is at once ubiquitous yet personal at the same time. In his new painting, Amphibian Wisps (2020), figurative elements are decidedly absent and instead of direct mark-making, paint is thinned down and allowed to flow across the surface of stretched fabric, creating a variety of stains and marks which mirror actions that can be performed on the fabric itself - fold, tear, cut, sew, drape, stretch etc. Gaps and overlaps, traces and fragmentation feature prominently in Tan’s making process as he explores how these frame and orientate our sense of time, body and memory.
-
Jason Lim
Jason Lim (b. 1966, Singapore) delves in ceramics, installation and performance art, and his works sometimes interweave the three. Lim is often inspired by nature and his surroundings, and has made poetic works based on the Banyan tree which is commonly found in Southeast Asia, as well as politically-charged works that reveal social commentary on Singapore. Exhibited in this show is a piece from Lim’s Landscape Studies series (2013), which was made after a residency in Xi’An, China in 2012. Landscape studies (River Top) (2013) reworks traditional Chinese landscape ink painting in the form of stoneware -- organic forms of trees are perched atop a cylindrical structure with an engraving of wavy lines flowing down its sides – transcending functionality and morphing into the sculptural.
-
-
-
Ota Fine Arts Tokyo invites all to experience the various perspectives of Singapore through the works of these five artists from different generations.
[OTA Fine Arts Tokyo] Singapura:: Zai Kuning, Hilmi Johandi, Guo-Liang Tan, Liao Jiekai, Jason Lim
Past viewing_room
