Joy in People; Brain Activity

Is life funny, seriously?

David Shrigley, Fight for Nothingness (2012), banner, Southbank Centre, London

I was in Glasgow recently, to see the International Festival of Art. During this excursion, I had the opportunity to visit the studio-spaces of two Singaporean artists, Chun Kai Qun and Joo Choon Lin, and speak with them about their recent works. On the topic of art exhibitions in London, Kaiqun exclaimed,”You must see this!”, referring to the exhibition by Glasgow-based artist, David Shrigley. It became apparent from our conversation that David Shrigley is an important influence on Kai Qun’s work (arguably other Glasgow-based artists), as far as ‘one liner’ artworks were concerned. Not used derogatorily, ‘One liner’  artworks are those you can almost immediately get, like a good one liner joke: the viewer doesn’t need obfuscated or contorted theory to understand what the artist is getting at. Fanned by curiosity, I made another excursion to Hayward on May 10.

Upon reaching the gallery entrance, after being distracted by the red carpet preparations for the World Premier for Sacha Baron Cohen’s The Dictator (2012) at the Royal Festival Hall next door, I hesitated:  Jeremy Deller’s Joy in People or David Shrigley’s Brain Activity, first? Deciding that I deserve some perking up on a gloomy, wet day, I interrupted the gallery’s ticket attendant before she could finish belting out the name and location of the exhibitions. “The funny one,” I said, “before the serious one” and she chuckled, nodded almost approvingly, and sent me up the stairs.

But funny isn’t the right word to describe Shrigley’s work; the exhibition guide used more than some, including ‘dark, anarchic humor’, ‘sideways take on life’, ‘paradox, absurdity, incongruity’, or ‘provoke surprise as much as laughter’. Shrigley provides stabs of light and darkness, poking fun of the most banal, aspect of every day events and objects: sleeping, hiding, holding placards; light switches, eggs, wellington boots,  doors, gates, tombstones, and of course, doodles. For instance, my favorite work, What Decay Looks Like (2001) shows a large model of a tooth, posing in front of a large mirror. Marred by countless holes suggesting the ultimate tooth decay,  the tooth is adorable, caught in an innocent moment of looking oneself in the mirror; yet repulsive, no doubt every dentist’s nemesis. To some extent, the work represents unimaginable pain, and catharsis – a moment of relief because the decayed tooth is out of the mouth. This detachment from reality is a key feature of Shrigley’s work, but not nearly as random or nonsensical as the Dadaist or the Surrealist. Notwithstanding the fact that anyone could have scribbled the drawings on exhibit, the scribbly charismatic mark of the artist is clearly present.

As an apt contrast, Jeremy Deller’s artworks defy the presence of the artist. In some circles, these will not be declared art at all. Instead, they resemble events and documentaries about various sub-cultures: re-enactment festivals, acid-punk, amateur brass bands or Depeche Mode fan clubs. Calling himself an events organizer, or collaborator, his artworks deal with folk and naive aesthetics, which fortunately sits nicely with quirky ‘bad art’ aesthetics of Shrigley’s. All diverse projects (rather than calling them artworks), resist categorization and one will struggle to pinpoint the voice of the artist. Like an ethnographer, the voices of his participants are more important in any project. These projects carefully conceal the presence of the artist, in an attempt to circumvent the paradigm of the capitalist art market. How well this works will surely draw polarized opinions.

Without the aura of the art gallery, will we even look at these projects? But here lies precisely the subject of his artistic inquiry: the intangible, invisible social relations between people, more than objects people leave behind. To elaborate this, we might study Antoine de Saint Exupéry’s quote from Le Petit Prince (1943) more carefully, ”It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; What is essential is invisible to the eye”. The value of Deller’s work is to prompt us to think how we live and how we might change things.

Pondering on life’s inconveniences will perhaps bring us to the heart of these two exhibitions, and to some extent, the intuitive working methods of both artists. Both analyze modern society in their own charming way: Shrigley with humility and humor; Deller with academic disinterest and distaste for status. Both, no doubt, will have their own fans for taking life so serious.

Jeremy Deller, Sacrilege (2012), inflatable stone henge, Glasgow Green. This travels to London 21 Jun 2012 – 9 Sep 2012.

David Shrigley: Brain Activity, Hayward Gallery, 1 Feb – 13 May 2012
Jeremy Deller: Joy in People, Hayward Gallery, 22 Feb – 13 May 2012

We Who Saw Signs

from vision to perception

We Who Saw Signs

“We Who Saw Signs is a group exhibition that explores doubt by focusing on the transitional…The exhibition proposes the possibility of transversing the boundaries of signification and experience, of the real and the imagined amidst ambiguity and humour. It is an invitation to question authenticity and a declaration to favor uncertainty over coherence, fiction over truth” (curatorial text).

In Gombrich’s concluding remarks of his chapter ‘The Analysis of Vision in Art’ in Art and Illusion (1956, p.264), he suggested that ‘the world really looks like a flat picture, but because some flat pictures really look like the world’. Gombrich was pointing out the intricate relationship between representation in art – art that looks like something that exists – and the world around us;  we measure the beauty of our environment, not just by our personal experiences, but also by what is depicted in art. For example, a first visit to Stonehenge will allow a comparison with experiences of visits to historical ruins, but also images of Stonehenge on travel brochures and websites. To Gombrich, artists, conscious or not, make their art look like or relate to art that have been produced. In addition, we are attuned to seeing the world as constructed two dimensional images: we crop, view-find what we find interesting and more desirable. To traject Gombrich’s thoughts, we over rely on two dimensional images to gather visual information and see the world. Perhaps our insatiable desire and curiosity has led us to simplify experiences into postcard-like two dimensional images like a mental short-hand.

In a similar way, this exhibition suggests occasions and situations that question reality, and how seeing should not really be believing. This exhibitions succeeds in doing so and also stirs our curiosity for the artists’ varied subjects, but also concepts of aesthetics by which we can use to evaluate them.  For example, we may investigate the works against a theoretical concept of mimesis, or imitation of what is real or truthful. The arrangement of the artworks were thoughtful, giving each work the space they deserve; it also juxtaposes similarities and offers contrasts. For example, the works by Adad Hannah and Tan Wee Lit are common because they suggest momento mori – remember your mortality – by the suggestion of a skull image in Hannah’s and obituaries for unknown people in Wee Lit’s. As a result, the viewer may read the same suggestion in Nipan Oranniwesna’s monumental white ‘gravestone’ placed on the floor, or Ho Tzu Nyen’s dark, ambiguous, apocalyptic video. Or Yoca Muta’s video as an environmental warning of our over-stretched consumption of natural resources. Yet the artworks are different in medium and context and were made with very different intents.

The title of an exhibition determines the flavour of the exhibition. To explain the title We Who Saw Signs, we can relate it to the concept of semiotics in linguistics, and human beings’ desire to understand language and how it means what it means. Language, written or verbal, become carriers of meanings or signs in place of natural phenomena, objects and action. For meaning to be constructed, a sign consists of a signifier and signified – the form which the sign takes, and the concept the sign represents, respectively. A sign, say a written word ‘saw‘, may have more than one signified: it can have multiple meanings. This exhibition explores signifiers and the signified, or the suggestion of signs in its various guise: written language and pictograms (Nipan Oranniwesna’s Silent Voice) names (Tan Wee Lit’s The Missed), objects and photographs (Ola Vasiljeva’s Alchimie du Verbe), action (Ola Vasiljeva’s Alchimie du Verbe, Grieve Perspective’s The Heavens Belong To Everyone But The View Above Is Ours Alone) and images (Adad Hannah’s All Is Vanity, Ho Tzu Nyen’s Earth, Institute of Critical Zoologists’ The Great Pretenders, and Yoca Muta’s Mountain). To add to this, the catalogue that accompanies the exhibition can be regarded as the tenth artwork. Pursuing an explanation of semiotics, we can conclude that everything must be a sign, if we intend or read it as such.

The exhibition title suggests that the artists are observers, researchers and masters of signs. The title also encourages the reader/viewer to understand the works by carefully examining the ‘flaws’ or hints of deception; cut apart the visual elements to find meaning of the work. But reading signs, signified, and signifier in every work may be an overtly intellectual exercise, neglecting the aesthetic experience conveyed by the work. What is a sign without emotions and feelings? What is a sign without context or the spring of experiences for our rich imaginations to tap on? Therefore semiotics should be an optional seasoning, to supplement our sensory perception in the company of clever, great works of art.

ICA Gallery , LASALLE, 3 Aug – 4 Sep 2011
The limited edition catalogue might still be available from the ICA gallery. Do write to them directly for enquiries.

References

A crude example of how a sign/symbol is meaningful:
Signifier + Signified  = sign
Rose        + Passion     = Meaningful sign
Chandler, Daniel (2009). Semiotics for Beginners. Accessed 24 Jan 2012 from http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Documents/S4B/sem02.html

Tan, Guoliang. (2011). We Who Saw Signs. Singapore: The Institute of Contemporary Arts Singapore

Splendid Memory Still Flows Back Into Cosmos… Wow Really

tangential. visual. eye. true. space

Splendid Memory Still Flows Back Into Cosmos… Wow Really

The title of this exhibition is derived, in part, from an exquisite corpse exercise. Exquisite Corpse, refers to “ a method by which a collection of words or images is collectively assembled”. In this instance, an artist thinks of a word, another chips in a second word (or work) in relation and this goes on before the title is coined.

In the same experimental spirit, I thought I will pen my thoughts of this exhibition in relation to a sequence chosen in an equally erratic manner. I begin with the first word that comes to my head when I re-viewed the photographs taken of the exhibition. Then, I opened Rudolf Arnheim’s Art and Visual Perception (1954) and in quick successions picked up ‘random’ words, guided by my subconscious, or sub-conscience. I started with a word (adj.) tangential, because I thought this titling methodology is rather similar to the physical arrangement of the artworks. Certain visual elements (scale, colour, treatment of texture, subject matter) resonate, when the artworks are placed together.  The subject matters  dealt here are eclectic, but yet somewhat related. The works are all different in nature and appearance, each taking different lines of thought. However, they remain central to a hidden set of themes or agenda. For instance, I can identify history/memory, institution, humor and structure in the body of works, or at least a tangent of these. What I assume as ‘themes’ might well be off-tangent to the artists’ intent.

tangential, visual eye. true space.

Visual eye here “refer to someone’s power of vision and indescriptions of the manner or direction of someone’s gaze”. For example, “I have an eye for beauty”, suggests the owner of such a statement can identify beauty because he or she has the ability to judge and evaluate it. In Arnheim’s Art and Visual Perception (1954), he states ten principles, or psychology of the creative eye, that artists adhere, to follow or disrupt. Balance, shape, form, growth, space, light, color, movement, dynamics, expression are sometimes called elements of art. But what Arnheim really did was explain the ten most basic art vocabulary words from a psychological examination. Besides a thematic analysis of the institutional context of a premier (and premium) art institution, the works are references for the visual eye – set pieces where elements of art can be exemplified, talked about, critiqued and internalised.

True space refers to both the physical space and imaginary and experimental space artists create. It also reflects the importance of art practices being faithful to an artistic vision, message or intent. I will pick a few to explain that the largest imaginary space belongs to the viewer, where different interpretations of the artists’ works are allowed. Sia Joo Hiang’s illustrations are hilarious and play with hopes, fears of anyone and everyone. In Spring Can Always Be Here (2010-11), a row of boys queue up, as if for exercise; two phrases “some are called” and “some are too lazy” are reminisce of school where boys are afraid to try a particular exercise and they are accused of being lazy. Like David Shringley, playful, surreal, bizarre and funny, the work can be a critique of social behavior or our subconscious thoughts. The distinction between fine art and illustration is difficult. Like Elizabeth Peyton, or Quentin Blake the distinction is not as important as the artist’s own style, voice and what drives them. In Peyton’s case, it is people and their personalities, idealized portraits and popular culture; In Blake’s case, it is the love of children’s books and imagination and his popularity proven by more than 300 illustrated books spanning his entire career.

Liao Jie Kai’s Mini Spectacle (2011) projects a tiny moving image of fireworks on a tall pillar from a cluster of equipment. At this cluster of video camera, projector and computer, a screen shows a desktop background image of a forest with a large video camera gazing at the viewer. As if his mind is elsewhere, the artist is portrayed juggling different projects in addition to teaching. On the other hand, it presents art as a mini spectacle and the theoretical idea that the camera’s gaze is inverted and re-cast only when it is seen seeing – if you don’t show it, it doesn’t yet exist; yet the work is also about the idea of a spectacle – a visually striking performance or display – being relative to different people. Fireworks to some is just smoke and lights and money burning really quickly;  to others, it represents the right to celebrate; to other others, it represents the pride and glory of a Chinese invention not capitalized and eventually usurped by the Westerners, leading to the downfall of the Middle Kingdom.

Tan Wee Lit’s Making History (2011), features a signboard with the name of the institution, in the tradition of 3-dimensional letterings of the signboards from 1950s and 1960s shop fronts. On one hand, it relates to School of the Arts (SOTA) making history as the first art school for young talents; it is a reminder of the heavy responsibility of the staff and students too, and the larger agenda of the state. On the other hand, it is a critique of craft: the signboards from the 1950s and 1960s were hand-cut while this is evidently laser-cut and assembled by hand. Craft, if it does not make itself relevant by reinventing its material or form  (visible shape, function, or aesthetic appeal), it will become dated, like how this sign appears to some of us. In the uncanny blue, red and aluminum (white-like), it looks very British, reminding us of our colonial history, and inheritance of Western art aesthetics.

John Stewart Jackson’s wall of stacked wood, creates a partition in the space of the gallery. The visitor is required to bow and bend through a passageway in the middle of the wall. A stool is placed in the middle of the passageway, beckoning the viewer to sit, reflect or meditate.  From a distance, the wall resembles layers of rock sediments distinguished by layers of subtle earthy colors. Judging from the condition of the wood, they are either wood left over from wood workshops or unused from a different project. The environmentalist will comment that this work is a critique of our reckless use of wood and the need for sustainable resources. The work may also be a critique of our lack of understanding and appreciation of this ancient, natural material; craft in wood is substituted and replaced by man-made, cheap moulded plastic. In a land scarce, urban country like Singapore, the concept of wood lands and living in the countryside are alien.

The idea of an annual staff exhibition is very commendable for two reasons:  (1) it provides an important avenue where students can see their teachers as role-models, artists and practitioners in their respective craft and enjoying the creative process they too use; (2) the exhibition also signals to the school’s management the importance of allowing these special educators the time and space to practice and exhibit. Despite the possibility that the exhibition primarily serves the students and staff of School of the Arts (SOTA), it also serves to educate a wider public audience. This reaffirms the importance the institution (and by a larger gesture, the Ministry and government) places on the arts; this presentation of exciting, varied art forms are encouraging signs that students of SOTA, and elsewhere are exposed to. I can imagine this flourish of contemporaneity will ruffle the feathers of parents, whom I hope, will slowly come to terms with the thrill of art now, and the challenge that art isn’t just about ‘economic viability’ in the individual sense or larger industrial sense. The art needs to be good first, before  people are interested to support it. And artists do need a long time to become good, just like how architects, lawyers, accountants, doctors, farmers start by doing their rounds and errands – the better ones stay. The others, it is anyone’s guess.

I am really impressed by the effort and quality of the works put up, and hope more people have seen it; and, look forward to the next. In a historical context, this exhibition joins the rank of Lasalle-NAFA staff shows, and sporadic art teacher exhibitions (E.g. more recently, selected artworks from Art and Music Education Conference, Bonded (PKW, ), teachers-as-artists (NIE) or Reframing Sculpture (Sculpture Square)). In an educational context, it reinforces the renewed need for practitioners to keep at their craft, or risk losing their touch.

13-27 August 2011, SOTA Gallery
School of the Arts Singapore
list of artists/educators 
For more information about School of the Arts, visit: http://www.sota.edu.sg

Intimacy

closeness enclosed

Intimacy

This was my first visit to Yavuz Fine Art Gallery, on the 3rd floor of the former Catholic High School building on Waterloo Street, near the Singapore Art Museum. Singapore has more than one instance of converting former school buildings into art spaces. For example, Telok Kurau Studios, The Singapore Art Museum (SAM), Asian Civilisation Museum on Armenian Street, Old School at Mount Sophia Road, and SAM at 8Q on Queen Street. Perhaps these conversions are viable for economic reasons and urban regeneration. Additionally, the aura and connotations of a school suggest an ambient of learning, respect and authority – useful qualities for art spaces to inherit.

The title and theme of the exhibition is intimacy. Featuring 9 artists, the works range from video, photography, paintings, drawings, assemblages and ceramics. Judging from the year of production, it is very likely that the works were identified or made first, and then curated together. Despite the diverse art forms, the theme and title holds the show well, if not brilliantly. The placement of the works were thoughtful, ensuring that visual elements were echoed or bounced off neighboring artworks; they were well spaced to allow sufficient viewing distance to ‘take in’ the work as it extends, and expand in meaning.

I shall extend in writing my thoughts on three artworks which intrigued me in relation to an expanded definition of ‘intimacy’. Intimacy, most commonly refers to familiarity, closeness, private, an euphemism for a sexual relationship and detailed and thorough knowledge. From the last definition, and the latin root words, intimate or intimare, it also means ‘to tell’, or ‘make known’.

Tang Ling Nah’s Study for Contemplating Waterloo Scene (2011) expresses ‘familiarity and closeness’ through ordinary buildings, rendered beautifully in charcoal. One may not usually associate public spaces as intimate because they are often portrayed as uniform, ugly, cold, corporate, or distant. Ambiguity and ubiquity of public and private spaces are often depicted in her iconic, black and white drawings. Even though they usually represent actual architectural spaces, Tang Ling Nah often tricks our mind, altering and inventing some – they are really her mindscapes – an ordinary vacant scene reprised and immortalized. The psychological effects of space on us, is illustrated and made known in Tang’s work: this artwork lightly captures the bizarre and mixed-feeling we have for arts spaces¹.

Stellah Lim’s Never (2010-2011) consists of miniature portraits. Successfully arranged and placed in antique-like cast iron (or plastic imitation?) frames, they resemble pairs of earrings on display. From far, they resemble rorschach ink drawings, inviting the viewer to analyze and interpret them. The small-scale, and choice of material compels the viewer to examine them closely. On closer inspection, hair is used like thread in embroidery, to create an image; the missing facial features suggest hair is an unyielding material and its inflexibility to be used on small details is unresolved. Nonetheless, the faceless portraits – never identified, never completed – suggests that platonic relationships are sometimes vague, and the character and actions of people are never fully understood. On the other hand, the facelessness may symbolize that the people depicted, or their relationships to the artist, were never intimate. A warning perhaps, of the vulnerability of human relationships.

Taking metaphors to another extreme, Sia Hua Kuan’s arc of multi-plugs resemble a sculpture by Andy Goldsworthy, but with very different found-objects. Like a rainbow, the multi-plugs spill and extend from a socket on the floor. Interpreting the work using the theme of the exhibition, the work could suggest the intimate relationships electrical appliances have with each other. If we have read Philip K. Dick’s (1968) Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? or seen Ridley Scott’s 1982 movie adaptation, Blade Runner, we may sympathize with this interpretation. Seeing the work in another light, we may also say we are over over-sold on electricity and gadgetry, that we are bending our backs from the humble, simple uses of appliances. Read anti-aesthetically, the artist has found a pretty way to display and store those unwanted multi-plugs which have yet found themselves recycled.

On balance, the works in the exhibition illustrated various definitions of intimacy, and artists’ diverse interests in materials and subject matter. While not particularly racy, sensational or controversial, the exhibition is sensible and the artworks here genuinely deserve to be collected and appreciated by their befitting, tasteful aficionado.

6.0 of 10 stars.

Yavuz Fine Art Gallery, 2 – 25 Sep 2011

http://www.yavuzfineart.com/past_exhibitions/intimacy.html

Note: If anyone is visiting the gallery for the first time, enter from Waterloo Street. Even though it appears to be a singular compound for the former Catholic High School, it is divided into two parts, with separate entrances from Queen Street and Waterloo Street.

Further Reading:
The Wall Street Journal Blog, Singapore Artists Fight for ‘Old School’ Landmark, http://blogs.wsj.com/scene/2011/11/23/singapore-artists-fight-for-old-school-landmark/

Endnote:
1. Art spaces is used loosely in this review, to mean a space where artists work and show art. In the text Study of Art Spaces, Chang and Lee suggests arts spaces adopt “ideological rather than (mere) material manifestations”. They elaborate:“‘Spaces with the arts’ refers to spaces that not only accommodate the arts but also embrace them. Within such an environment, the arts are supported and encouraged to develop organically. Simply put, ‘spaces with the arts’ refers to socioscapes wherein the arts reside… ‘spaces of the arts’ are more private, exclusive and individualistic. These are places where ideas are conceived and germinated – the mindscapes of the artists limited only by their imagination and socio-political restrictions.” Chang, T.C. and Lee, W.K. (2003). Renaissance City Singapore: A Study of Arts Spaces. Area, 35(2), (Jun., 2003), 128-141

Following Breadcrumbs by Julie Heather Liew

Rene Magritte meets Adolescence

Following Breadcrumbs by Julie Heather Liew

“The nature of my work tends to bring out the ‘child’ in all of us – that inquisitive, fidgety creature that we often suppress in order to enter adulthood in a socially-acceptable state of mind. The Upper Gallery provides such a personal and intimate environment for viewers to appreciate art in, I decided to use that to enhance the overall experience of viewing my installations and sculptures” (press release).

When the Brothers Grimm wrote Hansel and Gretel in German, they did not predict that their stories would be translated and told in different languages around the world. And neither did concepts of intellectual property exist in the early 1800s. Taking this children’s story at face value, it is a clever and gripping story that perhaps, impart morals:  1) don’t be a glutton; 2) don’t waste food; 2.5) don’t eat food that falls on the table, let alone the floor;  3) siblings stick together.

Fortunately, the young artist Julie Heather Liew has not interpreted or used a similar reading of Hansel and Gretel morals as subject matter for her body of work; instead, she has used a safer ‘growing up’ theme. The artworks reflect several uncertainties, camouflaged by her careful selection of objects and materials used to signify personal meaning. The cliched image of the pointed roof house is repeated as receptacles for objects (and memories) in several works. For example, peering into a wooden house structure in the middle of the gallery, one would find as eggs on hay. In different corners of the gallery, a miniature globe is nested in a concrete pillow; random objects are placed on a horizontal blackboard; alphabet pasta rests on a Children’s Ikea table and chair set; plinths with altered objects stuck on the side and top. Curiously, the “fidgety creature” mentioned in the artist statement (reproduced above) can not be found. Are they the fictitious inhabitants of the said houses or invented authors of the artworks? Would the witch or stepmother in Hansel and Gretel, be likely candidates for the role of the fidgety creature? How about casting Hansel and Gretel as the fidgety creatures? Like Rene Magritte in Personal Values (1951), objects taken out of context will seem absurd. Only to the most determined and imaginative viewer, these become magical.

For her intrepid, experimental body of work, and perhaps first solo show, the artist has been rather productive.  To be blunt, any artist who decides to make art that is memorable, and to survive as a practitioner must consider pursuing a stronger element of craftsmanship and weighted choice of subject matter. Whether the artist sees herself as the victim or the creator of the tale when the breadcrumbs trail ends, now depends on her. Even so, I grudgingly admit that career choices sometimes depends on extraneous factors and tremendous opportunities.

To end, not all grim stories are only for children, are they?  Because, as pointed out by the artist, there is an inner child in all of us. Sculpted carefully and managed correctly, even artworks with a child-like theme would have their appeal and audience.

Sculpture Square, Upper Gallery, 10 – 26 Sep 2011

http://www.sculpturesq.com.sg/Events/Entries/2011/9/9_Following_Breadcrumbs.html

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This text was edited and posted much later than intended. The author apologizes for the lateness.