MAY 2010 // 1

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CONTENTS
Galerie Joaquin Singapore specializes in museum-quality artworks from the Philippines

17. 18.

Dominic Rubio 48 x 84 in. oil on canvas

Representing young emerging artists, successful contemporary talents, as well as

24.
the masters, the gallery serves as a platform to showcase the best of Filipino art

14 COMING UP 36 REVIEWS Arturo Luz Dominic Rubio Eufemio Rasco IV

Wishful thinking Series of Artists Talks
Elucidation: Sculptures with a Narrative Kaleidoscope 2010 Torch of Friendship Federico Aguilar Alcuaz Carlo Magno Jaspher Penuliar
Asian Festival of Children Content WHOLE: A chance encounter with the grid
Juvenal Sansó Ramon Orlina Vincent De Pio
Artists’ Book Exhibition: Centre to Periphery Pushing the Boundaries of the Modern
International Museum Day Chinese Painting: A Review of Painter Mario Parial Jerry Morada Aileen Lanuza
Ng Joon Kiat’s Latest Works
Singapore Arts Festival 2010 Lydia Velasco Jovan Benito
Making History: How Southeast Asian Art
reconquers the past to conjure the future

18 FEATURES
Lu Peng吕鹏: An Interview
Encountering Cheong Soo Pieng: An
open-ended encounter
Catching up with Terence
Teo Chin Keong 赵振强
S I N G A P O R E

The Regent Singapore, 1 Cuscaden Road Ground Floor Unit 3, Singapore 249715 · Tel.: +(65) 6725 3113
Email: contact@galeriejoaquin.com.sg
www.galeriejoaquin.com.sg
8 // CONFABULATION MAY 2010 // 9
CONTENTS

30. 36.

41. 44. 47.

52 DIRECTORY
Singapore Art & Heritage District Map
Singapore
Malaysia

61 CREATIVE
RESOURCES

65 POSTSCRIPT
Performance art in the everyday:
The death of things now, the death of
everything later

10 // CONFABULATION MAY 2010 // 11

Issue #6 (May 2010)
ISSN 1793-9739 / MICA (P) 183/02/2010
www.confabmag.com

Editor-in-chief // Sabrina Sit / s@confabmag.com

Art Director // Amalina MN / a@confabmag.com
Photography Director // Michael Tan (Ambious Studio)
Account Executive // Kayla Hoo / k@confabmag.com
Contributors // Yvonne Low / Singapore Contemporary Young Artists
/ Syed Muhd Hafiz / Smriti Rajgarhia-Bhatt / Yow Siew Kah
/ Richard Chua

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Cover
Lu Peng Leaving the Garden of Dreams 11 <游园惊梦11> Acrylic on Canvas 145 x 170 cm

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12 // CONFABULATION MAY 2010 // 13

COMING UP COMING UP

Exhibition: Wishful Thinking

Date: 08.05.10 – 21.05.10
Venue: Museum of Art and Design (M.A.D.)
333A Orchard Road
#03-01 Mandarin Gallery
Singapore 238897

www.mad.com.sg

Hair maestro Kim Robinson has mastered another type of brush - the paintbrush. The
style icon and mane master, who is the go-to name for many A-listers in the region, will
reveal another facet to his artistic side through his first art at the Museum of Art and
Design (M.A.D.) from 8th to 21st May.

Entitled Wishful Thinking, the series of more than 21 visual presentations will unveil
Kim’s secret passion, painting. Although his own mother was an artist by profession,
he did not get into painting proper until much later in life –out of necessity. Being a
visual person, he was helping to decorate a client’s home and found it frustrating to
find art that complement the look and feel he was trying to achieve. The man literally
took matters into his own hands and produced pieces to complete the home. The
result was very well received, and word soon got out.

Under the persuasion of those who believed in him and were drawn to his works, Kim
took a quiet foray into his first show in Hong Kong. Only Kim was surprised that the
exhibition did so well with every painting sold but critics had already caught on to the
scent of a new emerging artist.

Six years later, Kim is now fulfilling his wish to hold his first exhibition in Singapore.
“Singapore is becoming a regional arts hub and so I felt it would be the best place to
showcase and launch my art endeavors officially,” says Kim.

Kim’s work centers on the raw expression of love – sex and the physical form.
Likewise, the elements in his paintings always seduce and flirt with glimpses of the
human desire through a bold combination of acrylic, watercolour, oil and typography.

As with his strong belief that love is, and should be abstract, indefinable and a little bit
elusive, the idea of passion is strongly conveyed by the choice of colour and texture
as the physical form assumes a secondary role by never being fully or clearly seen.
Kim draws and deconstructs his artistic drive from everything around him – fashion,
people, landscapes, interiors, experiences –and the beauty in every situation. Like a
beloved pair of well-worn jeans or the peeling patina of a wall from distant past, his art
pieces evoke warmth, quiet comfort and an old soul stirring within.

The man in white shirt Mixed media on Canvas 160 x 120 cm

14 // CONFABULATION MAY 2010 // 15

COMING UP COMING UP

Exhibition: Elucidation: Sculptures with a Narrative Exhibition: International Museum Day

Date: 05.05.10 – 20.05.10 Date: 14.05.10 – 23.05.10
Venue: Gnani Arts Space Venue: Various museums
190 Middle Road
#02-30/31 Fortune Centre www.nhb.gov.sg
Singapore 188979

www.gnaniarts.com

Centred on the theme I Love Museums – Kids’ edition, the National Heritage Board invites you to
Here’s an absolutely engaging showcase of solely sculptures by five artists – Vidyasankar Sthapathy,
explore the diversity of museums and our enriching exhibitions and programmes in this annual cultural
T.R.P. Mookiah, P. Gnana, B.R. Ravi and Velmurugan. Each sculpture in this collection flaunts an
extravaganza. There will be free entry to NHB museums and participating museums with the IMD’10
intriguing narrative; a story to imagine and ponder over, within creative scenarios that include themes
Open House Day on 23rd May.
such as mythology, motherhood and romance.

Exhibition: Singapore Arts Festival 2010

Exhibition: Asian Festival of Children Content Date: 14.05.10 – 13.06.10
Date: 06.05.10 – 09.05.10
Venue: The Arts House www.singaporeartsfest.com
1 Old Parliament Lane
Singapore 179429

www.afcc.com.sg

The theme for this year’s inaugural AFCC is Asian Content for the World’s Children. AFCC aims to foster
excellence in the creation, production and publication of children materials with Asian content in all
formats and facilitate their distribution and access to parents, teachers, librarians and children in Asia
as well as the world.
Between You and Me is the theme for the 33rd edition of this year’s Singapore Arts Festival. The Festival
began in 1977 as a national showcase celebrating the local arts of Singapore’s diverse communities.
Over the last three decades, the Festival, organised by the National Arts Council, has played a symbiotic
and catalytic role in development of the artistic and cultural life of Singapore. It has helped to transform
the city’s landscape, turning it into one of Asia’s major cultural capitals of today. It has influenced the
work of artists and generated a growing public demand for the arts, spawning new capital platforms,
events and movements that help underpin the lively cultural scene in present day Singapore.

Exhibition: Artists’ Book Exhibition: Centre to Periphery Exhibition: Making History: How Southeast Asian Art reconquers
Date: 08.05.10 – 21.05.10 the past to conjure the future
Venue: Japan Creative Centre Date: 27.05.10
4 Nassim Road Venue: The Bay Room
Singapore 258372 1 Esplanade Drive
Singapore 038981
www.sg.emb-japan.go.jp/JCC

Organized and curated by artists, Eriko Hirashima and Noriko Suzuki-

Bosco with additional support by Seiji Shinohara, the main objective of
the exhibition is to promote Book Arts and Artists’ Books and to support
the artists who use it as an art form to represent their ideas. The books
vary in style. A broad range of original works by 35 artists in both
Singapore and Japan has been selected for the exhibition.
There will be a book binding workshop on 8th May and 15th May
at 10.30am and 2.30pm where the general public will be able to
experience the experimental process of creating a book. For bookings
for the book binding workshop, please contact +65 6775 0602 or email
info@lalibreria.com.sg.
www.esplanade.com
The 21st century has been dubbed the Asian Century. But if the first decade of the new millennium has been
dominated by China and India’s dazzling economic and social transformations, Southeast Asia, though less
familiar, is changing rapidly too. Indeed, as one of the most culturally, religiously and linguistically diverse
regions in the world, Southeast Asia and its distinctive pluralism uniquely embody a functioning globalised
framework for local concerns. No surprise then that Southeast Asia’s complex history, evolving identity and
national stories are often the focus of the region’s sophisticated and dynamic contemporary art.
This symposium will examine issues surrounding Southeast Asian contemporary art today.
Alwin Reamillo (Philippines), Green Zeng (Singapore), Khanh Bui (Vietnam), Mella Jaarsma (Indonesia), Nge
Lay (Burma), Tang Da Wu (Singapore) and Vasan Sitthiket (Thailand). Hosted by Iola Lenzi.

16 // CONFABULATION MAY 2010 // 17

FEATURES LU PENG

堆积，是吕鹏作品语言中最鲜明的特点，他的几乎每一
幅作品，第一眼看去，给人强烈印象的，都是重重迭迭
的一大堆东西。堆积，确实形象地把握了中国人普遍的
一种生存感觉，中国人在这几十年的经历中，或者所受
的教育中，不断地今是而昨非，茫茫然不知所措成为人
们的常态，各种文化记忆，在没有价值的支撑下，必然
呈碎片状态堆积在人们记忆中。因为文化作为一种价值
系统，是一个有机的整体，主次层次分明。大到一个社
会，具体到一座建筑，都可以使人感觉到这种文化主次
层次与和谐的状态。堆积就是没有文化的体现，像中国
的建筑，就是各种文化符号的碎片堆积，也像一个没有
整理的图书馆，古今中外的书籍乱七八糟地堆在一起。
在吕鹏的作品中，我们可以看到门神的形象、样板戏的
形象、时髦青年的形象、戏曲形象、民间艺术形象的堆
积，可以看到红墙城楼、传统戏曲水纹样以及盔甲、红
卫兵袖章、弓箭、大刀、步枪的杂陈，可以看到鱼、战
马、飞机、出现在同一空间中。整个给人的感觉是文化

Lu Peng 吕鹏:
符号的混杂和时间、空间的错乱。

在堆积的形象中，它们之间关系是吕鹏作品的第二个特

An Interview
征。我还是使用建筑作为例子，在一个有文化价值系统
支撑的社会里，比如欧洲的城市，在保留传统城市面貌
整体中，现代文化和谐地存在其中。中国的城市，不但
具体建筑是文化符号的堆积，整个城市中各种文化系统
的建筑，同样是毫无次序的堆积在每一个城市的土地
Lu Peng is a prominent and acclaimed artist whose works 上，它们之间的关系常常显得非常的滑稽和可笑。吕鹏
have been shown widely across the world in places including 在处理他的画面中形象时，同样体现出一种游戏和滑稽
New York, London, Sydney, Boston and France. As with 的关系，既然我们没有文化价值系统的支撑，文化在我
the majority of artists of his generation, those born during 们的头脑中呈现混乱的状态，而且和谐并显示出一个系
the Cultural Revolution, Lu Peng is preoccupied with the 统化的状态，又不是任何一个人能够完成，那么这些文
metamorphosis of Chinese society. 化符号在每一个人的头脑里就是随每一个的兴趣、教育
背景、文化立场来组合的。吕鹏的组合是游戏式的，有
His solo exhibition, Empty City 2 < 空 城 计 2 > , at Plum 意强调了一种滑稽和混乱或者混战的关系，步枪和大刀
Blossoms Gallery in Hong Kong opens on the 24th May and 战在一起，战马和飞机搅和在一起，人和管道一起穿
runs till 7th June and he is exclusively represented by Mulan 墙而过……，这或许可以理解成：穿墙而过作为一种传
Gallery in Singapore. 说通过气功热、法术在今天的流行，也正体现中国人信
仰失落和混乱的结果，虽然滑稽，但这是我们真实的现
Lu Peng speaks to CONFABULATION about what inspires him 实。
and about symbolism in his paintings. ——栗宪庭

18 // CONFABULATION MAY 2010 // 19

FEATURES LU PENG

You are deeply affected by traditional 您深受传统戏曲，武侠小说，电动游戏和

drama, martial arts fiction, electronic 好莱坞电影的影响。这样的一个灵感来源
games, and Hollywood films which is
组合比较奇特。可以告诉我 们多点吗?
a rather eclectic mix to be drawing
inspiration from. Tell us more about it.
吕鹏: 在我小学三四年级和初中的时候，
Lu Peng: When I was in primary 3, 4 and 电台里正是在热播长篇历史评书的时候，
in junior high, it was common for the radio 象刘兰芳，善田芳等著名的评书演员的《
to broadcast classic Chinese stories. I 说岳全传》，《隋唐演义》，《水浒传》
particularly like stories read by famous ，《三国演义》（以上为中国古代的著名
broadcasters like Liu Lan Fang, Shan Tian 的武侠故事）等，我都特别喜欢。特别迷
Fang’s “The story of Yue Fei”, “Legends of
恋那些武艺高强，杀富济贫的英雄好汉。
Sui and Tang Dynasties” and “The Three
所以也爱找这样的图片来画。直到今天，
Kingdoms” (these were famous Chinese
kung-fu classics). I was very attracted by 我还是特别喜欢听，别人画画时找轻松的
those who are highly skilled in martial arts 背景音乐，但我则喜欢评书作为自己常听
and who robbed the rich to help the poor. 的。我认为这些优秀的中国传统艺术能够
I also like to draw pictures based on these 开启我们的想象力。
stories. Until today, I still like to listen to these
stories. Normally artists would usually play 那时候，心目中的理想人物就是这些英雄
some relaxing music in the background as 豪杰，有一身的工夫，云游四方，除霸安
they paint, but I will listen to these stories. 良。那时候我们一群小伙伴到现在的劲松
I felt that these excellent traditional arts 那边的工地上去玩打仗。因此总想把这些
forms could fire up our imaginations.
童年时期的记忆画到我的作品中去。后来
发现电子游戏和好莱坞电影中也经常出现
At that time, the ideal subject matter in my
heart were said heroes in these stories. 相似的情景和样式，我觉得这是人类共同
They were highly skilled in martial arts, 的童心所使然。
traveled around and helped the good by
eliminating the bad guys. My playmates
and I would go to the construction work
sites of today’s Jin Song area to play war
games and ‘fight’. That’s why I always
find myself going back and wanting to
incorporate these childhood memories into
my works. Later I found out that the same
themes would appear in Hollywood movies
and electronic games, I felt this was due to
human kind’s common characteristics.

20 // CONFABULATION MAY 2010 // 21

FEATURES
What, in your opinion, is culture? In your 您认为文化是什么？您的绘画里常有不同
works, you place people from different 时空的人和符号在同一幅作品里。这是为
times and space and symbols from the past
何？您想表达什 么？
and present together onto the same canvas.
Why is that so and what are you trying to
translate to the viewers with your works? 我觉得中国的传统因素不应该急功近利，
因该是理性的，缓慢的，从内部逐步改变
I feel that China’s traditional elements should 的，一点点地变化，最需要的是从其发展
not be one which demands fast returns or 的逻辑演变中不断调整自己。才可以保证
based on the material but should rather be
既保持传统，有有创新。这也是为什么我
logical, slow and changes made should be
的作品中旧的和老的东西与新的现代的东
from within and slowly. Most importantly,
西都混合在一起的原因。我觉得中国目前
it should adjust itself within the logic of
development. Only in this way can it retain 的社会状态就是这样，虽然，可以说中国
tradition and yet be creative. That is why the 目前仍然是很传统的国家，但我们的传统
old and new can mix well in my art. I feel that 是碎片的，不连贯的，也是相互矛盾的，
this is exactly how the China society is like – 你也可以说中国是很现代的前卫的国家，
although China is a very traditional country, 但，中国的现代性也是各种西方先进东西
our tradition is in bits and pieces, they are 的各种碎片的重叠，我们也没有一个完整
not linked and is also contradicting. You may 的西方文化系统，同时也失去了传统的魅
also say China is a very advanced and avant
力。新的文化正是在这样混乱中萌生着。
garde country but these is also a stacking
但什么是新的东西，新的中国现代文化
up of the western ideas. We do not have a
呢？似乎还没有清晰的线索，虽然人们讨
complete Western culture system and at the
论现代的问题已经有许多年了。上次。栗
same time, we have also lost the charm of our
tradition. The new culture is being produced 宪庭先生给我写了一篇文章，核心是说我
in the midst of these chaos. But what are the 的作品就是文化碎片的堆积游戏，这些具
new things, the new contemporary Chinese 有象征的文化意义的符号和图象堆积在画
culture? We do not have a clear clue although 面中，在图像之间找一些关系。的确是这
we’ve been talking about it for many years. 样，我几乎看不见各种文化符号之间的内
The last time, Mr. Zao Xian Ting wrote an 在关系，只是各种因素纠缠在一起。
article for me, the main points were that my
works are a stacking up (assimilation) of small
pieces of culture together. I put icons and
symbols rich in cultural meanings together in
my works, to find some relationships among
pictures. And true enough this is so, I can’t
seem to find any relationships between these
icons and symbols and it’s just a mixture of
various elements.
22 // CONFABULATION
LU PENG
There are many references made in your 您的作品里有许多代表性的符号，比如说
works. For example, walls symbolise present 墙代表了时下的社会 － 一面是盲目的，
day society - the blindness of one side to
另一面是官僚的。是否有哪一个符号是贯
the other and the still inscrutable nature
of much of the administration’s doings. 穿您所有作 品的，或者有哪一些是您目前
Is there any one particular reference that 在探讨的？
recurs in every series or a new icon that you
are currently exploring? 我曾经画过许多的和墙与城市有关的系列
画，如《京城夜》、《穿墙而过》。因为
I have painted many series related to the city
墙是组成城市的最为重要的标志，墙具有
and walls such as the “ Night of the capital“
and “Moving through the walls”. Because 维护和区分内外的作用，特别是中国式的
walls are the most important elements that 墙更加具备这样的特性，从某种程度上说“
make up cities, walls have the function of 墙”具有中国传统文化的象征，比如故宫的
differentiating what’s inside and what’s outside. 红墙等。。。
The Chinese walls especially, contain such 另一方面，城市是有各式各样的墙所包围
characteristics; in some sense walls contain 和割裂起来的，它使得人们生活在一起却
traditional Chinese culture characteristics like 又显得相距遥远。如果以墙来象征我们各
the red walls of the forbidden places… 自的文化，那么在我们的周围有着无数的
我们无法看见却又能实在感受到的“墙”。
On the other hand, the city is enclosed and
再有，在我的作品中经常会发现一个白色
segregated by different kinds of walls, this
的小牌子，一面是方形，一面是尖形。那
make people seem to live close together
and yet they are far apart. If we use walls 时我用来签名和题写作品名称的地方，也
to represent our unique culture, then we are 可以看作是我作品的一个小的特色。
surrounded by numerous invisible walls that 最后，我在作品的创作中最为关心的是画
can be flat. 中人物与人物之间，物体与物体之间的内
在的逻辑关系，而不由这些人物与物体组
Also, you can often find a white signage in 成的一个实际的故事，换言之，它们不是
my painting consisting of one side that is a 来自有一个真实的故事而是来自一个梦。
square and the other that is sharp. This is 我的作品不属于政治性的，也不是简单的
where I sign or where I would write the title of 观念复制，而是想象力的最佳体现，因此
my works. This is a small unique characteristic
像我这一类的作品是禁得起品味的。。。
of my works.
这也是我的目的。
Finally, my primary concern in my work is
the inter-relationships between the people in
my paintings, or the internal logic between
the objects I depict, rather than the story
these people or objects make up. In other
words, they are not from a real story, but a
dream. My works are political, and not a
multiplication from a simple concept but is
the most exemplary exhibition of imagination.
This is why my works can withstand repeated
appreciation… This is also my aim.
MAY 2010 // 23
FEATURES CHEONG SOO PIENG

Encountering
Cheong Soo
Pieng: An
open-ended
encounter Text: Yvonne Low 刘燕媚
Image: Darren Ng

Encountering Cheong Soo Pieng turned out to be a deeply

refreshing encounter. The exhibition, which opened on 5 March
2010 at NUS Museum, shows an immense array of works by
the late Master, many of which are apparently exhibited for
the first time.1 The curators, art historian TK Sabapathy, NUS
Museum Director Ahmad Mashadi and Assistant Director
Karen Lim, re-introduced to the local and regional art world
new ways of viewing Cheong Soo Pieng and his practice.

24 // CONFABULATION MAY 2010 // 25

FEATURES
The story of Cheong Soo Pieng’s art – the
version most familiar and most frequently
recounted – typically centred around his
contributions to a possible Nanyang style
and art, his designation as a ‘Nanyang artist’
and his role as among the ‘Four Masters’
of Nanyang. In particular, Soo Pieng’s
painting trip to Bali with Liu Kang, Chen
Chong Swee and Chen Wen Hsi was also a
common focus in art historical discussions.
Encountering Cheong Soo Pieng strayed
away from such approaches. The exhibition
tells us his journeys and encounters when
he was an establishing young émigré artist
in pre-Independent Singapore and shows
us clearly how his artistic explorations and
original creations had developed and the
impact his art had on local and regional art
centres.
Ahmad Mashadi explains in the accompanying
exhibition brochure that the display is set
out in two broad sections – the first, The
Topical and the Formal, highlights aspects
of Soo Pieng’s topical and formal interests,
his preoccupations and transformations;
the second, Departing and Arriving, makes
references to Soo Pieng’s journeys, initiating
possible ways of representing his world.
The objective of the exhibition in this
instance is clear and the display of Soo
Pieng’s renditions of still-life, landscapes
and the human figure has been thoughtfully
26 // CONFABULATION
CHEONG SOO PIENG
arranged such that a singular viewpoint
of looking at Soo Pieng’s practice is both
inadequate and unsatisfying. In The Topical
and the Formal section, the curators appear
to walk the viewer through Soo Pieng’s
explorations of the landscape as his key
subject and through to his other equally
dominant departures into the depiction of
the peoples and cultures found alongside
such landscapes. The continuity between
his explorations and depictions of the two
broad genres is clear – his treatment of the
subject matter is not stagnant or rigidly
grounded to a fixed style (approach). Soo
Pieng has adopted innumerable ways of
depicting his subjects by amalgamating and
synthesizing a range of stylistic drawing
and painting techniques; in doing so, he
experimented with the colour palette,
the medium and material, the use of
rough, expressive brushstrokes as well as
finer, more intricate painting techniques
depending on the objective of his work.
The curators have shown quite literally
how a non-chronological representation
of Soo Pieng’s paintings may initiate new
approaches, intentions and responses.
In the conjoining room where the viewer
may proceed to the next section, Departing
and Arriving, the exhibition shifts away
from showing to telling as a means to invite
the viewer to consider Soo Pieng’s personal
and professional life – his travels, successes
MAY 2010 // 27
FEATURES CHEONG SOO PIENG

and trepidations. There are no paintings the curators also included a wall display 由美术史家TK Sabapathy，新加坡国立大 不屈不挠的实验精神。第二部分<出发与抵达
hung on either side of the wall leading into of books and objects found in Soo Pieng’s 学美术馆馆长 Ahmad Mashadi 和助理馆长 >在另一个展览室展出，主要是呈献的画家的
the gallery space of that section. Instead, estate. Items such as traditional wood Karen Lim共同策划的<敞观钟泗宾>展览， 个人艺术生涯和成就记录，目的是鼓励观众
on one – a row of newspaper cuttings of carvings and relief panels of the various 于2010年3月5日在新加坡国立大学博物馆开 参与讨论画家的艺术生涯及创作精神。
Soo Pieng, photocopied and enlarged, indigenous cultures in Southeast Asia and 幕，展出先驱画家钟泗宾（1917－1983）一
lined the entire length of the wall; and books on Picasso and Modern art reveal 些内容丰富，题材多样化的画作，其中包括 <敞观钟泗宾>的展出，是新加坡艺术界的一
facing it on the opposite side, the curators important and interesting insights to Soo 一部份从未公开展出过的作品。这个展览的 个重要的里程碑。
explained their ideas vis-à-vis wall text in Pieng’s world. 特色是：它重新介绍钟泗宾的艺术和创作精
one singular line, expanding each thought 神，给艺术界提供一个能以崭新角度去观赏
with a separate footnote that is included Encountering Cheong Soo Pieng has marked 与畅想他的作品的机会。
as a standalone reference document just an important milestone in the initiating of
below the wall text. By doing so and differentiated viewpoints of Cheong Soo 通过这次的展出的策划设置，似乎使观众能
juxtaposing it against the visual and textual Pieng’s art and aesthetic developments. 暂时撇弃对他最熟悉的观点，例如：先驱画
documentation of Soo Pieng’s work as a The curators have been less-than subtle 家对“南洋风格”的贡献，尤其是与刘抗，陈
significant moment in Singapore’s history, in stating their open-ended objective, 宗瑞和陈文希结伴到巴厘岛绘画之旅之后，
the curators have cleverly conveyed their their curation easily misconstrued as not 经常被称为‘南洋艺术家’，也被称为四大南洋
ideas as propositions, inviting the viewer asserting a clear stand; yet, it is precisely 画师之一......等往往成为一个在艺术历史被
to form his/her own opinion throughout the so, that this exhibition could justifiably 共同讨论的重点。
process of telling and re-telling. announce its success for having achieved a
worthy objective. // <敞观钟泗宾>偏离了这些话题。这次展出清
In line with the spirit of speculation and 楚的回述他的种种行程和经历。例如：他是
negotiating possibilities, the curators Encountering Cheong Soo Pieng runs till 如何从一个移居他乡的青年独自到南洋建立
included – almost as an afterthought or as 31st July at NUS Museum. The author 自己的艺术生涯，也清楚的呈现给观众他的
an appendix – a small display of artworks thanks Cheo Chai-Hiang for his detailed 艺术探索和发展过程；他那独特的艺术风格
and projects undertaken by Soo Pieng’s reading and feedback for <敞观钟泗宾> . 与创作思维是如何影响了当地和区域艺术界
contemporaries and students. It also 。展览设置大体可分两大部分。
included works by contemporary artists
who had consecrated their responses by --------------------------------------------------- 在第一部分<主题与形式>中的作品分为两大
conceptualizing their art on his work 1 Ahmad Mashadi, ‘Introduction’ in Encountering Cheong 类型：（一）以人像为主题，（二）以景观
or related issues. Ho Tzu Hyen’s 4 x 4 – Soo Pieng (Exhibition brochure), Singapore: NUS Museum, 为主题：从中可以看到画家是以一个非定型
Episodes of Singapore Art (2005) is selected 2010, p. 4. 的的作画手法去运用各种画材来描绘和展示
as among such works. In the same room, 他的无数绘画技巧；从中也清楚的显露他那

28 // CONFABULATION MAY 2010 // 29

FEATURES TERENCE TEO

Catching up
with Terence
Teo Chin Keong
赵振强
Introduction: W. Y. Choy
Interview: CONFABULATION

Tropical Colour Ink on Rice Paper 96x140cm

30 // CONFABULATION MAY 2010 // 31

FEATURES TERENCE TEO

我喜欢自然，尤其是自然界
里的花草树木，它们随着四
季转变，呈现不同的变化；
春雨、秋叶、夏山、冬花，
多美丽的一首自然界永恒的
四季交响曲。

我的热带雨林的作品， 以激
情奔放的笔墨线条，随性的
延着感觉伸展，保留了传统
的笔墨韵意，增添了些感性
情趣。点、线、面在不同的
层面上，相互交错；多种颜
色在画片上涂抹、泼洒，融
为一体。表现了热带雨林的
湿润、葱翠，热情灿烂，艳
1. Wild Green, 丽多姿的色彩效果。希望给
Ink on Rice Paper
178x96cm
观者带来清爽、洒脱、喜悦
的感觉。
2. Singular Beauty,
Ink on Rice Paper
178x96cm 赵振强

32 // CONFABULATION MAY 2010 // 33

FEATURES
Ambition, audacity, diversity – these
were the elements which characterize
Teo’s early development into the
realm of arts. At 18, he plunged
into photography. Three years
later, captivated by the fascination
of traditional Chinese Painting,
he began taking lessons in the
traditional art form from Tan Siow
Aik, currently the president of Hua
Han Art Society, who shared with
Teo his enthusiasms and admiration
of the masters of Chinese traditional
art. Intrigued by the awe-inspiring
achievements in the masterworks,
Teo started collecting Chinese
traditional paintings. The years
1979 to 1989 were motivated and
uninterrupted ones characterized
by a professional course in graphic
design and photography at the
Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts,
graduating in 1980 and in 1989 when
art galleries in Singapore were in
vogue, he opened the Cape of Good
Art Gallery.
CONFABULATION catches up with
Terence Teo to find out more about
the two things that he enjoys doing
best – painting and dealing in art.
34 // CONFABULATION
You are currently in a transient period,
moving from the previous body of work
that you presented in a monumental solo
exhibition, The Romance in Shangri-la,
early last year to working on this new
series of work. Do tell us more about
what you are working on right now.
After my solo exhibition last year, I felt
inspired, motivated and encouraged
to pursue my artistic aspirations even
more and it allowed me to move on
and be more open and experimental
with colors and strokes in my works. I
am exploring various ink techniques on
different subjects. For the subjects of
my composition, I would like to focus
on capturing the colors, beauty and
mystery of the tropical rainforests and
I hope to travel more to exciting places
and to paint. Essentially, I am interesting
in creating ink works that are new,
impressionistic and freestyle. I am still
looking for the right word to sum this up
and describe this sort of work!
TERENCE TEO
Who or what has influenced you the most? Although you have been an artist for a long
time now, more people know you better as
Terrence Teo, art dealer and director of one
My greatest inspiration comes from my life
of the leading galleries in Singapore. How
experiences. Life is full of ups and downs
do you reconcile the different roles?
but I want to create natural, beautiful,
warm, spontaneous and touching artworks
It has been and still is a happy and
to bring joy, hope and optimism to everyone
rewarding experience for me to be a gallery
who chance upon my artworks.
owner and an artist at the same time. I
enjoy painting leisurely in the mornings
Art is a tribute to beauty. There are
and evenings while my afternoons are
countless of subjects for me to paint. I
spent at the gallery planning for the next
believe that art is a reflection and collection
exhibition, meeting with artists and art
of life experiences. I want to capture the
lovers. We (Cape of Good Hope Art Gallery)
beauty of nature and the magical moments
recently staged Exploring The Boundary
of different seasons in different places
- An Exhibition of Large Paintings in both
through my brushstrokes and the palette of
Singapore and Malaysia. Other galleries
ink and colors.
are currently replicating this concept and
holding similar exhibitions and this is one
I am fortunate to have been taught by Tan
of the best affirmations one can receive. I
Siok Aik and I am influenced by his teacher,
Ink Master, Fan Chang Tien (Shanghai
will continue to wear both hats for as long
as I can manage because this is what I love
School) as well as Singapore Ink Master,
doing and it has been nothing but extremely
Lim Tze Peng. My friends and collectors are
enjoyable and rewarding. //
my teachers too. Every encounter is special
and the way I perceive and experience it is
different from the way you perceive it to be
and I draw on that for my paintings.
MAY 2010 // 35
REVIEWS
Series of Artists Talks
by the Singapore Contemporary Young Artists
Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts
01.01.10 - 23.04.10
Text: Jacklyn Soo
Image: The Respective Artist
Viewing an exhibition of artworks by a
solo artist or artists often makes a viewer
curious about the process, thoughts and
numerous unused ideas by the person
behind the artwork. The expression “The
idea of the artwork/artist is revealed in the
works he/she creates” is contradictory to
the actions of audiences wanting more
information and connection with the artist.
Community engagement and social
activity encourages artists to voice the
meanings behind their work and to involve
their practices amongst group of people,
audiences and spaces. At the same time,
inspiring creativity, educational areas
for development for both artist and the
audience.
The series of Artists Talks at Nanyang
Academy of Fine Art encourages students
to engage with young artists from
Singapore to educate on local artists and
their practices. Some of the artists are
common names in the industry while others
are given first time opportunity to present
their works in a public environment. The
talk series provides the viewer a time
to learn about the artist’s works, pose
questions and comments as well as time
for interacting with the artist him/herself.
36 // CONFABULATION
The series is thematically designed
to 1-3 artists presenting on discipline
of art; graphic design, installation art,
photography and street art. Soh Eeshaun,
Jacqui Rae, Shubigi Rao, Tarmizee, Billy
Soh, Mintio, Zul and Zahir Sanosi will be
presenting at this series.
The first artist to kick start the series was
Soh Eeshaun, a self-taught illustrator
whose latest project involves the illustration
of a mural project with LRT’s circle line.
Eeshaun presented his talk much like
how his drawings relfects; humorous,
irrational, spontaneous, and quirky. He
is known for a doodle-like quality in his
paintings, illustration, installation and
video animation. Eeshaun comments that
his inspiration and works derived from the
daily sight and sounds, colours, shapes
and form of the environment around him,
his living landscape. He is also particularly
drawn to creating characters which was
the starting point of his interest in art.
The audiences were both humored and
impressed with Eeshaun’s portfolio of
personal and commission works that the
artist has gathered for himself during the
past 5 years. He mentioned that it was a
strong interest in drawing and creating
images that got the artist taking up his
area of passion seriously and diligently.
A concern student asked what would
be the future of illustration and the artist
mentioned the future is now and that
technology changes the art of illustration
so does the artist at work.
The transition of space and memory
through the use of ceramics and the
material as a raw form captured the
audience as Jacqui Rae presents her
study of the material and the use of site
specific spaces in her installation pieces.
Jacqui’s sculptural works tend to be
presented in a grey area of tangibility and
impermanence. Completely fascinated
with the emptiness of space and with
stretching the properties of ceramics,
she links these two subjects and creates
beautiful installation pieces of ceramic
works which sometimes are not able to
last longer than a few days after a show’s
opening.
Shubigi Rao presented her interest
in creating a pseudo archeology as
an attempt to achieve some sense of
rootedness in her life. Her works translates
into studies of excavation as a metaphor
for cultural extinction and the interpretation
of the human need to collect, collate and
conserve which is then exemplified in
several book forms. To Shubigi, human
curiosity is best defined in our habit
of collecting, mapping, labelling and
categorizing.
The last artist in the installation section is
Tarmizee, a multi-media artist whose work
REVIEWS
REVIEWS
is the ‘study of life’, extended to an interest
to contradict the relation between audio
and visual in all his multi-media installations
of video and sound pieces. He mentions
that the two forms are perceived differently
and how the similarities among them can
affect the voyeur. The point in theory is to
manipulate the common understanding in
seeing visual and hearing sound because
sound and visual is critical in the mode of
narratives; in the way we see “life”, where
everything is never-ending.
In March, 2 photographers from very
different background presented their
practice and techniques used in
photography. Billy Soh, a commercial
photographer with several years of
photography experience relates his interest
in his own exploration of photography with
music, which he describes it as a thematic
system of looking at photography with
classical music by studying the musical
overlays, subject and composition matter.
He approaches photography as though
composing a piece of music.
The next artist also started out as a
commercial photographer in Fashion,
Portraiture and Dance, went on to study
an BFA in Photography at NTU School
of Art, Design and Media in 2005. Mintio
started photography at the age of 16
having recently won a scholarship to UK
to produce work in the Porosity Studio
hosted by the British Council in 2009.
“Concrete Euphoria” is a series of
photographs that was triggered by Mintio’s
desire to capture the cultural capital that
visually presents itself in contemporary
MAY 2010 // 37
REVIEWS REVIEWS

1.Shubigi Rao, ‘The River of Ink’, Installation. 2.ZERO, ‘Pseudo’, Painting. 3.Zahir Sanosi, ‘Ice cream
Goddess’, Silkscreen. 4.Tarmizee, ‘Achtung’, Video Installation. 5. Soh Eeshaun, ‘Hypercolour’, Illus-
tration. 6.Jacqui Rae, ‘Indiscreet’, Installation. 7. Mintio, ‘Concrete Euphoria’, Photography.

38 // CONFABULATION MAY 2010 // 39

REVIEWS
urban landscapes. Growing up in
Singapore, landscapes in her eyes have
become a cycle of erasure and reinvention
– the places we see today may drastically
change or even cease to exist tomorrow.
The inconstant and transient nature of a
space as intimate as ‘home’ has created a
mixture of both euphoria and disorientation
which were then translated in transforming
her feelings into the visual language of her
work.
In the last of the series of talks at Nanyang
Academy of Fine Arts which will end on
April 23rd, SCYA presents 2 Urban Artists
whose works deal with roots in Graffiti
and Street Art. in Zulkarnaen Othman
also known as ZERO is a member of
the urban arts collective ARTVSTS- art
activist. Zul’s art revolves around street
culture, pop culture and current affairs;
constantly creating dialogue and social
commentary through them. His work
constantly evolves as he tries to integrate
the function of design and advertising
within the framework of conceptual and
traditional fine arts.
Zul has been involved in numerous events
and exhibitions and have been an integral
part in the growth of ARTVSTS collective
since its formation in late 2003. Zul is
also a shortlisted candidate nominee for
President’s Young Artist Awards 2005 and
Associate Artist with the Substation. Zul is
currently a lecturer with LASALLE College
of the Arts.
Zero has a unique style in his approach. He
created a character to express his concern
40 // CONFABULATION
for the materialistic world and immobilizing
this character through brightly coloured
paints to contrast the nature of a darkly
personality.
The use of characters is a common feature.
Zahir Sanosi also employs a similar
approach to his own set of characters.
Constant appearances in forms of babies,
beautifully sad girls, insects and rabbits
are part of Zahir Sanosi’s works. They are
meant to confuse, impress, and question
the minds of viewers. The drawings are
inversions of what is considered safe,
sane and real. Unlike Zul, Zahir’s works
are not be easy on the eyes and may
sometimes be offensive. He emphasis his
methodology of countering norms to art
that demands to have an impact.
Zahir began practicing his art professionally
as an artist/illustrator in 1994/95 where
he was actively involved in the hardcore/
punk scene in Singapore. Doing show
posters and even starting an independent
hardcore/punk fanzine. He also contributed
by designing cd sleeves, and record
covers, and handling t-shirt designs and
merchandise as well.
In 2004, Zahir starts his line of diy self
screened/t-shirts called KEEP IT LIKE A
SECRET and later got more interested in
spreading his art in all forms of medium, from
vinyl stickers, to skateboards, shoes, toys,
canvases. Zahir work with mainly minimal
colors and up till today, he is recognized for
his warped and twisted art. //
Kaleidoscope 2010
Torch of Friendship
Dunman High School
01.04.10
Text: Syed Muhd Hafiz
Approaching the school lobby at Dunman
High School (DHS), I could already hear
the loud cheers of the students decked out
in various coloured t-shirts. I was told by
a teacher that this was a biennale event.
So, the ‘biennale syndrome’ had even
penetrated into our local schools here?
Before I made any hasty deductions, I
decided to tour the school vicinity and see
what was on offer.
Kaleidoscope 2010 is an arts festival first
staged in 2000. More than just an regular
school production, what I witnessed was
in effect, a full-scale arts festival that
involved both the visual and performing
arts aspects lasting for more than a month.
Furthermore this year’s edition had an
extra festive cheer because it is the first
involving all the six levels of the Integrated
Program at the new Tanjong Rhu campus
since its move back in 2009.
Launched by the Guest of Honour, Dr Lee
Boon Yang, Chairman of Keppel Corporation
and former MICA Minister, this year’s theme
was Torch of Friendship. Perhaps having one
eye at the inaugural Youth Olympic Games,
the festival included a cultural component in
raising awareness on the impending arrival
of international athletes. Included within the
school complex were booths by student
REVIEWS
groups like the Girl Guides and Japan
Culture Club. These booths had creative
displays showcasing the food and culture of
Japan and Sierra Leone.
The presence of the visual arts community
was felt in the form of external collaborators.
Active Batik practitioner, Kamal Dollah
and artist management agency Y2ARTS
carried out their outreach activities
there, widening the students’ visual arts
engagement. Kamal, also a renowned
caricature artist was sharing his insights
into the technicalities of this traditional
medium while facilitating what he called,
Community Batik. Spreading the wax-
resistant cloth over a big table, Kamal
spreading the wax-resistant cloth over a
big table, Kamal’s Batik exercise enabled
the students to work collectively, creating
a Batik masterpiece of mural proportions.
I stumbled into a hall which had been
transformed into a gallery. Interspersed
with various students’ works were artworks
by well-known Southeast Asian artists,
courtesy of a loan from Y2ARTS. Based
at the heart of the arts industry within
the MICA building, Y2ARTS is also an art
dealer agency brokering deals between
art dealers and the finest young talents
from the Asian region. Talking to the gallery
MAY 2010 // 41
REVIEWS REVIEWS

manager Mr Ken Chang, he mentioned that the

artwork loans, besides being a way of giving back
to the community, are also an important outreach
activity to expose the young students to works from
professional artists within the region.

Walking around the gallery hall, I noticed a few

students scrutinizing the artwork up-close, as if
recalling and re-confirming what their teachers
might have taught them during art lessons. I have
to admit that the artworks by the professional Asian
artists might ‘overpower’ the other student works
located within the same exhibition. However beyond
the jarring differences in quality, I felt that bringing
artworks into the community through exhibitions
like these serve an important function in nurturing
future artists. A common gripe amongst industry
people has been the local audience not being
‘mature’ enough to appreciate artworks that might
seem ‘avant garde’ or the futility of converting the
unconverted. I think it is a two-way dialogue where
the earlier the audience has been exposed to art,
the better their reception to ‘avant garde’ works and
their aesthetic sensibilities.

Besides holding previews or exhibition openings for

the selected few, galleries should also consider doing
more outreach activities such as these, to contribute
towards a more ‘mature’ local audience. It might not
be a financially-viable endeavour and the resulting
effect might not be immediate but in the long-run,
it is definitely fruitful for the galleries to nurture new
generations of collectors and arts enthusiasts.

Going off from the event, I could see the DHS

students enjoying themselves. The student
councilors had also been eager in guiding visitors
to various parts of the sprawling school grounds,
to catch different segments of the festival. Now, if
only we can have more of these initiatives in other
schools… //

42 // CONFABULATION MAY 2010 // 43

REVIEWS
WHOLE: A chance encounter with the grid
Indigo Blue
07.04.10 – 11.05.10
Text: Smriti Rajgarhia-Bhatt
1. Abir Karmakar, Untitled-2, 2010,
Acrylic on canvas, 45.7 x 45.7 cm.
2. Vibha Galhotra, Intruder - 1, 2010,
Digital print + acrylic on canvas, 45.7
x 45.7 cm.
3. Jenson Anto, Untitled-2, 2010,
Acrylic on canvas, 45.7 x 45.7cm.
4. Archana Hande, All is Fair in
Magic white, 2010, Mixed Media on
Paper, 45.7 x 45.7 cm.
5. Surekha, Silk Veil - 2, 2010,
Photographs, 45.7 x 45.7 cm.
6. Farhad Hussain, Untitled - 2, 2010,
Acrylic on canvas, 45.7 x 45.7 cm.
7. Puneet Kaushik, Untitled - 1, 2010,
Steel, beads and mixed media on
canvas, 45.7 x 45.7 cm.
8. PG Dinesh, The ‘General’ Parrot,
2010, Oil on canvas, 45.7 x 45.7 cm.
9. Pratul Dash, Untitled - 2, 2010,
Acrylic on canvas, 45.7 x 45.7 cm.
44 // CONFABULATION
REVIEWS
The exhibition at Indigo Blue showcases a
panoramic view of Indian art today with the
intent to experiment with conventional display
of art and curatorship. The collection does
not revolve around a given concept or theme,
but instead collects varied pieces of art from
contemporary Indian scenario and collates
them through an experiment with display.
Each piece of art is treated as an individual
within a matrix of time, differing from the other
works; stylistically, by medium and/or by
subject. What binds them all together is the
size of the artwork, and the disparity that is
ordered through the display – or otherwise
known as ‘the grid’.
Each of the 20 artists selected for the show
are chosen by the virtue of style, medium
and content to achieve a variety that projects
a holistic view of the trends in contemporary
Indian art. From the collage based medium
and style of Samit Das addressing the urban,
to the tribal art influenced mélange of colors by
Dhaneshwar Shah; the happy faces by Farhad
Hussain to the abstraction of Probir Gupta;
the real/unreal photographs of Atul Bhalla, to
the images of the self by Surekha, the distinct
quality of each piece is used to highlight the
other. The exhibition does not include panel
texts, in an attempt to achieve a pure viewing
experience without the distraction of text to
explain and attach onto the individual artwork.
The grid acts as a whole, where the meaning
lies in its parts; each part, each artwork,
contributing and defining the whole and vice
MAY 2010 // 45
REVIEWS
versa. The multiplicity of the medium from
oil on canvas to acrylic, photography to
relief or mixed media, is combined into
the whole, through the encounter with the
grid, expressing the individuality through
the collective.
The grid is an organized structure,
better expressed with the anomalies
of disorganization, or of the movement
of the pattern away from the expected.
The conceptual framework of the parts
creates a whole where the whole which is
larger than the sum of parts, is extended
to express individuality through a unified
vision, based on the dialectical oppositions
and dynamics that the works create with
each other, through an experiment in
display. The brief stated that each artist
provide two works which best depicted
themselves as creative individuals. The
works in turn would be organized into
a matrix or a grid expressing the above
concept through display. The display
comprises patterns, anomalies, deviations
and deconstructive directions. Works of
the same size framed in the same frame
that expresses individuality would be
expected by the viewer to be placed in a
grid, but as the viewer moves along, the
grid moves away from the expected to the
anomaly, expressing contradictions and
characteristics of the whole as well as the
part. The movement of the viewer is not
static but dynamic; perceptions of the show
46 // CONFABULATION
Pushing the Boundaries of the Modern
Chinese Painting: A Review of Painter
Ng Joon Kiat’s Latest Works
The Esplanade
Text: Yow Siew Kah
Image: The Esplanade Co. Ltd
through display are layered as a whole, as
the parts and as the disintegration of the
whole to its re-integration. As one moves
Ng Joon Kiat is a Singaporean painter who
from a broad overview to a close-up look at
graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (Fine
an individual detail, one sees, and lets the
Art) from RMIT University in Australia and a
viewer see, how the two levels are related:
Master of Arts (Fine Art) from the University
a chance encounter with the grid. //
of Kent at Canterbury in the United Kingdom.
Ng has received a number of awards,
including the Shell-NAC Scholarship, which
is the most prestigious scholarship for the
arts granted by the Singapore government.
Art historian Yow Siew Kah reviews Ng’s
most recent solo exhibition, Garden City
II: A Collective Memory of Moving Images
in Contemporary Painting, held at Jendela
(Visual Arts Space) at the Esplanade from
12 March to 4 Apr 2010.
Ng Joon Kiat’s latest works explore how our
understanding of the Singapore landscape
is shaped to a large extent by moving images
on television sets. The body of landscape
paintings is significant in Ng’s art practice
because it sees him pushing the boundaries
of the modern Chinese oil painting, an
art that came about in China in the early
20th-century, and subsequently became a
central concern of migrant Chinese artists
in Singapore. In particular, while Ng’s
predecessors treated the painting mostly
as a two-dimensional image, he attempts
to introduce a three-dimensional quality into
his art, both in the way it is created and in
how it is displayed.
REVIEWS
Ng Joon Kiat’s Untitled, 2010 (figure 1), a
signature work of the exhibition, consists of
two different types of Chinese oil painting.
It has two layers: the first shows a cluster
of buildings in gray, and the second is
made up of thick swathes of paint in various
shades of green. In the first, the artist
attempts to create a credible representation,
relying on subtly differentiated gray tones to
approximate actual architectural structures.
The second layer, in contrast, makes no
pretense at verisimilitude: it aims to use
lines and colors to convey the shape,
texture and movement of the tropical
landscape. The former appears related
to pre-Impressionist Western painting, as
well as to the Northern-style Chinese ink
painting identified by late Ming art theorist
Dong Qichang. The latter recalls European
Postimpressionist works, and to the Chinese
literati painting or wenrenhua, characterized
by unpainted areas, schematic renditions
and energetic brushwork. There are thus
two types of painting in Ng’s Untitled: the
realistic painting and the evocative painting,
both of which originated in China, and are
key pictorial forms in Singapore art history.
The Realistic Painting and the Evocative
Painting in Singapore Art History
Historically in Singapore, the two paintings
MAY 2010 // 47
REVIEWS
outlined above represent the divergent
artistic sensibilities of the migrant
Chinese artists: the first is often
identified with the likes of Equator Art
Society artists such as Chua Mia Tee
and Lee Boon Wang, while the second
is usually linked to the Nanyang Artists,
including Liu Kang, Chen Wen-hsi and
Cheong Soo Pieng.
Although the art makers were
Singapore citizens, they drew their
artistic inspirations substantially from
China. Some of them spent their
formative years in Chinese cities
like Shanghai and Xiamen, moving
to Singapore around the time of the
Pacific War. Others studied and taught
at the Nanyang Academy of Fine
Arts (NAFA), an art school that was
modeled after the modern educational
institutions in China that emerged in
the early decades of the 20th-century.
The Singapore-based members of the
Chinese diaspora had at least one thing
in common with their mainland Chinese
counterparts: a desire to modernize
Chinese art. From the late 19th-century
onwards, a large number of Chinese
intellectuals, including educators,
writers and artists, believed that China
was weak, and needed an overhaul
on all levels. In particular, traditional
ways of art making were thought to be
outmoded, and needed to be reformed
so that they could be brought up-to-
date.
48 // CONFABULATION
REVIEWS
However, there was no consensus
on how Chinese art should be
changed. For some artists, the
visual devices in traditional
Chinese ink painting should be
completely replaced by Western
ones, which were thought to
be better suited at producing
a realistic image of their
surroundings. Others insisted
that much could be learned
from Chinese art of the past:
the evocative quality of literati
painting was especially important
for an artist looking to express his
or her individuality. Thus, whether
or not modern Chinese art should
be realistic or evocative — or both
— came to be a key concern for
Chinese artists involved in artistic
reform.
From the 1930s onwards, a
number of artists from China began
moving to Singapore to escape
the worsening war conditions,
bringing with them a desire for a
“new” Chinese art. Some became
teachers at NAFA, passing their
art making philosophies onto a
generation of young art makers.
In the 1950s, when political
independence from the British
was becoming a reality in
Singapore, the “evocative vs.
realistic” debate that originated
in China shaped the different
MAY 2010 // 49
REVIEWS
approaches to making “Malayan art”.
The Nanyang Artists attempted to offer a
polycultural vision of the emerging nation
by using expressive brushstrokes, vibrant
colors and varying textures. The Equator
Art Society artists, on their part, aimed
to bring to light the plight of the common
people under British colonial rule with vivid
images of hardship and suffering, enabled
by skillful use of graduated colors.
Infusing the Modern Chinese Painting with
Sculptural Qualities
Like the migrant Chinese artists before him,
Ng also aims to offer a vision of Singapore
society using the realistic painting and the
evocative painting. His art from previous
years tends to evoke the Singapore
topography using three-dimensional
forms. In this regard, he is similar to the
Nanyang Artists, who experimented with
various formal devices in order conjure up
the equatorial scenery.
However, the current exhibition also
sees Ng taking into account some of
the concerns of the Equator Art Society
artists. More than the Nanyang Artists, the
“realistic” artists took a strong interest in
visual images that were produced by newer
technologies. For example, they worked
with woodcut, a medium associated with
the print revolution that swept across
China in the first few decades of the
20th-century. They were also intrigued
by promises of photography, and their
realistic painting borrowed extensively
from the true-to-life photographic images.
While Chinese artists in Singapore in
the 1950s sought inspiration in print
50 // CONFABULATION
journalism, for Ng, who grew up in the
late 1970s and early 1980s, the dominant
mass medium was the television. Living on
a diet of television programs, the moving
image provided him with a vision of the
world with a mix of evocative and realistic
representations.
A work such as Untitled, mentioned above,
is an image of the Singapore landscape that
has both evocative and realistic features. Ng
infuses the realistic painting with evocative
qualities, and includes a realistic dimension
in the evocative painting, creating an art that
questions received notions of both kinds of
painting.
The bottom layer depicts a European town
as a black-and-white TV image. The artist
uses different shades of gray to emulate
the gradation of colors of a picture on a
cathode-ray tube. But the gray shapes
also remind us of a traditional Chinese
landscape painting with its characteristic
monochromatic appearance. There is
thus an evocative dimension in what is
otherwise a realistic image.
The upper layer is executed using a
technique that dominates Ng’s older
works: thick brushstrokes that look like
three-dimensional constructions of the
tropical landscape. While aiming to evoke
the relief of the Singapore landscape,
the sculptural forms are also like realistic
scale models of geographical features.
The way that Untitled is displayed plays
an important part in how it communicates
meanings. It exemplifies how Ng treats
his painting as a three-dimensional object
with interesting physical properties, and
not merely as an image-bearing surface.
In figure 2, we see that the painting is hung
above eye level, giving the impression that
it is a cinematic image that towers over the
viewer. In order to take in the painting, one
needs to step back and look up.
Displayed right below Untitled, closer
to the gallery floor, is another similar-
sized painting. Completed entirely in an
evocative format, this work appears to
be related to the one on top. A sense of
continuity is conveyed by a thick line on
the right side of both canvases, creating
an illusion that the paint from Untitled has
dripped onto the lower work.
Presented this way, the evocative painting
in Untitled communicates a sense of
“presence” more clearly than the realistic
painting. The gray layer has a recognizable
landscape, but its monochromatic tones
and misty appearance suggest the unreal
and the transient. Despite its lofty position,
it is also ephemeral: when the viewer
attempts to move closer for a better look,
it disappears from his or her view.
In contrast, the top or evocative layer
of Untitled is about immediacy and
permanence. Although it may lack
discernible resemblance to a physical
landscape, it is dominant and vivid. Rather
than vanishing like the realistic layer, it
exerts its presence even more strongly as
the viewer approaches.
For Ng, the Singapore landscape is
constructed from at least two types of
encounters. The first is with the television
image. Enclosed within a frame, the
image is transitory even as it attempts
to communicate a sense of reality by
REVIEWS
replicating the viewer’s visual field. The
second is with the tropical rainforest,
which Ng probably came into close
contact with when he served in the
military. Unlike the TV image, the forest
can never be comprehended in totality.
The lack of visual order fills the soldier
with a sense of immediacy, but also leaves
him uncomfortable and confused. It is the
tension between the phantasmagorical
images of mass media and the physical
reality of an encounter with the tropical
flora that characterizes Ng’s latest works
in Garden City II.
Contemporary paintings in Singapore are
often evaluated using frameworks borrowed
from the metropolitan centers of the West.
Such approaches tend to consider the
Singaporean works as poor cousins of
their Western counterparts. They also do
not take into account how Euroamerican
artistic ideas are appropriated and
translated in Singapore, with the attendant
creation of new meanings. Although
Ng Joon Kiat received part of his art
education in the United Kingdom, his
early art teachers were diasporic Chinese
artists in Singapore who understood
Western aesthetics in Chinese terms.
These artists were not so much interested
in the theories that underpinned Western
art movements, but were attracted to the
intellectual and visual stimuli they offered.
By attempting to expand the vocabulary of
the modern Chinese painting, Ng’s works
are continuous with those of his migrant
Chinese predecessors. //
MAY 2010 // 51
ART DIRECTORY SINGAPORE’S ARTS & HERITAGE DISTRICT

DE
SK
ER
RO RO
W AD

AD
EL
LR

RO
ART FORUM O AD

N
OO
AD

CA

NG
Post Museum

IR
RO

NH

RA
TS

IL

SE
LARASATI

OT

L
RO
SC

AD
Artspace @

R
SA
Royal Park Hotel BU
KI

BE
T
TI

N
M

AD

LA
AH

JA
RO

CAV ENA GH RO
AD

Third Floor Hermes

Istana Kampong
Glam (Malay
Opera Gallery Heritage Centre)
OR RO

AD
CH CH
AR OR

RO
DR CA
OA NA

SELEGIE
D L

Xuanhua Art
Gallery

O
RC
H
AR LASALLE
D
BL
VD
ORC Sinema Old School
RD HAR ET
DR - Osage Gallery RE
SOM OAD - 2902 Gallery ST
ERS Gnani Arts
*Scape

ET
ET N
Youth Park ROA - The Luxe Art Museum LE Space

RE
ET
D Eagle’s Eye Art Gallery
HA OO

ST
- Yisulang Art Gallery

RE
ND C NAFA

ET
EN

A
Y

ST
B

RE

RI
RO

O
EP

ST
AD
SOTA S Sculpture

CT
IN

O
PR Square

VI
O
ORC

RL
PEN HAR Dance Ensemble
ANG DR

E
OAD Singapore

AT
ROA

W
D M
Young Musicians’ ID
Society DL
E
Singapore RO
AD

Calligraphy Centre AD
RO

OR
CH Action Theatre
EY

AR BR 8Q SAM

AY
IN

D AS Singapore
LL

RO

HW
AD BA Art Museum
KI

G
SA

HI
ROAD H
ING RO

LE
NN National Museum AD
CA

CO
RT of Singapore

NI
FO
RI VE R VA Fort Canning Park
LL EY RO
AD

AD
CO

RO
LEM
Impress Galleries

E
G
Jubilee Hall

ID
AN S

BR
H
TR

RT
Peranakan Museum

NO
EE T
The Substation ST
AM
FO
FOST Gallery RD
RO
KIM

Singapore Philatelic AD Pan Pacific

RD

Museum Singapore Chinese

Singapore
SE

AN

Chamber (SCCCI)
DBS Arts Centre
NG

LT

RA
SU Singapore FFL
ED ES
RO

AM RepertoryTheatre RIV B LV
MOH ER D
AD

VA
72-13 L LE
YR
O Marina Mandrin
Singapore Tyler AD Singapore
Print Institute MICA Building
- Cape of Good Hope
- S.Bin Art Plus
- Y2 Arts

IVE
- Gajah Gallery

DR
The Esplanade
ET

DE
RE

The Arts House @

ST

AN
instinc The Old Parliament
LL

PL
HI

ES
ZIO N RO AD

Victoria Concert Hall

H AV E L O C K R O A D
Victorial Theatre
52 // CONFABULATION MAY 2010 // 53
Asian Civilisations
Museum, Armenian St.
ART GALLERIES
+ Singapore
GALLERIES
AndrewShire Gallery
5 Swiss Cottage Estate
Singapore 307519
+65 9836 4960
www.andrewshiregallery.com
Art-2 Gallery
140 Hill Street
#01-03 MICA Building
Singapore 179369
+65 6338 8713
www.art2.com.sg
ART FORUM
82 Cairnhill Road
Singapore 229684
+65 6737 3448
www.artforum.com.sg
Artfolio
328 North Bridge Road
#02-25 Raffles Hotel Arcade
Singapore 188719
+65 6334 4677
www.artfolio.com.sg
Art Seasons
7 Kaki Bukit Road
#02-12, 1 Eunos Technolink
Singapore 415937
+65 6741 6366
www.artseasonsgallery.com
Cape of Good Hope
140 Hill Street
#01-06 MICA Building
Singapore 179369
+65 6733 3822
www.capeofgoodhopeart
gallery.com
Collectors Contemporary
5 Jalan Kilang Barat
#01-03 Petro Centre
Singapore 159349
+65 6878 0103
www.collectors.com.sg
54 // CONFABULATION
ART GALLERIES
Dynasties Antique & Art
Gallery
Impress Galleries
1 Kim Seng Promenade
Osage Gallery
11B Mount Sophia
#01-12
18 Boon Lay Way #02-07/08 Great World City
#01-136 TradeHub 21 Singapore 237994 Singapore 228466
Singapore 609966 +65 67362966 +65 6337 9909
+65 67383268 www.impressgalleries.com www.osagegallery.com
www.9911art.com
Red Sea Gallery
Eagle’s Eye Art Gallery Block 9 Dempsey Road
39 Stamford Road
Indigo Blue Art #01-10 Dempsey Hill
33 Neil Road Singapore 247697
#01-01 Stamford House Singapore 088820 +65 6732 6711
Singapore 178885 + 65 6372 1719/38
+65 6339 8297 www.redseagallery.com
www.indigoblueart.com
www.eagles-eye.com.sg
S.Bin Art Plus
FOST Gallery
instinc 140 Hill Street MICA Building
12 Eu Tong Sen Street #01-10/11/12
65 Kim Yam Road soho2 @ central, #04-163 Singapore 179369
Singapore 239366 Singapore 059819 +65 6883 2001
+65 6836 2661 +65 6227 9487
www.fostgallery.com www.sbinartplus.com
www.instinc.com
Gajah Gallery iPRECIATION Fine Arts
140 Hill Street Sunjin Galleries
1 Fullerton Square 43 Jalan Merah Saga
#01-08 MICA Building #01-08 The Fullerton Hotel #03-62 Work Loft @ Chip Bee
Singapore 179369 Singapore 049178
+65 6737 4202 Singapore 278115
+65 6339 0678 +65 6738 2317
www.gajahgallery.com www.ipreciation.com www.sunjingalleries.com.sg
Galerie Belvedere
168 Robinson Road Lukisan Art Gallery
#36-01 Capital Tower 110 Faber Drive The Gallery of Gnani Arts
Singapore 068912 Singapore 129421 1 Cuscaden Road
+65 6423 1233 +65 6774 1609 #01-05 The Regent
www.galeriebelvedere.com www.lukisan-art.com Singapore 249715
+65 6725 3112
Galerie Joaquin www.gnaniarts.com
1 Cuscaden Road
#01-03 The Regent Hotel Mulan Gallery
Singapore 249715 19 Tanglin Road Valentine Willie Fine Art
+65 6725 3113 #02-33 Tanglin Shopping (VWFA)
www.galeriejoaquin.com Centre 39 Keppel Road
Singapore 247909 #02-04 Tanjong Pagar
+65 6738 0810 Distripark
HaKaren Art Gallery www.mulangallery.com.sg Singapore 089065
19 Tanglin Road +65 8133 1760
#02-43 Tanglin Shopping Opera Gallery Singapore www.vwfa.net
Centre 2 Orchard Turn
Singapore 247909 #03-05 ION Orchard Xuanhua Art Gallery
+65 6733 3382 Singapore 238801 70 Bussorah Street
www.hakaren.com +65 6735 2618 Singapore 199483
www.operagallery.com +65 6392 2556
www.xuanhuaart.com
MAY 2010 // 55
ART VENUES
Yisulang Art Gallery BOROBUDUR
6 Handy Road 10 Ubi Crescent
#01-01 The Luxe #05-39 Ubi Techpark
Singapore 229234 Singapore 408564
+65 63376810 +65 6745 6066
www.yisulang.com www.borobudurauction.com
LARASATI
15 Scotts Road
#03-02, 1 Thong Teck Building
DEALERS/CONSULTANTS Singapore 228218
+65 6737 2130
ARI
www.larasati.com
4-21-17 TakadaHigashi,
Kohoku-ku,
MASTERPIECE
Yokohama, Kanagawa 223-
1 Kaki Bukit Road 1
0065
#02-16 Enterprise One
Japan
Singapore 415934
+81 (0)80 3244 6992
+65 6747 8151
www.ari-art.net
www.masterpiece-auction.com
MORRPH
Unique personalized styling
services
MUSEUMS
For residential & commercial
interiors 8Q sam
8 Queen Street
+65 9362 7417
Singapore 188535
michelle@morrph.com
+65 6332 3200
www.singart.com/8qsam
Y2ARTS
140 Hill Street
Asian Civilisations Museum
#01-02 MICA Building 1 Empress Place
Singapore 179369 Singapore 179555
+65 6336 8683 +65 6332 2982
www.y2arts.com www.acm.org.sg
National Museum of
Singapore
93 Stamford Road
AUCTIONEERS Singapore 178897
+65 6332 3659
33 Auction
www.nationalmuseum.sg
7 Kaki Bukit Road 1
#02-09/10
Singapore 415937 Peranakan Museum
39 Armenian Street
+65 6747 4555
Singapore 179941
www.33auction.com
+65 6332 7591
www.peranakanmuseum.sg
Black Earth Auction
367 Joo Chiat Road Singapore Art Museum
Singapore 427559 71 Bras Basah Road
+65 6346 3767 Singapore 189555
www.blackearth.com.sg +65 6332 3222
www.singart.com
56 // CONFABULATION
ART SERVICES
The Substation
45 Armenian Street
VENUES / ASSOCIATIONS / Singapore 179936
GROUPS +65 6337 7535
www.substation.org
Gnani Arts Space
190 Middle Road
#02-30/31, Fortune Centre
Singapore 188979. ART SERVICES
+65 6339 1230
www.gnaniarts.com Ray’s Transport & Services
Artwork Installation & Delivery
Services
All other Art related services
JENDELA
(Visual Arts Space) +65 91522511
1 Esplanade Drive artswithray@gmail.com
Level 2
Singapore 038981
+65 6828 8377
www.esplanade.com
ART SCHOOLS
Little Red Shop
NAFA
Multilingual multicultural
Campus 1/2/3
theatre society that focuses
80, 38, 151 Bencoolen Street
on artistic exchanges among
Singapore 189656
independent artists
+65 6512 4000
www.littleredshop.org
www.nafa.edu.sg
Mercedes-Benz Center
LASALLE
301 Alexandra Road
1 McNally Street
Singapore 159968
Singapore 187940
+65 6866 1888
+65 6496 5222
www.mercedes-benz.com.sg
www.lasalle.edu.sg
Sculpture Square
155 Middle Road
Nanyang Technological
University
Singapore 188977
School of Art, Design &
+65 6333 1055
Media
www.sculpturesq.com.sg
81 Nanyang Drive
Singapore 637458
Singapore Contemporary
+65 6790 6667
Young Artists
www3.ntu.edu.sg/adm
Highlight emerging talents in
Singapore’s art scene
School of the Arts
www.contemporaryart.sg
90 Goodman Road
www.scyaproject.wordpress.
Singapore 439053
com
+65 6338 9663
www.sota.edu.sg
The Luxe Art Museum
6 Handy Road
#02-01 The Luxe
Sotheby’s Institute of Art
82 Telok Ayer Street
Singapore 229234
#02-02 Far East Square
+65 6338 2234
Singapore 048467
www.thelam.sg
+65 6305 2600
www.sothebysinstitute.com
MAY 2010 // 57
ARTISTS MALAYSIA

FRAMERS
ARTISTS’ STUDIOS + Malaysia Art Loft
F 03, Level 1
CapSquare Centre, Capital
Galeri Shah Alam
Persiaran Tasik, Tasik Barat
40000 Shah Alam
Impress Galleries
429 East Coast Road Chieu Sheuy Fook Studio Square Selangor
Singapore 429016 Studio 102 No. 7, Persiaran CapSquare +603 5510 5344
+65 64404533 91 Lorong J 50100 Kuala Lumpur www.galerisa.com
www.impressgalleries.com Telok Kurau Road +603 2692 6118
Singapore 425985 www.artloftgallery.net The Gallery @ Star Hill
+65 96690589 GALLERIES Level 4 Star Hill Centre
chieusf@gmail.com 12 (Art Space Gallery) Art Salon @ Seni 181 Jalan Bukit Bintang
Peter’s Frames 12 Jalan Gombak 55350 Changkat Duta Kiara 55100 Kuala Lumpur
19 Tanglin Road #02-02 Ketna Patel Off Jalan Pahang Off Jalan Duta Kiara +603 2143 3323
Tanglin Shopping Centre 35 Jalan Puteh Jerneh 53000 Kuala Lumpur Mont Kiara, 50480 Kuala www.starhillgallery.com
Singapore 247909 Chip Bee Gardens, Holland +603 4023 4128 Lumpur
+65 6737 9110 Village www.12as12.com +603 2287 1908 galleriiizu @ Shangri-La
petersframes@hotmail.com Singapore 278057 www.theartgallerypg.com Hotel Annexe
+65 6479 3736 +Wondermilk Art Gallery 7 Level 1
www.ketnapatel.com 39-41 Jalan SS 21/1A Artseni Gallery UBN Shopping Arcade
Damansara Utama FF 5, Level 4 Starhill Gallery 11 Jalan Sultan Ismail
47400 Petaling Jaya Star Hill Centre 50250 Kuala Lumpur
+603 772 5893 181 Jalan Bukit Bintang +603 2031 5266
ANTIQUITIES AND FURNITURE
www.theclickproject.com 55100 Kuala Lumpur www.galleriiizu.com
+603 2141 2242
Antiquaro www.artseni.com House of Matahati (HOM)
19 Tanglin Road, #02-42 A2 Gallery
27 Bangkok Lane 6A Jalan Cempaka 16
Tanglin Shopping Centre CHAI (Instant Cafe House of Taman Cempaka
Singapore 247909 10250 Penang
+603 4227 4985 Arts and Idea) 68000 Ampang Selangor
+65 6737 4822 6 Jalan 6/3, Section 6 +601 7364 6004
www.antiquaro.com www.a2artgallery.com
460000 Petaling Jaya www.matahati.com.my
Annexe Gallery Selangor
Level 1 & 2 +603 7784 8792 Lookiss
Central Market Annexe www.instantcafetheatre.com 1A-1 Anzen Business Park
CONSERVATION AND Jalan Hang Kasturi Jalan 4/37A, Taman Bukit
RESTORATION 50470 Kuala Lumpur Edi.A Art Gallery Maluri
+603 2070 1137 FF 10, Level 4 Starhill Gallery 51200 Kepong Kuala Lumpur
www.annexegallery.com Star Hill Centre +603 6275 1333
181 Jalan Bukit Bintang www.lookissgallery.com
Renate Kant studio
c o n s e r va t i o n a n d r e s t o r a t i o n o f p a i n t i n g s
Art Case Galleries 55100 Kuala Lumpur
+603 2145 3440 Metro Fine Art
7, Level 4
Great Eastern Mall www.ediarts.blogspot.com Level 1 Legend Hotel
Renate Kant studio (new address!) 100 Jalan Putra
8 Shrewsbury Road (near Novena MRT) 303 Jalan Ampang
50450 Kuala Lumpur Galeri Chandan 50350 Kuala Lumpur
Singapore 307810
+603 4257 4007 15 Jalan Gelanggang +603 4042 2224
telephone +65 96803534 / +65 62549549 www.artcase.com.my Bukit Damansara www.metro3gallery.com
email renatevonroda@pacific.net.sg 50490 Kuala Lumpur
web www.kantconservation.com.sg Art House Gallery +603 2095 5360 NN Gallery
• Founded 1978 • Museums Trained Painting Conservation
20-1 Jalan 24/70A www.galerichandan.com 53A & 56 Jalan Sulaiman 1
• Member of German Conservators Association (DRV)
Desa Sri Hartamas Taman Ampang Hilir
• 15 years experience in Asia
50480 Kuala Lumpur GALERI PETRONAS 68000 Ampang Kuala Lumpur
+603 2300 1343 341-343 Level 3 +603 4270 6588
www.arthousegallery.biz Suria KLCC Kuala Lumpur City www.nngallery.com.my
Centre
50888 Kuala Lumpur
+603 2051 7770
www.galeripetronas.com.my

58 // CONFABULATION MAY 2010 // 59

MALAYSIA

Pace Gallery Wei-Ling Gallery Rimbun Dahan

64 Jalan Kemajuan 12/18 8 Jalan Scott Km. 27 Jalan Kuang
Petaling Jaya Brickfields Kuang
46200 Selangor Darul Ehsan 50470 Kuala Lumpur 48050 Selangor
+603 7954 6069 +603 2260 1106 +603 6038 3690
www.pacegallery.net www.weiling-gallery.com www.rimbundahan.org

Pelita Hati Y 2 S Art Space

22 Jalan Abdullah
Off Jalan Bangsar
59000 Kuala Lumpur
+603 2284 8380
www.pelitahati.com.my
9A, Jalan 5/62A Bandar
Menjalara
52200 Kepong Kuala Lumpur
+603 6273 2853
www.y2sart.com.my

Pinkguy Gallery ZINC

A-G-02 Marc Service Lot 61 Jalan Maarof
Residence Bangsar
3 Jalan Pinang 59000 Kuala Lumpur
50450 Kuala Lumpur City +603 2282 5388
Centre www.zinc.com.my
+603 2166 2166
www.pinkguymalaysia.com

Richard Koh Fine Art OTHER VENUES

2F-3 Level 2 Bangsar Village II
Jalan Telawi 1 Islamic Arts Museum
Bangsar Baru, Malaysia
59100 Kuala Lumpur Jalan Lembah Perdana
+603 6203 7013 50480 Kuala Lumpur
www.rkfineart.com +603 2274 2020
www.iamm.org.my
RougeArt
19 Jalan Berangan Lost Generation Space
50200 Kuala Lumpur 54 Jalan Taman Seputeh 3
+601 6266 7413 58000 Kuala Lumpur
www.rogueart.asia +6019 6838 397
lostgenerationspace.blogspot.
Shalini Ganendra Fine Art com
16 Petaling Jaya
46200 Selangor Malaysia National Art Gallery
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60 // CONFABULATION MAY 2010 // 61

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 POSTSCRIPT

PERFORMANCE ART
IN THE EVERYDAY:
Asia’s contemporary art magazine
www.confabmag.com

THE DEATH OF
THINGS NOW,
THE DEATH OF
EVERYTHING LATER
Text: Richard Chua

Printed in Singapore and published monthly, complimentary

copies of CONFABULATION are available at several
places around Singapore including the National Library,
Singapore Tourism Board’s Singapore Visitors Centre at
Orchard, MICA building, leading art galleries (such as
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Luxe Museum), art groups & venues, and museums.

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For the environmentally-conscious, the PDF format of

CONFABULATION can be downloaded from www.
confabmag.com every month or simply flip through the
magazine on the website using the online reader.

64 // CONFABULATION MAY 2010 // 65

POSTSCRIPT
I had wanted to create a performance art
piece on 19 February 2010, outside the The
Esplanade, to respond to the cultural monolith
that Chinese Language theatre was dead, since
Chinese Language production nowadays in
Singapore have become just commercial spin-
offs and re-production of old works. Nothing
new. I envisaged that the piece will consist
of a coffin, joss-sticks and rice papers. Rice
papers will contain wordings such as “Aiya,
Pao Kun, how? Chinese Theatre has become
like that already ...”, or the equivalent. Right
after, I will pull the coffin to the Stamford Arts
Centre, where late Kuo Pao Kun’s company
stands, and place it right outside the door!
Well, the above performance art event did
not happen. For it was a fragment of my
imagination. Since I have articulated here in
the opening of this short essay, and it has been
documented in this space and time, would it
constitute an act of performance art? Well,
maybe, or maybe not.
If the event had taken place, it would be a
meaningful event. One, it was done during the
period of Chinese New Year. Kuo Pao Kun’s
company The Theatre Practice would have a
hard time getting all the Chinese rituals done to
get the misfortune out of the company, having
seen a coffin sitting outside the company. In
addition, the reference coffin would have made
to his seminal play The Coffin is Too Big for the
Hole would have been poignant. For the play
which he has created has been played to all
people around the world, and many times over,
in the place of new works that should have
been created for this culturally impoverished
country.
Not to mention the response the performance
art event to the Chinese Language theatre
event in The Esplanade would have been
insulting and critical, for Chinese Language
theatre has fallen to just a hegemony of one
theatre company The Drama Box.
Back to reality, the event did not happen.
Hence there wasn’t a response at all. In
short nothing has happened. But one thing
remains: the performance art. There are at
least 3 performance art act in this essay: (1)
Richard Chua’s articulation of his non-existent
performance art act which aims to counteract
66 // CONFABULATION
the performance act Singapore Chinese
Language theatre company The Drama Box
and arts centre The Esplanade had executed
in February 2010; (2) To highlight Singapore
theatre company Drama Box’s performance art
act in re-visiting Chinese Language theatre in
Singapore, which in itself was a act of cultural
hegemony, privileging Mandarin over others;
(3) To highlight the death of everything, for
everything is just talks of a privileged social
class: the artists, in Singapore.
Chinese Language theatre company Drama
Box’s idea to get a Chinese Language theatre
event which aimed at presenting the history of
Chinese Language theatre spanning over 80
years in Singapore, re-presenting plays of their
choice from yester-years hinting that these
plays were worth presenting, publishing a
collection of plays that seems to be indicative
of Chinese Language theatre in Singapore
canonizing the scripts within is a performance
art event. It took place during the time when
Singapore theatre, not to mention the study
of Singapore history, has started to critically
reflect on its role, aesthetics and direction to
this country. The Chinese Theatre people - in
this event, consisting of the usual suspects
working with the theatre company - have come
to together to chart the future of local theatre-
making in Singapore, and garnering the
reactions of the viewer - mine included.
Perhaps, my comments and views on this
performance art event The Drama Box - under
the auspices of The Esplanade - are totally
irrelevant and alienating, in the eyes of the
people of the everyday. To them, it is the
talk of a bunch of so-called cultural elites in
this country. Social class in the Singapore
arts scene is hardly talked about. Perhaps a
piece of art work should be done on this, to
communicate to the audience, or artists in
the scene on how deluded and discriminatory
they have been to have systematically othered
other artists in their own process of defining
what good art is.
In a nutshell, the death of everything in this
country is itself the greatest performance art
event, and the artist is non other than the state,
in its art-work that erected a Chinese death
tablet right in the city centre of the country. //
MAY 2010 // 67
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