trispace+ (issue #2)

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TriSpace+ICAS: Institute of Contemporary Arts Singapore, LASALLE College of the Arts Issue 02 | November 2010

Institute of Contemporary Arts Singapore LASALLE College of the Arts

T RIS PACE



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EDITORIALBy Dr Charles Merewether

Director of the Institute of Contemporary Arts Singapore

Welcome to the second edition o Trispace+.

We are delighted to be able to publish this issue

and with it news o our recent and upcoming activities.

Most importantly, we present our rst three artists who have

exhibited work or the rst time as solo exhibitions at TriSpace.

These have been, in my view, most successul not only because o

the quality o the work itsel but, also, because each o the ar tists have

had the courage to present their work even i it had been in the process

o development. In accordance with the ambition o TriSpace, it became

a testing ground, a place to experiment. This complements the view that

LASALLE itsel is an artistic laboratory where experimentation is o an

essence to the success o higher education and the development o newideas and orms o artistic practice. This possibility nurtures a creative

energy that is essential to the imaginative potential o a community.

In Western Europe there exists the model o the Italian Renaissance,

but, perhaps more signicant as a prototype to the contemporary and

to ourselves, are the great achievements o the Vkhutemas in Russia, the

Bauhaus in Germany or Black Mountain College in North America.

Some o the great artists o the twentieth century such as Malevich,

Tatlin and Kandinsky all taught at Vkhutemas. As a school, it oered

courses in painting, sculpture, ceramics, metalwork and woodwork,

textiles, ceramics, typography and architecture as much as educational

tools or training uture generations o artists and designers. In the

1925 international exhibition held in Paris, the great architect Melnikovdesigned the stadium and two students o Vkhutemas were awarded the

Grand Prix. The «First exhibition o Contemporary Architecture» took

place in Moscow in 1927 at Vkhutemas and the rst prize was received

by the architects: the Vesnin brothers or a design o the Palace o Labor.

Both were teachers o the Vkhutemas.

This issue o TriSpace+ also oers a snapshot o six o the recent

exhibitions held in the ICAS galleries, notably Heimat, Eccentric City

- Rise and Fall, The Future o Exhibition, Tropical Lab, Transmission

Experience and The Winston Oh Travel Award 2010.

The orthcoming exhibits or the ICAS explores urther across Asia

and within Singapore. This includes Dis/placement:6, showing currentwork o six Korean artists who live in Singapore, as well as exhibits

rom both Indonesia and the Philippines. In the Indonesian exhibition

Maniesto o the New Aesthetic: Seven Artists rom Indonesia, the guest

curator Alia Swastika has selected seven artists whose work identies

the emergence o new orms o artistic language since 1998 and is

response to a changing political context within Indonesia and the impact

o globalisation. At the beginning o January 2011, there will be an

exhibition dedicated to the prominent artist Roberto Chabet rom the

Philippines. He has had a major infuence as a teacher and an artist

on a younger generation o local artists and continues to represent an

important role model or contemporary practice. This exhibition is thanks

to the initiative o and collaboration with the Osage Art Foundation.

The ICAS is also hosting The Art Incubator’s second annual exhibition o

its artists-in-residence programme in Singapore and two exhibitions by

local artists as an ongoing eort to redress the balance. In particular,

this eort has developed in response to the important role and work

produced by artists who live in Singapore, but have not been dened

‘Singaporean artists.’ This includes the work o Isabelle Desjeux and

Andrée Weschler, and o Li Cassidy-Peet. The argument here is to

make a case or broadening the ramework o reerence so as to be

more inclusive o good practice regardless o nationality. Finally, it is

with great pleasure that we are able to exhibit the student artists who

are taking the Masters in Fine Arts programme at LASALLE. ICAS

is committed to working with all Faculties throughout the year-long

programme in initiating exhibits large and small. The Masters exhibition

will highlight the achievements o its students.

Slowly, the ICAS broadens its horizons to encourage and providespaces to all o the arts. This refects both the signicant breadth o

LASALLE and alongside the innovative spirit in developing programmes

in music, sound, dance and other perorming arts. In producing this

edition o TriSpace+, I wish to thank Kimberly Shen as well as my sta

and the writers who devoted time and energy into supporting us, and the

artists about whom they have written.

Institute o Contemporary Arts Singapore

The Institute o Contemporary Arts Singapore (ICAS) is the

curatorial division o LASALLE College o the Arts. It runs seven

galleries, comprising some 1,500 square meters o gallery

spaces dedicated to exploring new and experimental art, design

and media practices. Its programme ocuses on showcasing

international, Asian, Southeast Asian and local contemporary art

with the aim o contributing to the cultural well-being o students,

artists and the Singaporean public. Committed to the experimental

and new, ICAS seeks to support practices which challenge

orthodoxies and establishment. This serves as not only an important

educational tool or students but, oers an alternative to artists in

giving them the opportunity to explore and venture into unknown,

unrecognised spaces not otherwise available in the Singapore

today. Its outreach programme includes regular publications,

seminars and symposiums, visiting artists talks and contemporary

sound/music events.

TriSpace+

TriSpace+ is a quarterly newsletter dedicated to ICAS’s smallest

gallery – TriSpace. This highly unusual, triangular space reminiscent

o a window display is devoted to new and emerging artists who

wish to develop their practice. Besides documenting the past works

exhibited at TriSpace, this newsletter eatures critical essays and

upcoming exhibitions and happenings

at ICAS.

Editor Charles Merewether

Co-ordinator Kimberly Shen

Associate Editors Adeline Kueh Milenko Prvacki Teo Roan

Ian Woo

Contributors Lawrence Chin Chong Weixin Susie Wong

TriSpace+ Team



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Trash, junk, disposables. These objects brim with politics.It speaks o the environment, o everyday culture, oeconomics, and o personal and collective memory.

In this work by Danielle Tay, who graduated with a Diploma in Fine Arts

rom the LASALLE College o the Arts this year, she uses the ubiquitous

disposable papercups and plastic bowls ound rom our increasing

number o caés and dining outlets.

Disposable Cities has us considering our relationship to our world.

Excessive goods production and its increasing consumption have created

urban detritus, more so since disposable ware have become a habitual

part o our lives.

Danielle’s work alludes to the city. She “explores the notion o Singapore

as a “disposable city” characterised by a sense o the impermanence

and transience o buildings and structures in the country”. The city itsel

is imperiled only to the extent that its hardware is constantly making

way or the new. Lest the disposed o also entails a sense o amnesia –

orgetting what the city was like, what lives were like, Danielle takes pains

to reconstitute the hardware (the cups) into these pretty orms.

Not exactly trash art, her work is an installation o abstract

considerations, and in that, provokes a second glance at these objects as

art. Danielle however does not deer to but questions the ormalist aspect

o art.

Despite this, it is evident that it is the ormal appeal and arrangement

that is at the mainstay o this work. Like North American artist Jessica

Stockholder, Danielle’s past orays as a painter may account or it.

Danielle’s work is also happy, bon vivant. The empty paper containers

are disguised, ringed with coloured curlies o thin tape; the sticky tapes,

ound in various colours, are treated with pristineness (there is no chaos

or disorder) and lengths are stretched (not taut, a bit dangly) across walls

and foors. These connect every item, “drawing” within the Trispace,

along its walls and foors, and nding that pleasure in the beauty, o an

otherwise abject, object.

DANIELLE TAY:DISPOSABLE CITIES

TriSpace: 6 - 25 August 2010

Curlies and Sticky Tapes by Susie Wong



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DISPOSABLE CITIESSusie Wong interview with Danielle Tay

What inspired the use o the materials?

This installation was actually an expansion o a previous work, shown in

the Praxis Space o LASALLE as part o the “Tape it Up! Tape it Down!”

exhibition in the later part o 2009. That work was o a much smaller

scale, consisting o only 11 cups. It was the result o a drawing minor

project in which we were tasked to work as creatively as possible using

only/mainly the medium o tape.

I would say that the choice o materials, the cups, was mostly accidental.

I was somewhat stuck with regard to what to create or the project, ater

being told o by one o the lecturers or being too “sae” with my use

o tape. (Having had a consultation with her, where I showed her some

support studies done with tape on a two-dimensional surace). I had

a stack o disposable cups on my table in the studio as I oten collectthem ater consuming any takeaway drink (normally they would come

in handy as water containers or painting purposes). They caught my

eye and I began experimenting with how I could create something with

the cup as a base structure. Both materials seemed to go well together

because they both had some sort o a ‘plastic-y’ nature.

Were you artist-inspired? I so, could you name the artist?

How do you eel about Stockholder?

Stockholder, denitely inspired me. She is an artist whom I reerence

oten in my work and some people have also mentioned her name as

she/her work comes to mind when they view my work. What I nd great

about her work is her ability to make everyday objects become visually/

aesthetically pleasing objects o interest. A lot o the time, when other

people attempt to do these type o assemblages, they oten turn out

looking cheap and tacky. This becomes even more dicult when the

colours are bright/neon-ish. Thus, Stockholder manages to overcome this

and create such assemblages in a tasteul and thoughtul manner.

Another artist I reerence is American artis t Judy Pa. And perhaps Swiss

artist Beat Zoderer as well (during the initial s tage when I rst came upwith the work or the drawing project)

Could you describe your process – o installing in Trispace

and the impetus or the difculties aced?

The process, as with most o the installations I do are based on trial and

error. I started out with a diagrammatic plan/layout o what I projected

in my head. But once again, they never work out as planned. One o

the diculties was probably the space i tsel. It looks deceivingly small

rom the outside, but when you actually get in there to work, it’s really

dierent. It was also bad judgment on my part regarding the cup and

wall space ratio. I underestimated the number o cups needed or the

work to look substantial. It seemed like we had taped say, 50 cups. But

when installed on the wall, it did not look like 50 at all. Thus, there was a

rush to create more urgently.

Artist Danielle Tayin her exhibitionDisposable Cities



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Also, the lighting was bit o a problem. I had expected the drop o

the shadows to be similar to that o the Praxis Space. However, to my

dismay, ater much experimentation/tweaking o the spotlights, that

could not be achieved. This was due to the dierence in the way thelights were installed in these two spaces, which aected the length and

shade o the shadow.

Every site-specic work comes with its own set o challenges and this

unexpected element makes the process more interesting and exciting. It

is very much an action and reaction process in which you put something

up on the wall, leave it i you think it looks right or take it down and make

changes i it does not. It was a un experience which allowed me to learn

and grow in my art practice, especially with site-specic installation work

which I don’t really have opportunities to do since spaces aren’t really

available around (especially a space like Trispace where the layout

is unique).

I recall your development during your studies at LASALLE

– what happened to painted suraces o the paper work?

How do you eel about dispensing with this?

I have not dispensed with my paper work yet! When approached with

the invitation to send in a proposal to do an exhibition at Trispace, I

did not really think o doing a paper work installation, which I guess is

a bit strange. Perhaps it was because I had just worked with paper or

my installation in the graduation show. The idea o expanding the tape

project (as mentioned in Question 1) was something I had proposed on

paper almost immediately ater the project was completed. However, at

that time I did not think I would have the chance to realise it.

I will soon be returning to my paper work, I think. I intend to develop

that urther.

22 September 2010

My work is concerned with the usion o the organic

and structured elements inspired by my surroundings.

This harmony or perhaps tension is reected in our

environments, especially in cities in which man-made

structures have displaced most part o the original natural

landscape. Living in Singapore, enveloped by skyscrapers

in high concentrations, it is ascinating to observe how

these hard-edged structures blend in with the greenery

planted alongside. The geometric patterns, shapes and

orms seen in my work are derived rom natural and man-made elements in urban landscapes. I am interested in

the juxtaposition o hard and sot lines and textures; the

integration o industrial eatures into an organic landscape

and vice versa, uncertain as to which is encroaching on

the other and invading the other’s territory. Thus, there is a

constant struggle to fnd a balance between the two worlds,

some orm o middle ground in which conicting elements

work together in harmony.

The pictorial is what saturates one’s environment and

through fltering and distilling, I am reinventing what I

see and re-ordering the ordered. My methodology o

producing the work reects the human’s need or structure,the need to constantly contain, categorise and make sense

o things. In art making, I oten fnd mysel doing this;

breaking down complexities into simpler orms and trying

to re-interpret or represent things in a manner in which I can

understand it. The visual aesthetic and experience is one o

great importance to me. Within the process o art making,

I employ the photograph as a vehicle through which I

atten the image. Through the extraction o patterns,

orms, lines and such, derived rom frst hand observation

o sites as well as documentations, I am translating what I

have absorbed into the development o my own “modern

aesthetic” and visual language.

A R T I S T S T

A T E M E N T



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A line. Another stitch.Creased; olded; strewn.

Again and again.



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CHRISTINACHUA:BREATHE AGAINArguing with the Mundaneby Lawrence Chin

A line. Another stitch. Creased; olded; strewn.Again and again.

In Christina Chua’s latest work, “Breathe Again”, presented at Trispace,

one can imagine and sense the sheer accumulation o eort that must

have gone into its making. The residual gestures o stitching, olding and

arranging are apparent, i not over-whelming. Conronted with such a

magnitude o work, one cannot help but pause and ponder – perhaps,

made even more intriguing by a orceul reminder o what can be

achieved, given time and a dose o single-mindedness.

By paying attention to simple processes, the repeated gesture reminds

one o a certain meditative attitude. It is perhaps an eort to ameliorate

the fux and uncertainties o everyday living. The ractured sense o

lie can be said to have been exacerbated by the very processes o

modernity; o rapid urban demolition and construction; o compression

o time-space experiences; and o runaway and excessive consumption.

These seemingly uncontrollable external orces are pervasive – at least

in the average experience o most city-dwellers – to the point o being

oppressive. One loses one’s sense o direction even beore gaining somesemblance o bearing. One looses one’s notion o the past, present and

uture as the world rushes by relentlessly. One looses onesel, nearly

almost, in trying to live.

Yet, live one must. In swimming against the constant streams and the

unceasing bombardment o a highly mediated and constructed world

which repeatedly tries to remove one’s point(s) o reerence, one cannot

but help to notice the inherent illogic o one’s experience o the world

at large. One stays by moving rom place to place; one constructs by

dismantling; one consumes by discarding; one exists by being otherwise.

Such contradictions can only serve to uel a sel-imposing retreat urther

into the realm o the remainder – a remainder let over rom the excess

and gravitas o living. A remainder that promises reprieve, althoughsomewhat imperectly.

It is the reminder which escapes – or in Maurice Blanchot’s words: “The

everyday escapes.” [ “Everyday Speech”, translated by Susan Hanson,

in Yale French Studies, number 73, 1995 ]. It is an escape into the

unrepresentable and unknowable (because it is unrepresentable) – the

gaps, the in-between spaces, the untouched suraces, the mufed voicesand the sheer mundane nature o our lived experiences. And it is the

mundane that aords a buer which shields one rom the onslaught o

urban encounters. It is also the same which seduces one into the lull o

inaction – as there is nothing to be said or thought or reasoned – the

very essence o the mundane.

Christina Chua’s attempt at articulating a visual equivalence o the

seemingly repetitive gesture yet celebrating its inherent possibilities can

be seen as an attempt to pick an argument with the mundane. It is an

argument, not necessarily borne out o rustration, but one against the

obvious and easy sense o dejection that can oten accompany the

mundane. It is an argument that is not simply intellectual but concerns a

state o attitude, and need or persistence as against giving up. It is an

argument or living, even i its eects are less than enthusiastic. It is an

argument or nding the possible between the mundane and the lived.

And, more importantly, it is also an argument or doing the possible.

The choice o stitching and paper olding signals a signicant

understanding o the potential o the mundane in Christina Chua’s

installation artwork. These tasks evoke a sense o repetition yet with

highly dierentiated possibilities. Each loop o the stitching line is ever so

slightly dierent rom the last, even i they have just run o the machine in

quick succession. Each old is pressed down ever so dierently rom the

last, as each crease takes on an individual sense o purpose in that nal

orm. The cumulative eect o a large number o such actions becomes

something else – rather arming; and even breath-taking, regardless o

the implied understanding that the recursive process involved might have

more than likely been a mind-numbing one.

TriSpace: 3 - 22 September 2010

Artist Christina Chuawith her installationBreathe Again



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In the installation, the use o dim ambient lighting in combination with a

strong central ocal light source seems to suggest a theatrical intention,

almost suggesting that the mundane tasks are now recast as dramatic,

or mystical. The eect o such use o lighting and arrangement is that the

idea o the mundane is held at bay and in tension – not quite integrated

but nonetheless necessary. Perhaps, in turning towards the dramatic, it

has the unintended eect o reducing that searing edge o the mundane

that cuts through one’s experience o what is presented and what could

be intuited – as it leaves no room or thinking otherwise. And one almost

wishes that what is presented could have been even more obsessive (withmore olded objects lling the entire site), more intense (with a greater

variety o surace treatment reminiscent o the hand-crated), and more

ordinary (with more o the outside light lling the interior instead o the

theatrics o mood lighting).

In returning to the mundane, one is reminded o the Greco-Roman

myth o Sisyphus – as he was condemned to an endless task or daring

to mock the gods; to usurp his own given place in the scheme o lie.

Punished to traverse the height o the mountain with a rock carried on

his back, but never allowed to complete his arduous task in reaching the

summit, Sisyphus had to contend with restarting his punishing climb, yet

again, as his appointed burden slipped back to the oot o the mountain

repeatedly as the task seemed to be near its conclusion. One would

likely balk at such an endless (and thankless) task – and could only

hope that there were small moments to alleviate the drudgery o such an

incredible yet condemned eort.

Furthermore, one is reminded o the parallel with lived experiences,

albeit on a mortal scale – having to attend to endlessly recurringeveryday tasks and chores lending no conceivable real purpose to lie,

or so it seems. But bearing in mind that it was Albert Camus who

insisted that:

“This universe henceorth without a master seems to [Sisyphus] neither

sterile nor utile. Each atom o that stone, each mineral ake o that

night-flled mountain, in itsel orms a world. The struggle itsel towards

the heights is enough to fll a man’s heart. One must imagine Sisyphus

happy.” [ The Myth O Sisyphus, translated by Justin O’Brien,

Penguin, 1975 ]

It is a reminder to imagine otherwise, in spite o the mundane, o the

meaningless or absurd, as much as it is imperative or us that we

continue to argue as we take our next breath and the next; and to

ascend, to old, to strewn, and to argue, yet just that once more, even

happy; and again …

BREATHE AGAIN

In the Breathe Again series, I intend to expand the

boundaries o art making with the thread used as a mark-

making device. With thread, personal symbols and the

transfgured eminine fgure rom variant occurrence o

womanhood are drawn. Simple stitches are repeated until

a small dot extends to a line, and the accumulation o lines

creates continuous orm which suggests suocation, growth

and extreme ragmentation. This act creates a density which

disorientates vision and evokes a eeling o suspension, and

enclosure; a holding o the breath.

Transormations o the sel are represented by parts o the

body ound within abstracted images. Comparing onesel

to seeds and the growing o plants and owers suggests a

translation o the maturity, confdence, strength as well as

beauty and lie. Throughout the drawing progression, the

audience is invited to experience rereshment along with

the reedom to express one’s emotions without strictures o

constructed boundaries.

A R T I S T S T A T

E M E N T



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ASHLEY YEO:SILENT INFATUATIONS

Object Alone by Chong Weixin

TriSpace: 8 - 27 October 2010

Delicate and deliberate, Ashley’s works beara strongly conscious regard or the aesthetic.

Her reerences are oten unapologeticallygurative: things we recognise – or think we do – and

thus have ormed associations with already.

It oten seems that in the current climate o contemporary arts, priority

is given to the concept ‘behind’ a work. The physical aspects o

artwork can thus appear to exist merely to carry a concept around.

To the contrary, Ashley oten invests in pure materiality. Her intricate,

labour-intensive paper cuts clearly embody this investment, eschewing

the rational in avour o what she calls ‘emotional logic’. In a world

where acts are questionable and logical arguments contextualised by

subjectivity, it is hard to dismiss a desire or non-rational imagination.

Viewers and relating to work

In her experiences o showing work, Ashley has encountered viewers

who all but question every aspect and element in her work. They

demand answers, reasons or every choice o detail or subject. The

gurative nature o the work itsel only serves to aggravate their

perplexity. “It makes me wonder how they would relate to a work i the

artist wasn’t there [to answer]…People seem uncomortable with not

being able to logically understand,” says Ashley. She describes how

people oten envision a narrative o their own in her work – a desirable

response in itsel. There are those, though, who eel a compulsion to seek

her validation yet reject any contradicting views. Their insistence is s till

something she nds puzzling. “Some people avoid their emotions andseek meaning otherwise, in logic…they’re desperate to nd a ‘meaning’

which is not there.”

Perhaps it is symptomatic o a mindset uneasy with the unpredictable,

the inexplicable, the unregulated. Perhaps, more tellingly, it is an

example o the sel-reerential possessiveness with which we relateto things that evoke our personal fights o ancy. We harbour innate

desires or our version, the one that ‘works’, to be true. We want to

believe that it is. Ashley’s images tap into a stream o consciousness

particular to contemporary visual culture. They create a space or the

mind to wander amid a plethora o amiliar-looking elements. This

inherent capacity or escapism may well account or the wide appeal

o her work. Her trademark blend o visual nesse and technical skill,

engages the mind in a way that oten evokes desire.

The artworks are indeed objects – yet unabashedly so. As with things

that engage our emotional and imaginative aculties, they soon

transcend mere physicality o being.

The Object as Itsel

It is a return to the Object – a concept seemingly vilied by certain

strains o institutional art. The idea o artwork as object is a position

some artists have questioned, challenged, even sought to do away with.

Such explorative orays into alternative ‘non-object’ mediums add to the

breadth and scope o institutional denitions o art. Denying the validity

o objects, though, can only be another limitation o a delusional kind.

We are object-based creatures ater all; our experience and perception

o reality cannot be divorced rom the physical items that contextualise

our day-to-day existence.

Ashley’s work, heavily infuenced as it is by Japanese and contemporary

visual culture, can be seen to fow into a long history o artworks that

engage through the intricacy and power o their object-hood. It is as i

instead o unctioning as a Signier, the object is the Signied in itsel.

Its being and the particulars o its material essence, orm its

concept and signicance as a work o art.

Artist Ashley Yeoin her exhibition

Silent Inatuations



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SILENT INFATUATIONS

Some look or literal symbols and direct associations; but the ecacy o

work like Ashley’s lies in what needs not be dened by words.

“I don’t really like to explain,” she says, “because it kind o kills it.”

“I defnitely don’t work blindly, but I don’t try to fnd the reason

behind everything.”

Quietness in TriSpace

At her recent show in TriSpace, a widely-spaced white-on-whiteness lent

sterile coolness to the works. The characteristic wedge-orm o the space

acted as a slice in which drawings, paper-cuts and sculptures held a

reserved interaction with each other. Placed at distinct distances apart,

they appeared almost severely dened, as i each held its own territory –

the scope o its detail and emotions kept strictly within its borders.

Instead o weaving together in the mind, pieces came across more as

separate entities.

Previous installations by Ashley have tended towards a more

conglomerate display, where assorted elements seemed almost layered

into a unied whole. It conveyed a sense o being bound together by

larger narratives – here neutralised in avour o a clean-cut ormality

o placement. This newly

heightened isolation

underscores an

encompassing quietness.

Perhaps the introspective

loneliness evoked by

the objects resonates all

the more poignantly in

Silent Inatuations where,

impeccable in themselves,

they stand: together

yet detached.

Could you tell us more about the title o your exhibition

Silent infatuations.

These two words cover a lot o ground in terms o my works. It is a quiet

series o works but I hope they will give a lasting impression. I initially

had another title called the ‘Atrophies’ but I did not want to have an

emphasis on chaos too much, plus that’s not my intention so I thought

‘Silent Inatuations’ would be better. To me, the term ‘inatuation’ is not as

heavy as love or passion but it is denitely lighter. It is also less direct and

in your ace. I do not need any strong reactions.

In your artist statement you reer to trying to ‘embody

beauty in a orm o imperection.” Can you speak a little

more about this in regard to your work?

Something about purity can be so pure that it is disturbing, it is unreal. It

is almost grotesque. Something can be so beautiul and so perect but

there is something wrong with this portrayal o work or image.

The work at TriSpace eatures our dierent types o work,

do you eel that that is expressed in all o those types o

work or do you think there is one particular body o work

that is stronger in that relation to?

The papercuts are denitely a lot di erent; they are repetitive patterns

and the scales o detail ranges rom larger papercuts to layered ones.

But with my drawings it is a lot more representational, not in a directsense but with more narratives because o the gures portrayed in my

drawings. Through notions people have conceived previously, when they

look at something they will tie it down to something else. My works may

not carry a specic meaning. For example with the whales, there was

a reporter who asked about the Japanese whaling culture and asked i

there was any voice to the work. I am not really that political, my works

do not talk much about social issues. I have been asked, “So why do you

work with paper, is it about recycling? Or is it about saving the earth?” I

will say no, it is not like that at all.

For me the strength o the work is its lack o narration, I think that is the

beauty o it. People are welcome to give their own narrative but I do not

need them to voice it out or put a stamp on it and say that is what mywork is about.

What is the key concept that will link the work together?

I want to create dierent realms, like small worlds without it being seen as

duplicating a copy o reality, it is not escapism but an introduction o how

my mind works through dierent mediums to perceive how I

see something.

I would not classiy my work as antasy. I do know some people think

my works are very whimsical and antasy- like, and I welcome the notion.

Maybe its escapism but to me that word is lower down, it sounds almost

cheap. I think it has been overused so I think the medium should notmatter – as in i I work with paper, I do not only just work with paper.

Mediums that portray my works the best bring out what I want to say the

best. That is the way I work. I denitely will not stick to one medium, let’s

say paper cuts.

An ICAS interview with the artist



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You do not reer to the ephemeral at all. It seems to me

that the cut-out work has a very strong element o the

ephemeral conveying a sense o transient beauty.

Most o my works are ragile, so I do not have to say i t. Through the small

worlds I am trying to create a ragility and lightness I think it is more oa sensation, I do not start with an intention; “Oh I want my work to be

ragile”, it comes to me naturally.

My works have always been along those lines: I do not colour my works.

They are always white. Even porcelain is naturally white. So I may have

a selective sense o aesthetics where I may not know what I like, but I

know what I do not like and this has led me to where I am right now.

In terms o the exhibition itsel in TriSpace, how did you

approach it? Did you approach it thinking about these

dierent aspects o your work and in some way uniy it or

did you think o it in terms o the space itsel?

Denitely the space itsel because I have worked with the space during

the LASALLE graduation show so I knew that the papercuts were my

intentions – I wanted the wall to be lled with that. What I did not know

was how I wanted it to be lled. I did not have the vision o multiple

layers. I was thinking, “Maybe I should have dierent shapes”. It did not

occur to me until much later that I could create dierent curtains. This

came to me at a much later point. But I knew I wanted to deal with solely

papercuts because it is a very tall wall in TriSpace, and tall walls are

hard to come by. I have worked in a couple o galleries and the walls

are very short, so it kills the beauty o the papercuts as they are quite

long. That was when it occurred to me that I could create them purely or

the wall.

The drawings came much later ater I was done with the paper cuts.

The issue o how I could work with the space was another issue.

Actually, I did think o cotton buds and smaller things but the space was

unexpectantly huge. The making o the ‘hanging clouds,’ was made a

ew days beore. It is really about the space and how it works. I did not

expect mysel to do that (the hanging clouds) as well.

So let’s say you could do the show again, now that the

exhibition is up, would you have exhibited any dierently?

I think so, I would actually work more with the clouds i I have more time,

I denitely would like to expand on that. But I do like how the exhibition

looks now, I enjoy people interacting with the work because they can

walk under my papercuts and go near the work. But I do hope there is

interaction between artwork and viewer, so it is more intimate compared

to a huge painting. I think with all artists they hope or a certain

interaction o their works with the viewer.

Who are a couple o important artists fgures in recent

history o art in terms o an inspiration or people or those

you admire and want to study?

I admire Japanese artists because o their sense o aesthetics. I am

inspired by many sculptors, like wood sculptors or artists who work with

paper like Aiko Miyanaga who recently showed at the Brother Joseph

McNally Gallery here as part o the Tropical Lab workshop, but those

are quite short-termed, I will move on rom there. They are not constant in

my works. I do not have a constant artist reerence, but Hayao Miyazaki

denitely infuenced me a lot. I have looked up to him since young and

his portrayal o dierent realms, like the interpretation o reality and

goddesses, etc. Sometimes even literary writers infuence me. But I keep

moving on and it is very rare or me to be impressed by artists like, “Oh

her works are really good” – maybe or a little while. The Japanese do

have their dedication to perection and details and they treat everything

with respect, even spirits and they can make something out o nothing.

They have dierent aesthetics, I can relate to those more than American

or London art. They are a lot brighter and wilder, a lot more conceptual.

25 October 2010

With Silent Infatuations, I aspire to recreate the guise

o weightlessness and ephemeral quality. Fascinated by

the very specifc moment o embracement between ear

and sublimity, I attempt to capture the desolateness

behind a beauty, to attain a quiet but thoroughly

disconcerting power. I enjoy portraying secret chaos

and try to embody beauty in a orm o imperection.

My works highlights the struggle between the ragility

and delicate quality o its impermanence and seeks tobring orth a sense o transient beauty.

A R T I S T

S T

A T E M E N T



RECENT ICASHEIMAT

Artist: Brenda L Crot

ECCENTRIC CITY

TRANSMISSIONEXPERIENCE

Artist: Qiu Anxiong

Artist: Hayati Mohktar

Artist: Aya Kato



Since July the ICAS has presented a number o signicant

exhibitions at the ICAS galleries. Most notable were Heimat,

Eccentric City, The Future o Exhibition, Tropical Lab, Transmission

Experience and The Winston Oh Travel Award 2010. The ambition

and scope o each have been distinct. Heimat, guest curated by

Alan Cruickshank, oered a group o divergent orms o practice

that interweave with one another by virtue o the subject. Both

individually they explore the conventions, boundaries and cultural

dierences o what may be called homeliness. Eccentric City is a

prodigious palimpsest o the contemporary city, a latter-day pop

articulation that transcends beyond the uturistic vision o the urban

city, as in the lms o ‘Metropolis’ or ‘Blade-Runner.’ Representing a

creative collaboration between the Japanese design artist Tanaami

and local group Phunk Studio, it seemed closer in spirit to the

heritage o Burroughs or an imaginative and critical re-reading othe city that began to be explored in Japan during the Sixties, as in

the work o Yokoo Tadanori.

Distinctly, The Future o Exhibition, guest curated by June Yap and

Eve McGovern, pushed the boundaries o the very practice o

exhibition-making itsel. Both Transmission Experience and Tropical

Lab occurred at the same time. Transmission Experience, as the

name implied was about story-telling and circulation o stories

utilising a wide range o art and design orms o practice; whilst

Tropical Lab invited some 14 young artists rom dierent parts o

the world to orm a ten-day workshop at LASALLE, exploring the

theme o Urban Mythologies in regard to the physical character o

Singapore and both its cultural histories and underlying belies. TheWinston Oh Travel Award 2010 had its annual exhibition honoring

the work o its recipients. These exhibitions represented key

instances o the eorts o ICAS to sustain and enhance the range

and depth o an exhibition program that is experimental.

EXHI BI TI

ON S

THEWINSTONOH TRAVEL

AWARD2010

THE FUTURE OFEXHIBITION

Editorial

TROPICAL LAB

Artist: Zaki Razak

Artist: Ruben Pang

Artist: Steph Bolt

Artist: Shubigi Rao

Artist: Aiko Miyanaga



Trispace+14

UPCOMING ICAS

Maniesto o the

New Aesthetic:Seven Artistsrom Indonesia

Artists: Agung Kurniawan,Agustinus JompetKuswidananto, AhmettSalina, Hafs, IswantoHartono, Tintin Wulia andMES 56

Guest Curator: Alia Swastika

This exhibition ocuses on the works o seven artists rom Indonesia whosepractice is based on close observation and research as to the current

situation in Indonesia today. Developed over a long period o time, theirwork represents a belie in their work as a cultural project rather than acultural product. The exhibition thereore constitutes a maniesto o a newaesthetic movement that works outside mainstream practice committed toaddress issues around the history and identity o the everyday lieo people.

Venue: ICA Gallery 1

Date: 21 October – 17 November 2010

PleasureSpectrum

Artists: Li Cassidy-Peet

Exploring the notion o pleasure,desire and obsession, PleasureSpectrum by Li Cassidy-Peetexpresses the gratication opopular culture and celebrityidolisation. In betweensensationalising etishes, Licreates a universal alter-egothat anyone can relate to asan attempt to escape identityand distance onesel rom his/her personal environment. Usingan odd mix o paraphernalia,rom discarded guitar boxes tostrewn cigarette packets, to glitzyneon lights and shards o brokenmirrors, the installation addresses

murky dreams and the psyche oanatical behaviour.

Venue: Earl Lu Gallery

Date: 26 November –14 December 2010

Traces 2: ArtIncubator

GroupExhibition

Artists:Ang Song Ming,

Ang Song Nian andHazel Lim

Traces are the things you leave behind, but also the marks you make. It

encapsulates both process and outcome, journey and destination.Traces 2 shows the works o the three artists who took part in the secondcycle o The Art Incubator two-month residency programme – rom AngSong Ming’s cross-cultural investigations into phonetic jokes, Ang SongNian’s hidden karang guni (rag and bone man) spaces and Hazel Lim’sseries o ornithological paintings.

The Art Incubator Residency Programme is a proessional developmentopportunity or Singapore artists under 35 years o age. As a acommunity-based project, the programme emphasises interactionamongst artists, curators and writers.

Venue: 27 October – 11 November 2010

Date: Brother Joseph McNally Gallery Dis/placement:6

Artists: Jungeun Kim, Hwang Kyong, Om Mee Ai, Shin-YoungPark, Sunsook Roh and Jung Eun Shin

Guest Curator: Korean Art Proessionals (KAP)

Dis/placement:6, a showcase o new art works by six Singapore-based Korean artists, is a landmark exhibition that reveals a uniqueamalgamation by which Korean pictorial sensibilities have beenrethought in the context o living in Singapore. Curated by the KoreanArt Proessionals in Singapore (KAP), which consists o Korean artists, artwriters and art administrators, the exhibition embarks on an explorationo creative practices and seeks to bridge the visual cultures o the Korean

and Singapore art communities.Venue: Praxis Space & Brother Joseph McNally Gallery

Date: 18 November – 16 December 2010

Artist: Iswanto Hartono

Artist: Ang Song Nian

Artist: Sunsook Roh

Artist: Li Cassidy-Peet



Trispace+15

EXH

I BI TI O

N S Jackson See

Collection:A snapshot

Jackson See’s Collection represents one o the most important privatecollections Singapore. Held in conjunction with the contemporary artair, Art Stage Singapore, this exhibition aims to raise awareness andappreciation or contemporary art collecting in Singapore

Venue: Praxis Space and Project Space

Date: 11 – 20 January 2011

4/12: Masters o Arts in Fine Arts 2010

Artists: Natacha Arena, Matthew Bax, Cui Liang, Igor Delic,Isabelle Desjeux , Lucinda Law, Steven Lim, Edith Podesta, RajinderSingh, Rubin Hashim, Xie Ying, Zaki Razak

4/12 is an exhibition o 12 Postgraduate Fine Art candidates’ nalstudio research practice. 4/12 is an exercise in abstraction, a shufeo equations to suggest the axis between orm and ormlessness. Innumerical sense, it is an inversion o the multiplication process. 4/12 is

also a possible statistical gure pertaining to this group o artists and theiractions. Whether these conceptual relationships are suspected, imaginedor real, the exhibition showcases what the ar tists have explored andtoiled away in a sustained manner over the 1½ years.

Venue: ICA Galleries 1 & 2

Date: 27 November – 12 December 2010

Duo: Science & Art

Artists: Isabelle Desjeux and Andrée Weschler

An experimental dialogue between two art orms and two artists,using video, music and speech as vectors; medical ootage andscientic language as content; and the common subjecto biomedicine.

On one wall, the brutal scene o a surgical operation seen rom theinside, where notions o ailure firt with notions o death.On the other side, “scientists” lightheartedly and unemotionally gothrough the arguments explaining why ailures are necessary andwill never disappear.

Venue: Brother Joseph McNally Gallery

Date: 19 January – 1 February 2011Artist: Isabelle Desjeux & Andrée Weschler



LASALLE College o the Arts1 McNally Street Singapore 187940Tel: +65 6496 5070 Email: [email protected]

Gallery Opening Hours: Daily rom 10am – 6pm(except Mondays and public holidays)

Website: http://www.lasalle.edu.sg/index.php/galleriesFacebook: http://www.tiny.cc/icasingapore

Sim LimSquare

B e n c o o l e n

S t r e e t

P r i n s e p

S t r e e t

S h o r t S t r e e t

Middle Road

BurlingtonSquare

Sunshine

Plaza

Rochor Canal Road

Institute oContemporary Arts

Singapore

S e l e g i e R o a d

RobertoChabet:To BeContinuedArtist: RobertoChabet

Guest Curators:Ringo Bunoan,Isabel Ching andNilo Ilarde

To Be Continued is a landmark survey exhibition o Filipino conceptual artist RobertoChabet’s plywood works rom 1984 to the present. In these works, Chabet utiliseshis signature material – store-bought plywood boards. It is a material, which hasbecome not only the surace and support o his paintings and installations, but toa large extent its subject matter and content. The exhibition gathers or the rst timesignicant works, including the seminal 1980s trilogy “Russian Paintings”, “HousePaintings” and “Cargo and Decoy”. Highlighting process and the provisional aspecto the material, To Be Continued is refective o Chabet’s practice, which givesprecedence to the ugitive and contingent nature o art.

To Be Continued is the rst introduction in a series o exhibitions in Singapore,Hong Kong and Manila throughout 2011 – 2012 in celebration o ty years oRoberto Chabet’s pioneering conceptual work and his role in shaping Filipino art.The exhibition is curated by Ringo Bunoan, Isabel Ching and Nilo Ilarde, and issponsored by Osage Art Foundation and King Kong Art Projects Unlimited.

Venue: ICA Galleries 1 & 2

Date: 14 January – 12 February 2011

UPCOMING ICAS EXHIBITIONS

I N S TI

T UTE OF C ONTEMP ORARY

ART S

S I N GAP ORE

Artist: Roberto Chabet

trispace+ (issue #2)

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