Transcendental Group Exhibition

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“Transcendental" is a group exhibition by Cuturi Gallery (Singapore) which features 14 local and international contemporary artists who explore and reflect on the human form and condition through the timeless and ever-evolving style of figurative painting.

With the recent resurgence of figurative art, “Transcendental” emerged as a timely showcase of global painters who over the years have meticulously developed and refined their individual distinctive aesthetic while embracing a refreshing narrative approach as a means to give form to their individual lived experience. These talented mix of artists incorporate a contemporary twist to the traditional figurative style, allowing for the works to exist within a space specific to our present time.

Figurative painting allows for narratives to be formed through the necessary relationships and connections forged between the elements existing within the compositions. An intimate act of storytelling between the viewer and the artwork can then take place in the absence of the expected accompanied artist statement which will induce an internal interrogation on what these carefully constructed scenes seek to represent or communicate. These beautifully distorted and exaggerated representations that exist within these painted universes retain strong references to the world we live in. Paintings evolve into familiar yet warped artistic versions of curated spaces, each holding lived stories, immortalised by artists. Transcendental provokes the viewer to question their stories and challenge the reality in which they live in.

Cuturi Gallery is proud to present our thought-provoking artists who have been spearheading bold, and expressive contemporary figurative paintings which transcend conventional art ideals. Featured artists include Aisha Rosli, Andrew Salgado, Casey Tan, Carter Flachbarth, Faris Heizer, Giorgio Celin, Heidi Ukkonen, Jan Rybníček, Marla Bendini, Rebecca Brodskis, Rebecca Harper, Vanessa Liem, Victoria Cantons and Xu Yang.

TRANSCENDENTAL: HE I DI UK KO N E N

”Once upon a time “depicts a feeling of delusion. Three figures sat at a bar reminiscing on what they believed to be a good time.

The vague memories of enjoyment that was once plastered in their minds, faded; as they are faced with the reality that what they once deemed pleasurable, is now a bitter disappointment.

An overcrowded bar overwhelmed by the sound of drunken people and the smell of cigarettes has lost its appeal. As the three figures watch on, they ask themselves, “what was it that was so good? “.

This piece is inspired by the current pandemic and the question of whether life before it, will be as desirable when it’s back to “normal”. Was this feeling so great or was heading out a social escape from reality?

Once Upon a Time, 2021 Tempera acrylic and airbrush on linen 100 x 90 cm SGD 6,200

TRANSCENDENTAL: GI ORGI O ANIMA ARTIFIIALIS

CE L I N

The work depicts a serene, domestic view of a couple lying in bed, a celebration of queer interracial couples in the Latinx context. The figures are deliberately ambiguous on their gender appearance. There is a space for the viewer to insert his own personal view on the figures, with the possibility to reflect on the fact that gender doesn’t really matter when we talk about human relationship.

Tulipanes Abiertos , 2021 Oil and oil stick on canvas 130 x 90 cm SGD 7,700

TRANSCENDENTAL: GI ORGI O CE L I N

The Cheaters, 2021 Oil and oil stick on canvas 100 x 70 cm SGD 6,400

The painting is a simple composition of two figures in bed. The title suggests that the characters are cheating their partners, leaving the viewer with the tension of the moment.

TRANSCENDENTAL: MARLA BENDINI

"I felt like my body didn't belong to me. It was as though I was an outsider watching my own story unfold. I was scared and tired of fighting a spiritual war I believed I couldn’t win.

I wanted to surrender but I didn't know how. I prayed that I would just float away and return home to God."Marla Bendini

Surrender (Jails, Institutions and Death), 2021 Oil and fabric on linen 130 x 100 cm SGD 4,000

TRANSCENDENTAL: VANESSA LIEM

”Feed me” is a commentary about how gossip feeds us. We are all victims/ perpetrators of gossip, whether we are the ones spreading or witnessing/ hearing, all of us are ultimately in this never-ending cycle and have an innate curiosity of what is happening.

Set in a gloomy outdoor scene, the painting depicts a white cushioned chair with a red figure holding a “grapevine”; a slang for gossip.

The face at the bottom is trying eagerly to eat the fruit, as fallen grapes lay beside. On the right is a shadowed figure lighting the cigarette, representing the starting ignition or spark of these rumours; the start of a wildfire. The chair invites the viewer to have a seat, to join this vicious phenomenon.

Feed Me, 2021 Oil on canvas 121 x 91 cm SGD 2,600

TRANSCENDENTAL: XU YANG

If I Vibrate with Vibrations Other Than Yours, 2021 Oil on linen 105 x 140 cm SGD 7,000 Xu explores the construction of identity through a contemporary female gaze. Drawing on art history, fashion, fairy tale and drag performance, Xu pushes beyond the canvas and behind the mask to question what is real and what is fake and what is woman in her fantasy world.

TRANSCENDENTAL: XU YANG

The Only Intentional Constancy, 2021 Oil on linen 105 x 140 cm SGD 7,000

TRANSCENDENTAL: CARTER FLACHBARTH

Peece, 2020 Acrylic on canvas 127 x 101 cm SGD 7,800 “PEECE” is a reflection of the unfortunate events that have taken place in the past year pertaining to the COVID-19 pandemic. The title “PEECE” is an invented homophone between “Piece” and “Peace.” The title references both the world being in “pieces” and the ensuing chaotic struggle in pursuit of “peace.”

PEECE expresses the world being in a limbo between pieces and peace without being either one. In this work, the figure is seen bent over “picking up the pieces” both metaphorically and literally. Behind the figure is a blue sky with clouds, and on the figure’s jumper is a night sky of stars.

The use of these motifs is meant to communicate the idea that this figure is a dreamer or has their “head in the clouds.” Although these motifs communicate identical themes of hopefulness, they are diametric opposites. This is similar to the story of this past year as the world seemed to diametrically fall apart and rebuild itself simultaneously, leaving hopefulness as one of the only observable constants in the world.

Ultimately, this work expresses the narrative of that hopefulness.

TRANSCENDENTAL: CASEY TAN

Isla Paradiso, 2021 Acrylic on canvas 100 x 120 cm SGD 4,300

Isla Paradiso draws inspiration from the current time (pandemic) we’re in, the increasing urge to fantasies about travelling/ escaping beyond our island to foreign lands despite the closed borders.

TRANSCENDENTAL: REBECCA BRODSKIS

Sous-Jacente, 2021 Oil on linen 80 x 60 cm SGD 9,500

Portrait of a young woman. Something is yet to be revealed.

TRANSCENDENTAL: VICTORIA CANTONS ANIMA ARTIFIIALIS

Plein Soleil or Contender, Someone, 2021 Oil on linen 35 x 30 cm SGD 3,000 The work was initially a response to Little Women, a coming-of-age story written by American novelist Louisa May Alcott (1832–1888). I am currently interested in making work that explores what is happening in the gender war across society, the notion of what a woman is or can be, how people shape their beliefs. Finding common ground can be very difficult but I want to challenge ideas. The title refers to being in the light where things can be seen or proposing that this is a someone as equal to any other individual.

TRANSCENDENTAL: FARIS HEIZER

Not Again, 2021 Oil on unprimed linen 91 x 61 cm SGD 2,500 Pictured in a bar toilet, the figure inside the toilet is seen to be seated on the toilet seat motionless. Here, the half-opened toilet acts as a haven welcoming and comforting this figure to an extent of him removing his footwear and socks. The figure clad in the violet top is stopped in his tracks and pries into the passed-out figure's state of seclusion

TRANSCENDENTAL: AISHA ROSLI

In The Heat of The Moment , 2021 Acrylic, oil and pastels 61 x 76.5 cm SGD 3,200 The character discovers a stocking lying around in her room, thinking she caught her partner red handed but at the same time her foggy poker face is pondering whether it is hers or not.

The room warps around her, mimicking fear and franticness while her heels are acting on its own in celerity.

TRANSCENDENTAL: REBECCA HARPER

“During lock-down, I sometimes used my garden as a temporary studio in the summer sun, where it felt warm and comforting on the skin, outside smelt like the magic potently of spring, the sound of birdsong and the disappearance of cars and planes became ever more present in my London garden, where time slowed down so much that the fenced boundaries became a stage for new paintings. Thus, allowed me to make work that was directly in touch with nature and more in touch with subjects that were closer to home, nature, and reflection as a consequence.

Take air into the lungs, 'Breathe', expel it, exhale, necessity, relief, calm, deeply, slowly, relax.

draw

in,

Lavender is believed to be used for its healing properties, to use the scent of lavender helps to aid one's calmness, good health, and well-being. This image aims to live in that moment of calm.

Breathe, 2020 Acrylic on canvas 43 x 33 cm SGD 4,500

Others in this small series of works explored the magic of the dandelion, where to be at its best you must blow all the seeds off in one 'breath'. Hold the fluffy head of your dandelion near your mouth and breathe in the direction of the breeze as they disperse their seeds from the wishes we blow, carrying our thoughts and dreams to loved ones.

Dandelions are used as medicinal purposes to cure illnesses and pains, yet also as a symbol of emotional healing. Delicate, yes but they endure almost any living condition growing all over the world, and therefore represent overcoming every hardship by standing strong and proud.“- Rebecca Harper

TRANSCENDENTAL: JAN RYBNÍČEK

"Field girl is a painting from a series of portraits based on a basic structure created mostly by spray. The painting is on an elongated format with a thick frame and the painting continues to the side edges.

The idyllic monochrome scene of a girl in a field is disturbed by stalks that emanate from unexpected places, thus disturbing not only the idyll but also the spatial idea of the plasticity and depth of the scene.

Polňačka (Field), 2021 Acrylic on canvas 60 x 30 cm SGD 2,800

I'm interested in scenes with more meanings, multifaceted, nothing is as it seems at first glance, nothing is just black or white. In this particular painting, the main story was created by the minimalist entry of a single stalk. This simplicity, but also the ripple reminiscent of a field in the wind, are the main advantages of this painting for me." - Jan Rybníček

TRANSCENDENTAL: A N DRE W S A L GA DO

Spring Haze, 2021 Oil, pastel and spray on paper 76 x 57.5 cm SGD 7,500 Andrew Salgado deals with questions of masculinity in his paintings of male figures, which strike a tenuous balance between abstraction and figuration.

His works evoke a mood that suggests both aggression and vulnerability—two feelings elicited by an act of violence committed against the artist in 2008. The formal properties of paint are central concerns to Salgado, who employs the visceral materiality of oil paint and the expressive potential of colour to create a sense of frailty and potency.

AISHA ROSLI (B. 1997, Singapore) Strongly influenced by Austrian Expressionism, Aisha Rosli’s intuitive approach to painting sees these figurative manifestations that lend to her exploration of the female identity and gender relations. Alluding to secrecy and concealment, Rosli explores the ambiguity in power relations between genders, one that manifests in a subtle power play of dominance and control. This precariousness in the embodiment of power is further observed when viewing Rosli’s paintings, where viewers often find themselves implicitly placed in a position of stealing glances at these figures engaged in intimate acts.

A recent graduate from Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, the artist won the second prize from the NAFA Fine Art Graduating Awards Competition in 2018. In that same year, she showcased her paintings in a group exhibition Ribut Reboot at the Sangkring Art Space, Yogyakarta. She has since participated in group exhibitions at Cuturi Gallery and Coda Culture art space in Singapore. Most recently, Rosli was featured in a group exhibition by Unit London, London.

ANDREW SALGADO (B. 1982, Canada) Andrew Salgado is a Canadian artist who lives and works in London and has exhibited his work around the world.

His paintings are large-scale works of portraiture that incorporate elements of abstraction and symbolic meaning.

Graduated with an MA in Fine Art from Chelsea College of Art in 2009, Salgado is regarded as one of the United Kingdom’s leading figurative painters. Since 2010, he has had 15 sold-out international solo exhibitions in London, New York, Cape Town, Basel (Switzerland), Zagreb (Croatia), Toronto (Canada), and most recently, at Untitled Art Fair in over Miami Basel Week 2019.

In 2017, Salgado was the youngest artist to receive a survey-exhibition at The Canadian High Commission in London. He has received press both online and in print, including GQ, The Evening Standard, The Independent, Artsy, METRO, Attitude Magazine, Globe and Mail (CAN) and Macleans (CAN). He frequently donates to charities including Pride London, Stonewall, Diversity Role Models, Pride London, and GLAAD. His donations to the Terrence Higgins Trust are of particular note, having have raised over £100,000 since 2014. In March 2019, he entered the secondary market with a piece in a Strauss & Co auction in South Africa that doubled its estimate.

His works have been collected extensively in private and public collections worldwide, including the Government of Canada, The Jordanian Royal Family, Simmons & Simmons, and the Esquinazi Collection.

CASEY TAN (B. 1994, Singapore) Casey Tan Jie Wei is a Singaporean painter whose works are cantered on visual metaphor and narrative. Many of his artworks draw inspirations from song lyrics, movies, books, and other genre of art, often finding connections between these inspirations to the life experienced. Sometimes bringing drama and fantasy to the ordinary.

Casey graduated with a Diploma in Fine Arts in 2016, NAFA, where he was also a Ngee Ann Kongsi Scholarship recipient. In 2019, Casey was awarded the UOB Most Promising Artist of The Year, with his work, The Water Is Wide.

Prior to the event, he has also received several recognitions for his artistic contributions during his time in National Service, some of which are part of their collection. Notably in 2017 when his painting was received by former president DR Tony Tan.

C A R T E R F L AC H B A R T H ( B. 1 9 9 6 , U N I T E D S TAT E S ) Carter Flachbarth (b. 1996) is a painter based in the United States. He is a graduate of the Savannah College of Art and Design, and his work has been exhibited both nationally and internationally. He has recently exhibited at Plastic Murs in Valencia, Spain and is currently represented by Plan X Gallery in Milan, Italy. His work has been included in various publications including Forbes Italia. Artsy recently named him as a “Noteworthy Newcomer” in the 2020 Untitled Art Fair in Miami.

Carter’s work speaks on the continued abstraction of human life through technology. He uses an abstracted figure as a way of personifying our unprecedented times. This abstracted figure becomes a vessel to be used in autobiographical and metacultural expressions within the work. Using both 3D technology and archaic painting methods, Carter’s work conveys the paradox that technology has completely redefined our lives yet has changed nothing at all. Although our daily lives are almost unrecognizable to the generations that came before us due to technological innovations, the core of what makes us human remains the exact same. The paintings become his way of communicating our timeless nature in a world that continues to move at blistering speeds.

FARIS HEIZER (B.1998, Singapore) A Singaporean painter, Muhammad Faris Bin Heizer or Faris Heizer attained his Diploma in Fine Arts at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts. In 2019, he has had his works exhibited in several group exhibitions including “Raw Forms”, “Diptych” and under the collective, The Right Belief in “Orthodox” at Coda Culture, Singapore. The following year, he was featured at the “Coda Culture Opening Party Show”.

Faris paints the metanarratives of the caricatured figures in the state of pain, despair, and hopelessness. These characters exist in an abject reality ruled by their own logics, appropriated from various fictional novels and cartoon shows.

G I O R G I O C E L I N ( B. 1 9 8 6 , C O LO M B I A ) Giorgio Ermes Celin was born in Barranquilla, Colombia. During his life he relocated to different European cities. He currently lives and works in Barcelona, Spain.

His art is personal and nostalgic; he creates vibrant works that explore human relationships: the longing for intimacy and the tenderness and melancholy of living in a lonely world where individualism is rampant. He aims to celebrate the beauty, the queerness, and the complexity of the Latinx-diaspora.

H E I D I U K KO N E N ( B. 1 9 8 0 , S W E D E N ) The paintings by Heidi Ukkonen explores themes of relationships, anguish, and suffering. These depictions are represented through playfully deformed animations within the life of modern society. Her works are built using materials such as acrylic, oil paint and spray paint which adds and builds texture to her works.

Most of her inspiration derives from her life living in the vibrant city of Antwerp where she has worked since graduating from the Royal Academy of Fine Arts.

Her thought process begins towards the end of each day and through trial and error, explosive, colourful and humorous works are brought about. Drawing knowledge and inspiration of the works of Philip Guston, Henri Matisse, and Hieronymus Bosch she immerses her audience into a world where the usual morphs into the strange, where the ugly is portrayed as beautiful and where the painful is rendered humorous.

J A N RY B N Í Č E K ( B. 1 9 8 8 , C Z E C H R E P U B L I C ) Born in 1988, Jan studied at the Faculty of fine arts in Brno (CZE), Faculty of fine arts in Lisboa (PRT) and Academy of fine arts in Munich (DE). The Czech artist currently lives and works in Munich, Germany.

Jan deals with figurative painting and is interested in mysticism, irony, and irrationality. He works with contrasts and conglomerates of various figures, nature, objects, and space. Jan has been exhibiting in various institutions and galleries mainly in the Czech Republic and Germany since 2011 and is a member of the art group MalSO 13.

M A R L A B E N D I N I ( B. 1 9 8 6 , S I N G A P O R E ) “Marla Bendini” was created in 2007 as an amalgamation between art and life. Back then, Marla was still Bendini, and Marla as we know her had yet to be born. The new identity was then created to explore the multiple liminal identities and fluidity in perspectives. Her multidisciplinary approach towards this unison has become a signature form of hypervisibility, using the existing politicized body as a catalyst and vehicle for further discourse. She seeks to both engage and disarm audiences and to bridge the present to what she envisions to be an inevitable trans/post-human condition.

Her first self-titled exhibition Marla. (2008) was presented in a transsexual bar in Pattaya, Thailand. Sponsored by Fridae.com, Asia’s largest LGBT portal, she presented Conversations between father and son (2010), a multimedia installation-performance supported by The Substation Gallery, Singapore. Since then, she has been highly active in Singapore’s queer and cultural scene, organising and participating in numerous group exhibitions and performance art festivals such as Future of Imagination and R.I.T.E.S. Her last solo exhibition I’m Nervous, presented by Grey Projects was organised in conjunction with the 10th edition of IndigNation, Singapore’s longest running LGBT festival.

Marla has performed and exhibited in Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Macau, Sweden, Spain and the United States of America.

R E B E C C A B R O D S K I S ( B. 1 9 8 8 , F R A N C E ) Rebecca Brodskis' work is a form of exploration through painting of the relationship between the being and matter and the impact of the social on the individual. Captivated by moments of life that surround her, by discussions, images or characters, Rebecca questions those fleeting moments of everyday life that we do not remember, but that shape existence. She's taken on the task of questioning the foundation of human relationships while questioning the social context in which we live, a world in perpetual change, interwoven with ties that we do not understand.

She uses this complex richness, the social diversity that surrounds her, the confrontation of cultures and individuals.

Beyond this wealth, it is also the loss of bearings of contemporary societies, caused by the questioning of social foundations that interests Rebecca. She points to the doubt, anxiety and disorientation of her characters in totally decontextualized environments, both void and the setting of the universal. Her characters are each metaphors of contemporary man, entangled in ever-expanding social circles, wandering through the meanders of sprawling cities, condemned to extreme lucidity but constantly invaded by the fear of tomorrow.

R E B E C C A H A R P E R ( B. 1 9 8 9 , U N I T E D K I N G D O M ) Rebecca Harper was born in London in 1989, where she continues to live and work. She studied at UWE Bristol (BA) 2008, The Royal Drawing School 2013 and Turps Art School 2016 (Postgraduate’s).

Rebecca was Artist in Residence at ‘The Santozium Museum’, Santorini, during summer 2019, and Artist in Residence for the ‘Ryder Project space’ at A.P.T Studios, Deptford in 2018-19 before becoming a Studio and committee Member in 2019. She was the winner of the ACS Studio Prize (Artist Collecting society) £6000 Studio Prize 2018 Representation with Anima Mundi Gallery included two solo presentations at The London Art Fair and a debut show at Anima Mundi Gallery in 2019 receiving reviews in the FT by Jackie Wullshlager, following with a solo presentation with Huxley Parlour Gallery, Mayfair 2019 and a one-person online showcase ‘NOW’ in 2020. Most recently Rebecca was selected for The John Moore’s Painting Prize 2021, and previously selected for Bloomberg New Contemporaries in 2018 at South London Gallery, Other group shows also include Public Gallery, The Royal Academy Summer show 2020, Christies London and NYC, ‘Artist of the Day’, and ‘Small is Beautiful’ at Flowers Gallery’, Paul Stolper Gallery, Turps Art Gallery, and Arusha Gallery.

Her work is on long term display in the Albright Club collection, Maddox street club London curated by Beth Greenacre and at the Santozeum Museum. Harper is represented in many public and private collections internationally Including the Ullens and the Royal Collections.

VA N E S S A L I E M ( B. 2 0 0 2 , S I N G A P O R E ) Vanessa Liem is a Singapore based artist. She graduated under the International Baccalaureate Career-related Programme (IBCP) in Visual Arts at School of the Arts, Singapore (SOTA) in 2020.

Using paint as her primary medium, she explores the human condition through surrealism and alternative depictions of the human form, reinterpreting her subject matter in abstract terms. Her works are emotive responses to daily experiences, questioning and exploring basic narratives that are relevant to life and humankind; especially so when we have adapted to the media-centric world we live in now.

Vanessa Liem has participated and curated several SOTA art exhibitions. For her work, she won Gold for the 2019 UOB Painting of the Year, Emerging Category.

V I C TO R I A C A N TO N S ( B. 1 9 6 9 , U N I T E D K I N G D O M ) Born in London in 1969, Victoria Cantons is a BA Painting graduate of Wimbledon College of Arts (2017) and Turps Art School (2018). Due to coronavirus related interruptions, completing her MFA in Painting at Slade School of Fine Art has been delayed to 2021. She received the Felix Slade Scholarship in 2018. Cantons studied Drama for The Stage and Screen at the Academy of Live and Recorded Arts (ALRA South) (1995-1997). Most recently she initiated and curated the Slade Masters Showcase at Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery (2020) and went on to curate MA/MFA Slade graduates in London Grads Now. at Saatchi Gallery (2020).

Cantons is a cross-disciplinary artist and curator with primarily a drawing and painting practice that can be best described as figurative and colourist with political undercurrents. Her work is informed by a multinational and multicultural upbringing and a background in photography and theatre as well as the fact that she is also transgendered. Cantons lives and works in London.

X U YA N G ( B. 1 9 9 6 , C H I N A ) Xu Yang is a London based artist born in Shandong, China. She graduated with 1st Class Honours in BA Painting Wimbledon College of Arts and is currently attending MA Painting at Royal College of Art. Xu explores the construction of identity through a contemporary female gaze. Drawing on art history, fashion, fairy tale and drag performance. Xu pushes beyond the canvas and behind the mask to question what is real and what is fake and what is woman in her fantasy world.

Xu’s works have been exhibited in China, Italy, Spain, the United States and across the UK. London, Shanghai, Venice, Athens and across USA.

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