Squares Invasion catalogue

SQUARES INVASION The 50cm × 50cm Painting Show 2011

SQUARES INVASION The 50cm × 50cm Painting Show 2011

FOREWORD

I am really happy and proud to present to you “Squares Invasion – The 50cm by 50cm Painting Show 2011”. I was just exploring this idea in early 2011, and now this idea has become a full-blown event! What inspired me to start this is simple: it’s time to bring back paintings in a fun way! Video, photography and installation works are having too much attention in museums, galleries and bienniales around the world, including Singapore.

The 65 entries – 50cm by 50cm square paintings – by 46 painters, from 16 countries in this exhibition, are strong evidence that painting is not dead yet. To me, this exhibition is also a peek into the minds of painters (consisting of art students, emerging as well as established artists, and even architects and professionals not in the arts field but who have a passion to paint) at this unique moment in time.

Why squares? And why 50cm? Many curious people have asked me. First of all, as a painter myself, I have recently discovered the beauty of squares. Not portrait or landscape. Just as it is. It’s so neutral and basic. Within this small 2500 square centimetres of space, there are no other limitations. The painters can paint any theme or subject matter using any medium they fancy. 50cm squares because we have floor tiles that are also 50cm squares in INSTINC SOHO! And also that’s all we can manage in a small outfit like SOHO. The other objective of this exhibition is to create a platform for talented, up-and-coming local painters to showcase their works and get recognition and exposure through INSTINC PRIZE and PEOPLE’S PRIZE. We are very grateful for Mr Milenko Prvacki, Senior Fellow, Faculty of Fine Arts, LASALLE-SIA College of the Arts, Singapore, to agree to be the chief

judge for INSTINC PRIZE. I understand that having a solo show without the burden of applying for a grant and not worrying about anything other than creating the best works is priceless. In addition, I also believe that an artist residency abroad with space and time away from one's comfort zone to create is vital for the development of an artist.

I would also like to thank all the sponsors and supporters as this project is made possible by your generosity. Thanks to Kelley Cheng of The Press Room who believed in this project from the start and her team that designed this catalogue. Special thanks to Sophia Ang of rubix-cube communications, our official publicist for this event. Last but not least, Shanen Chan, INSTINC’s art manager who has put in many hours into organising this whole exhibition with me.

Most importantly, to all painters who took part and my friends who shipped their paintings over from far, far away – for without your paintings, there wouldn’t be this catalogue you are holding in your hands now.

Thanks guys!

Yeo Shih Yun Founder INSTINC

INTRODUCTION Published by INSTINC On the occasion of the exhibition “Squares Invasion – The 50cm x 50cm Painting Show 2011” 20th – 31st October 2011 Edition of 300 Designed and Produced by: The Press Room Creative Director: Kelley Cheng Graphic Designers: Kwok Yun Theng, Madeline Lim, Kaman Wong Printed by SC (Sang Choy) International Pte Ltd Paper from RJ Paper Pte Ltd: 150gsm Maple Ivory All Works © Contributing Artists All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without written consent of the publisher.

“Squares Invasion – The 50cm x 50cm Painting Show 2011” is a project by: INSTINC 12 Eu Tong Sen Street #04-163 soho@central2 Singapore 059819 enquiries@instinc.com http://www.instinc.com/

Art is often a pleasurable escape when I am tired of life. However, when art imitates life, it always makes me cry, as it always has the power to move me. I went to Cai Guoqiang’s “Peasant Da Vincis” exhibition at Shanghai’s Rockbund Museum last year – where he showcased the works of peasant inventors, from adorable robots imitating Jackson Pollock to an enormous submarine and a fleet of flying machines – and came out teary-eyed, with an uncontainable urge to either be an inventor, an artist, or was it to save the world, tinged with both joy and sadness. I was a little confused but I was feeling powerful things inside me that cannot be explained. The show prologued with the broken remnants of a crashed aeroplane, in which one of the peasant inventors died flying its maiden flight. Apart from this obvious tear-jerker, the roughly constructed inventions such as ping pong balls as eyes for robots and the uneven welding of the metallic parts emote you both ways, it makes one smile and cry at the same time at the naïve aesthetic expressions but complex technicalities of their inventions, it makes you want to cheer with standing ovation the sheer determination, explorative spirit and raw creativity of the peasants, most of them unschooled and fortuneless, which in the end, is a touching celebration of humanity.

Words can so often be a literal form of expression, but they do not possess the same quality as art, which has the power to speak of one thing in many ways or nothing at all in the most complex form. Words can describe art, but art is far more abstract than words, and is often beyond words. Art can speak of so much more that text can never express, without uttering a word.

Art is as intangible as love. You can never quite explain it when you fall in love with a painting. It is easy to explain when it is a beautiful painting. But it is always so much more complicated when it is beyond beauty that you could reason, why in the world, such stirring intensity fills your heart when, simply, you are faced with nothing more than a work of art.

In collaboration with:

In the inaugural instalment of Squares Invasion, we are looking for love, beyond beauty, and I think we found some. We were a bit tipsy with glee by the end of the judging and none of us thought it was the wine.

The Press Room 139C Selegie Road Singapore 188309 info@thepressroom.com.sg http://www.thepressroom.com.sg

Kelley Cheng Creative Director The Press Room 3rd October 2011

ARTISTS A–Z WINNERS Ben Puah Self-Portrait 2011 Dina Razak H Is For Fyerool Darma Gathering Heron And Her Mournful Flock PARTICIPATING ARTISTS A’shua In' Lakech Alexis Noakes Sleep Is Coming Alpana Vij The Eyes Have It Andy Yang Waves Angie Seah Physique Of My Mind Caroline Mars Urban Green Chu Lee Yeang If Fishes Were Wishes Dasimah Jalil Untitled Eunice Lim Untold Narratives Fann ZJ Jay Gone Missing Colour Test 1 Filip Gudovic Autumn Goh Si Pei 思霈 Hera Hiding Places And Memories Best Forgotten Ivan Hoo Drenched Fang Jasmine Coexistence #1 Justin Lee I Am Just A Brand Khairullah Rahim I'm Not Little Red Riding Hood Kristina Mesaros Water Stories I

Le Matt Ich Kann Keine Kunst Mehr: A Self-Portrait Lily Halton Changi Lorraine Tan 8 (Im) Possible Things After A Random Daydream Lully Crooelly Ecstatic Aesthetics #1 Michael Cu Fua Shit Happens Ng Kuan Shin Airik Space In Green Puspita Dewi Hidayat The Promises You Said Shen Xin Motherhood No. 1 Sheryl Law Speak Through The Light Suzanne Maree Heathorn@Nur Shaherah S.H Abdullah Pablo Tan Xiang Yeow The Egg That Wants To Fly Tang Ling Nah Tom Thumb's House For Thumbelina Within A 50cm × 50cm Square Tania De Rozario Her Words, Unstitched.

Teo Shih Chin Journey Tew Bee Lan Dogwood's Story Valerie Ng Wrecked Wong Tze Chau God Of Pop Wyn-Lyn Tan Silence At Sunrise INVITED INTERNATIONAL ARTISTS Alba Escayo Salitre Hirofumi Matsuzaki Rusted Connection Katja Pál Blue Box Laudi Abilama Red Roof Paul Campbell Koosh Singapore #1 Sofia Arvaniti Thinking In Squares Thomas Behling I Am Bad

SELFPORTRAIT 2011

INSTINC P R I Z E

01

Ben Puah Singapore benjaminpuahkiateng@gmail.com

Dina Razak Singapore dinarazak@gmail.com

Newspaper collage, acrylic, enamel, shoe polish and marker on canvas

Mixed media on canvas

H IS FOR

MERIT PRIZE

02

Fyerool Darma Singapore fyerool@gmail.com Acrylic and caffeine on wood

GATHERING HERON AND HER MOURNFUL FLOCK

IN’ LAKECH

A’shua Singapore ashua.infinite@gmail.com Mixed media on canvas

MERIT PRIZE

03

04

SLEEP IS COMING

05

Alexis Noakes Sweden alexisnoakes@hotmail.com

Alpana Vij India alpanavij@hotmail.com

Graphite on paper

Acrylic on wood

THE EYES HAVE IT

06

Andy Yang Singapore andy@andyyang.com Acrylic/Gold flakes on linen

07

WAVES

PHYSIQUE OF MY MIND

Angie Seah Singapore angiesimplicity@yahoo.com.sg Ink and gouache on paper

08

URBAN GREEN

09

Caroline Mars Holland caroline@asianelements.nl

Chu Lee Yeang Malaysia leeyeang.chu@gmail.com

Acrylic on canvas

Pencil on Fabriano Artistico paper

IF FISHES WERE WISHES

10

Dasimah Jalil Singapore dasimahjalil@gmail.com Oil on foam and canvas

11

UNTITLED

UNTOLD NARRATIVES

Eunice Lim Singapore elwm.art@gmail.com Oil on canvas

12

JAY GONE MISSING COLOUR TEST 1

13

Fann ZJ Singapore folly.info@gmail.com

Filip Gudovic Serbia filipgudovic@gmail.com

Acrylic on canvas

Cutouts derived from shoeboxes and acrylic on cardboard

AUTUMN

14

Goh Si Pei Singapore gohsipei@gmail.com Acrylic on canvas

15

思霈

HIDING PLACES AND MEMORIES BEST FORGOTTEN

Hera Indonesia hera1988@gmail.com Watercolour and butterfly wing on paper

16

DRENCHED

17

Ivan Hoo Singapore ivan_hoo83@hotmail.com

Fang Jasmine Singapore colours.of.my.life@hotmail.com

Charcoal and graphite on paper

Mixed media on canvas

COEXISTENCE #1

18

Justin Lee Singapore justinhair@hotmail.com Mixed media on box

19

I AM JUST A BRAND

I’M NOT LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD

Khairullah Rahim Singapore khai_pablo@hotmail.com Mixed media on canvas

20

WATER STORIES I

21

Kristina Mesaros Slovakia mesaroskris@gmail.com

Le Matt Singapore lematt@live.com

Oil on paper

Oil on canvas

ICH KANN KEINE KUNST MEHR : A SELF -PORTRAIT

22

Lily Halton Australia lily.halton@hotmail.com Oil, acrylic, charcoal on paper

23

CHANGI

8 (IM) POSSIBLE THINGS AFTER A RANDOM DAYDREAM

Lorraine Tan Singapore maejien@gmail.com Watercolour, pencil and ink on paper

24

ECSTATIC AESTHETICS #1

25

Lully Crooelly Singapore crlykd@gmail.com

Michael Cu Fua Singapore cufua@pacific.net.sg

Mixed media on wood

Acrylic, ink on board and aluminum frame

SHIT HAPPENS

26

Ng Kuan Shin Airik Singapore artbrella@gmail.com Acrylic on board

27

SPACE IN GREEN

THE PROMISES YOU SAID

Puspita Dewi Hidayat Indonesia pyuspyus@gmail.com Acrylic, spray paint, gouache, pen on canvas

28

MOTHERHOOD NO. 1

29

Shen Xin China veronshenxin@gmail.com

Sheryl Law Singapore cooly_girl_6@hotmail.com

Oil on canvas

Oil on canvas

SPEAK THROUGH THE LIGHT

30

Suzanne Maree Heathorn@ Nur Shaherah S.H Abdullah Australia sheathorn@sas.edu.sg Oil on linen

31

PABLO

THE EGG THAT WANTS TO FLY

Tan Xiang Yeow Singapore xiangyeow@gmail.com Ink on unprimed canvas

32

TOM THUMB’S HOUSE FOR THUMBELINA WITHIN A 50CM × 50CM SQUARE

33

Tang Ling Nah Singapore tang.lingnah@gmail.com

Tania De Rozario Singapore drowinmydesire@yahoo.com.sg

Chalk pastels, coloured pencils and watercolour on paper

Oil on canvas

HER WORDS, UNSTITCHED.

34

Teo Shih Chin Singapore shihchinteo@yahoo.com.sg Mixed media on canvas

35

JOURNEY

DOGWOOD’S STORY

Tew Bee Lan Singapore tewbeelan@hotmail.com Acrylic on canvas

36

WRECKED

37

Valerie Ng Malaysia info@valng.com

Wong Tze Chau Malaysia freedommodeerf@gmail.com

Acrylic and collage mixed media with papier mache cardboard base

Acrylic on linen

GOD OF POP

38

Wyn-Lyn Tan Singapore wyn@wynlyn.com

SILENCE AT SUNRISE

SALITRE

Acrylic on canvas

Alba Escayo Spain escayo@gmail.com Oil on canvas

INVITED

INTERNATIONAL ARTIST

39

40

BLUE BOX

INVITED

INTERNATIONAL ARTIST

41

Katja Pรกl Slovenia katjapal@gmail.com

Laudi Abilama Lebanon laudi@laudiinc.com

Acrylic on canvas

Acrylic and silkscreen print on canvas

RED ROOF

INVITED

INTERNATIONAL ARTIST

42

KOOSH SINGAPORE #1

Paul Campbell USA paulgerardcampbell@gmail.com

Sofia Arvaniti Germany sofiearvaniti@hotmail.de

Oil on canvas

Acrylic and gouache on wood

INVITED

INTERNATIONAL ARTIST

43

THINKING IN SQUARES

INVITED

INTERNATIONAL ARTIST

44

RUSTED CONNECTION

INVITED

INTERNATIONAL ARTIST

45

Hirofumi Matsuzaki Japan hirofumimatsuzaki@gmail.com

Thomas Behling Germany post@thomas-behling.de

Acrylic and iron powder on canvas

Acrylic on canvas

I AM BAD

INVITED

INTERNATIONAL ARTIST

46

JUDGES' PROFILES

From left to right: Milenko Prvacki, Yeo Shih Yun, Kelley Cheng, and guest judge, Kuros Nekouian.

Biography of Chief Judge of INSTINC Prize Milenko Prvacki Milenko Prvacki was born in Yugoslavia and graduated with a Master of Fine Arts in Painting, Institute of Fine Art, Bucharest, Romania. Milenko arrived Singapore in 1991 and joined LASALLE College of the Arts to begin his teaching profession and was the Dean of Fine Arts for many years. He is currently the Senior Fellow of Fine Arts at LASALLE College of the Arts. He exhibited in the Biennale of Sydney, the Anthology of the Arts, Stadische Gallery, ZKM Medienmuseum, ZKM-Foyer, Stadische Hochschule fur Gestaltung and ZKMMuseum fur Neue Kunst, Karlsruhe, Germany. He was also awarded the 2nd International Drawing Triennale, International Museum of Drawing, Nurnberg, Germany in 1982, as well as was a Visiting Professor at Musashino Art University, Tokyo, Japan, in 2004. His works are in the permanent collection of the Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney Australia; Museum of Contemporary Art, Belgrade, Serbia; and Singapore Art Museum, Singapore.

Biography of Judge Kelley Cheng Kelley Cheng is an architect turned Jill-of-all-trade – the Editor-in-Chief of Singapore Architect magazine, she also runs her own publishing and design consultancy The Press Room, designing everything from books, graphics to spaces. On the side, she owns two trend-setting F&B outlets 15 minutes and Night and Day. On top of that, as an educator, she serves as an external examiner at NTU, sits on numerous advisory panels for educational and design institutions and serves regularly on the judging panels of local and international design competitions such as Red Dot Awards, Nagoya-Do!, Design for Asia, Creative Circle Award, James Dyson Award, etc. In her free time, she daydreams about being an artist as it seems like a better life to have than that of a designer.

Biography of Judge Yeo Shih Yun Shih Yun began her artistic career after graduating from San Francisco Art Institute. In 2004, she founded INSTINC. As a painter, Shih Yun has exhibited widely both locally and internationally. Her recent exhibitions include “New Readings” at Esplanade Jendela Visual Arts Space, Stiftelsen 3,14 Gallery, Norway, and ‘Hello World’, Ito Folk Art Museum, Fukuoka, Japan. She was also the guest instructor at the Miyazaki Art Center, Japan, in 2010. Collections include DP Architects, Singapore, The Four Seasons Hotel, Hangzhou, China and Marina@Keppel Bay. She has been active in artist residencies and has been to Belgium, Norway, Italy, Slovenia, Germany and Japan.

Biography of Judge Kuros Nekouian Born in Munich, Germany, Kuros Nekouian is an Iranian print-maker/painter who studied industrial design at GHK Kassel, Germany, in the late 1970s and went on to become a documentary filmmaker for almost twenty years. His passion for painting started in 2003 and he has never looked back since. In Kuro’s paintings, prints and sculptures, he uses oil paint and asphaltum – an organic substance that never totally dries. This keeps the paintings ‘alive’, like the living organisms they portray in his works. He currently lives and works in Munich, Germany, and Tehran, and runs LW44 in Munich, an open space for communication, debates, exchange and discoveries for local as well as international artists.

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Profile of INSTINC Established in 2004, INSTINC is an artist-run institution that promotes a new language of art. Following the tradition of painting, INSTINC has pushed the paradigm to realise a wide array of art forms, including but not limited to installation, performance and video art.

One of INSTINC's key missions is to encourage collaboration, cultural exchange and the sharing of ideas in contemporary art with local as well as international artists. Therefore in 2009, INSTINC's international artist residency programme was launched. Through exhibitions, art workshops, artists' talks and collaborations, INSTINC aims to establish an exciting platform where artists and the public can engage with contemporary art and critical discourses.

History Having been housed in Chinatown, Emerald Hill and an old shop house along Mohamed Sultan Road, INSTINC has manifested itself in different ways since 2004. Since 2009, INSTINC has been situated in first-of-its kind SOHO units above the Clarke Quay MRT station. Because of its central location with a striking and lively ambience, a stone’s throw from MICA, The Arts House, Singapore Tyler Print Institute, Singapore Art Museum and SAM 8Q, it offers INSTINC an exquisite place for resuming its program in full swing in a brand new loft space. In 2011, INSTINC expanded to its second studio space in the West area of Singapore, resulting in INSTINC SOHO and INSTINC STUDIOS.

INSTINC SOHO 12 Eu Tong Sen Street #04-163 soho2@central Singapore 059819 Opening hours, Mon-Fri 11am to 6pm (By appointment only) Tel: +65 6227 9487 Email: enquiries@instinc.com Web: www.instinc.com INSTINC STUDIOS No. 21 Bukit Batok Crescent #08-83 Wcega Tower Opening hours, Mon-Fri 11am to 6pm (By appointment only)

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