fro
ac kn
ow
jo
26
o u led rn ur ge e me y 24 nt s
m t Pr h fro e pri olog m t nci ue the t he m he H. pal 4 3 art ento O.D 5 dan is r 6 iel ts kat rin h cho 7 a o e ni o 8 pha stac camp ng 10 n n y lu o 1 tru gu m 2 tan man yen 14 xu g hui ng 1 16 tia sh 8 nra i 20 n2 2
1
2
PROLOGUE PROLOGUE Conjure is an exhibition that explores the narrative power of images in Art & Design. Presented by 8 graduating art majors, the show sets out to pose these questions: •
Is the consumption of images as much a Visceral as well as a Cerebral experience? • How do the Framing Devices that artists/designers use in their artworks engage or lure the audience? • Is the artist/designer the sole author of the meaning behind the created image?
In the image-saturated and symbol-savvy culture that we live in, images are visual narratives that jostle with written or spoken language cheek by jowl for attention. Pera the power of images lies in its immediacy to move our emotions and stir our imagination to conjure up stories to satiate our minds.
“Works of art.. do not force meanings on their audience; meaning emerges, adds up, unfolds from their imagined centres.. takes one through the process of discovering meaning.”
--Robert Hughes, Art Critic & Writer3
4
from the principal
dr. hang kim hoo
The worlds of Art and Science are much more interrelated than their currently institutionalized forms might lead one to expect. On a deeper level and from a humanistic viewpoint, one can easily trace the main driving force propelling the two disciplines to the need to discover the world within and around us to make better sense of our existence. In other words, this need for discovery, predicated on the human desire to interpret and understand the world, fuels our creative impulses for scientific research and artistic inquiry. When creativity and creative inquiry drive learning, students flourish. In NUS High School of Math & Science, we recognize the importance of nurturing creativity, original thinking and innovativeness. We offer a robust academic curriculum and learning environment that are both design-centric and values-focused as we believe in providing an education anchored around social responsibilities and entrepreneurship. We also recognize and value the importance of an arts programme as an es ential area of education that engenders a strong spirit of inquiry through imagination, intuitive analysis and artistic expression. In this year’s Art Graduation Show titled Conjure, our 8 graduating art majors have put together an exhibition that explores the narrative power of images in Art & Design as well as investigates the capacity of the human imagination. The art works presented attempt to reflect a multi-dimensional viewpoint of the creative possibilities in contemporary art forms by using illustrations, photography, digital-art and experimental mixed-media works. We hope you will take time to engage and enjoy the layered meanings in the artworks. Welcome to the Art Graduation Show 2012!
dr. emilia wong
from the hod
The Art Graduation Show module (FA6361) is a compulsory requirement for the graduating art majors. It is created as an authentic learning experience for the studentartists and thus form an integral part of a holistic and robust education in NUS High. Over the past years, the student-artists have gone through a rigorous process of planning, conceptualizing and finally to presenting an exhibition that is a culmination of their artistic learning journey. Collectively and thematically, the student-artists have presented the best of their artworks, completed over two years (2011-2012), in an engaging exhibition so that the various creative methodologies and mediums used in their artworks create the right dynamics in this show. Titled Conjure, the exhibition sets out to investigate how visual narrative is used as a powerful form of storytelling device to stir the human imagination in conjuring up creative possibilities for the interpretation and understanding of images in art and design. I wish our graduating student-artists all the best as they continue to engage in creation and exploration in the arts, especially interdisciplinary projects that integrate the arts, sciences, technology, and the humanities. I am confident that they have been wellequipped with skills and competencies to synthesize the constantly changing technology, viewpoints and culture into their artistic vision. The Art journey does not end here but it has started a life-long learning process for them to help create a future and direction for local and global communities. So, it is only apt that I leave this timeless saying as food for thought:
Give a man a fish and he will have food for the day. Teach a man to fish, he has food for a lifetime‌
5
6
the
mentor... “Teaching is an instinctual art, mindful of potential, craving of realizations, a pausing, seamless process.� - -A. Bartlett Giamatti
Mr. Lee Wee Yan
Art Major Module Teacher-In-Charge
...and the
artists
daniel CHOO
Xu
katrina
tianran
Ocamp
o`
phan Nguyen
n a um
tr
He
Ng
ng
Ta
y c a st
g n ni
i h is
hu
Lum
7
daniel choo
touche otions and a medium that other em my ng si es pr ex of y wa a Be it looking at To me Art has always been riences cannot replicate. pe ex r he ke some f ot at th er nn ma ence never fails to invo e always senses in a ri pe ex e th , ng ki ma t ar ar al ists’ works or my person that all humans are similar in a way that they g part of e in ev go li on be an I ; . ng me ul-searchi emotion in Art is also a form of so the self i ing for something. To me not only understand the world within but also living which helps one to ity. tion to the larger commun re com ts, mediums which I am mo using in pa d an ns pe er rk ma th wi use I believe in My works are usually done lf to these mediums beca cts of the work which se my ct ri st re t no do I es or aspe in. However, nvey the different messag in concep appropriate mediums to co to the audience. My works are usually layered ying to be trying to bring across multiple dimensions of the topic or idea I am tr presentation to show the
8
es my r artform of s lookdaily in rela-
mpetent the h I may pt and express.
9
he ning
my ing that could get urs th ly on e Th . le ab ho for manage would be engrossed very active and un As a child, I was wn was the activity of drawing. I othes. My mother never once s even my cl express tion and calm me do s, tables, books or ce of ‘canvases’ for my artistic oup un ll wa r, oo fl e th choi st gr ing on onventional’ in my into an art intere me from being ‘unc d my inclination and enrolled me very thankful to my mother f In fact, she notice school work. Till this day, I am I got busy with my for me to do art. ional intuitive support ally and socio-emot tion tu ec ll te in th bo re e no s evolved as I matu t interest to me as an artist. Th up has be ea g My drawing style ha gr in of ow Gr artworks. velopment is This process of de area of research and focus for my paradoxical that the tears, Growth has been an for me as I resisted it. I find it avals that come with growing very hard journey of loss, and all the personal uphe ture. I do not know how muc s n gles, hurt, sense stronger desire to hope for the fu that the process ha d ne te a ar to he in am lo ed I ve rn t de have tu s of growing up bu e I have conquered the odds and es oc pr e th in st ev beli have lo fe. Personally, I me a skeptic of li
10
attens drawstopped sions. ntil for her
lly. of een a , strugg up ch I not made oped
11
katrina ocampo
bial h the prover d inc t i w ’ y r t s i m ence an good che not have a ‘ link. My lack of confid of my classm d i d o h w r o the rest e weakest ly Art Maj Being the on de me feel that I was th t in my ability to join and paper ma often created self-doub . in ab tion to draw ic journey as art majors lutely certa ibili o s b a t s s a i w t r I a their my cred One thing ut a fight! ive in me and fought for hat I should o h t i w p u e v agreed t d the dr ady to gi I was not re on for Art! I knew I ha my art teacher, we both ion on mediums like was my passi . After consulting with sign with special attent ative energy into th an Art major ths in the area of 2D-De I channelled all my cre teacher and friends. on my streng aphy and graphic design. al feedback from my art n that no one else h art, photogr pt myself open to critic whole different dimensio ‘right’ complimentar diums and ke eveloped my skills in a ntion to the use of the , I work between an process, I d tworks pay specific atte mpositions. Conceptually hs favour people as plored.My ar notion of balance in co my images. My photograp e else might notice. ours and the ional approach in making andid moments that no on tive and rat I instinctively go for c matters and
12
pencil clinamates in
bout ity as d focus digital hese me. In the had exry colintuisubject .
13
stacy lum
s to using words. t me co it en wh ve the demands of nt and expressi myself as eloque articulate well enough to meet st crucial of er id ns co t no I do fail me at the mo ces, I am able to normal circumstan e are times when words choose to sed. es sion and yet ther aring to be expr re e ar ts gh ou th t even though the s became a concep rd wo by ’ it cu ir tly with the ‘short-c to imagine someone who permanen all s ce en ri pe ex g harbour These frustratin ation for my artworks. I began would be like to e person’s m it at ig wh st e ve in in ag im of th s. I area are hidden within equacy with word riences the inad s and inspiring thoughts as they design illustrations on paper us o amazing imagerie ning to be released as words. My y to represent the frustration og all the while pi rbal language of art as an anal press the non-ve “H words (verbal). , I am exploring or ol rc te wa d an k, marker s identity tworks done in in of physical layering to expres gical hidin ar of es ri se is rm holo a fo For th well as for psyc al contexts: as observed in soci device for emotional masking as projection, as a
14
Under the occamoments
and an y expel these mind and se and exof failing
Hiding� as and selfng in order
15
phan nguyen
t angst, alienation and confusio cen les ado of me the the e lor exp My artworks mostly this most difficult and critica ing dur es enc eri exp and ns tio emo Using my personal these complex energies and tensi led nne cha ree hav I al, eri mat Ma my life as the raw child transforming into an adult. a of r fea and ss tre dis the s my art to expres and loneliness. In the pursuit of sis cri ty nti ide of ue iss the s t confused and works also addres er, I have, many a time, been lef and self-actualisation as a teenagmyself and in the relationship between me and t ened of the drastic change within from the struggle to find my own individuality . This state of confusion, resulting as well as be understood by others elf mys ut abo se ali ion rat to y t to wreak fur vented my abilit enating and lonely moments, if lef only too cognizant that these ali to depression and self-destruction. tional havoc, can easily lead one Art has been my saving grace.
16
on.
al phase of ions into any of my f selfhood d frightthe world. y, has pre. I am rther emo-
17
truman ng
heav eisure had been were rl fo d di I es ch lighting e many sket me later that th e gestural drawings and dramatic onal style of to r ea cl me ca Th pers It be d that became a e comics I read. influenced by th ly employ in my sketch works an t for me was in Year 4 when I wa niques I constant awing approach. The turning poin With the guidance n. ig es -D 2D ly dr um al pression in my ing to major in art, specific th different medi wi g in nt me ri pe er th e ink. Wi ar or so ex riously consid her, I spent a ye al and ink to pastels and Chines ting images ac te my om fr ce co exci advi from pencil, char te original and eventually moved n of mediums, I was able to crea and versatility in managing mi right combinatio perience increased my confidence restrictions. portfolio. The ex d me to express myself without as well as allowe d ess as I develope l oc pr t an rt po im ovided me an ing concepts Art Major have pr strategically for more challeng to the medium an as s ar ye 2 e The onism which I us ers. I was even able to move on lts. The most su tt style of expressi ma t ec bj e encouraging re in my su stract emotions expressionistic style and achiev tal art with my
18
vily e techf exas see and ms and the for my ix-media
d my own like abof digivaluable
19
tang hui shi
lized f tion of the idea d by a no e th es nc ue fl culture in cally-boun with how popular g girls and women are psychologi be desirable, bea al de ks or tw ar My way in order to Very often, youn t form in society. th the idea of looking a certain cio-cultural phenomenon through so wi is explore th alesque. ture obsessed I have chosen to of the grotesque and the carniv . le ab pt ce ac d an using elements d spray parody and satire g marker pens an direct i in ud cl in a di me st and th mixedare often done wi ink are created for sharp contra l pieces are de s on ti ra st lu il fu k My t icate and colour artworks in blac The monochromic ntational effect. The more intr ty in the compositions in order n ro si li nf ti th g read wi ing of vola I wanted a co reflect the feel relieves the artworks from bein to d te ea cr y el so at ructure. This al a predictable st multipl spective. ws me to present mensiona lo al es ri se a to create multi-di composite pieces piece, offering the audience a l al sm on g in rk e Wo mmon idea as on spectives of a co anings implied in the artworks. of the layered me
20
female culautiful the use of
paint. impact as eliberto eschew ngle per-
le peral reading
21
xu tianran
only about uti functional structures. It is not Architecture is not merely about tural identities and characteristics in the ico buildings and it also expresses distinctive cul w up with a strong interest about of evolving civilizations. I gre rly drawn to the notion of architecture as an chitectural styles. I am particula people’s memories and minds. form as well as an experience in ve achievemen erence architecture as both creati In this series of artworks, I refe. However, I am also suggesting that architect disharmony wi as glorious milestones across tim could have resulted in tension and a double-edg is ingly for utilitarian purposes, it , nning and design. In a way surroundings because of unwise plae of visual styles and deliberate absence of l causing a real dilemma. The mixturcally represent that dilemma. in these artworks are to metaphori
22
ility but onographies their araesthetic
nts as well ture, seemith our ged sword life-forms
23
24
our journey
“No pessimist ever discovered the secret of the stars, or sailed to an uncharted land, or opened a new doorway to the human spirit.� Helen Keller
25
acknowledgements we would like to thank... Senior Management – for making Art Education a part of our lives in NUS high
26
Dr. Emilia Wong – for her passion and tenacity in keeping Music & Art very much alive in NUS High;
Mr. Lee Wee Yan – for his persistence & belief in our creative abilities throughout the last 3 years Mr. Syed – for taking awesome photographs of our work-
&
Our dear families, friends, loved ones, & everyone who have provided inspiration, guidance, encouragement & unconditional support in this journey! We did it!
t hi s c a t a lo g u e wa s d o ne b y : ka t r i na o c a m p o