Art We Love

ART

WE LOVE

Tang Da Wu. Cloud of ’68. 1971, remade in 2022. Bricks, plaster and steel wire, dimensions variable. Installation view, Nothing is Forever: Rethinking Sculpture in Singapore, 2022.

What is sculpture? When posed this question by the art historian T.K. Sabapathy in 1991, artist Tang Da Wu remarked:

“It is very difficult to define what is sculpture. I think sculpture is very much to do with things changing in the world, in everyday life. One could talk of the difference between painting and sculpture. Painting is two dimensional, sculpture is dealing with other things, for instance space, the nature of power, involving the sun, the rain, the wind, and other things are involved too. When I say changes, nothing is forever; they deteriorate and rot; well, these are sculptural elements. So if people play with these elements, make statements, then these too are within sculpture categories.” [emphasis added]

Excerpted from Nothing is Forever: Rethinking Sculpture in Singapore catalogue.

Cloud of ’68, according to the artist Tang Da Wu, “refers to the cloud of the Paris student riots of 1968; this cloud flowed to London very soon, and by 1975 […] Sid Vicious and Malcolm X received this cloud, and this cloud flowed everywhere, up to Tiananmen Square in 1989.” It encourages us to look at our social, cultural and political currents in new ways.

Originally produced in 1971 when Tang was a student at Birmingham Polytechnic, this work was reconstructed by him for this exhibition. His chosen materials, including tangled steel wire and bricks held together with plaster, carry connotations of uprising and revolt that have taken place on the streets.

Nothing is Forever: Rethinking Sculpture in Singapore is located in the City Hall Wing, Level B1, The Ngee Ann Kongsi Concourse Gallery and The Spine Hall, and is free for all visitors to explore.