After Printmaking... explores the limits of printmaking by showcasing the work of nine Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (Nafa) staff, alumni and students. The 37 works use a combination of traditional and contemporary techniques, such as silkscreen printing and woodcuts. The works, some of them in 3-D, rebel against the idea that prints should be flat.
Graze On (2015)
By Priscilla Kheng, monoprint and silkscreen on glass, 30x30cm
On closer inspection, what looks like a large stain on a mirror actually depicts cows grazing in a snowy white world. The unique medium allows viewers to consider both the art and themselves in the reflection.
Super Happy Family Fun Time (2015)
By Clare Marie Ryan, copper etching and aquatint, 48x56cm
Ryan imagines the future of family time, when everyone is absorbed in his own virtual-reality device. It paints a disturbing image of the path our smartphone-obsessed culture will likely lead to.
Congregated (2015)
By Muhammad Dzaki Safaruan, silkscreen on paper, 50x50cm
This is the most colourful work in the exhibition and evokes a trippy fevered dream, filled with abstract images and ideas.
Your Beliefs Don't Make You A Better Person, Your Behaviour Does (Series II, Scene 1) (2015)
By Miguel Chew, silkscreen on vinyl canvas with fluorescent light, 84x60cm
The dull light that illuminates the work creates what looks like the muzzle flash from a gun. The prints displayed are cold and medical, showing the anatomy of firearms.
Divine Ascension (Present) (2015)
By Cathrine Lo with Loo Jian Wei, woodcut, 139x43cm
Created in collaboration with Loo, who has a macabre fixation with skulls, Lo's woodcut displays a girl with an inscrutable expression.
The Odyssey (2015)
By Lee Ruixiang, cut linoleum on 250gsm Canson printmaking paper, 85x120cm
Lee layers this collage of images to add depth and trick one's sense of perception.
The Misplaced Corner Series (2015)
By April Ng, intaglio print on BFK paper, 46x38cm
These prints depict corals and stand out for their combination of 2-D and 3-D images. One is mesmerised by the variety of undersea fauna displayed and the unique way with which they have been shown.
When The Children Cry 2 (2015)
By Marienne Yang, linocut on paper, 24x63.5cm
Yang imagines a dystopia where people are forced to wear gas masks and where food forms reeky mountains of trash everywhere.
AFTER PRINTMAKING...
WHERE: Lim Hak Tai Gallery, Nafa Campus 1, 80 Bencoolen Street
WHEN: Till Aug 11, 11am - 7pm
ADMISSION: Free
INFO: www.nafa.edu.sg/events/after-printmaking
Richard Neo
PHOTOS: NANYANG ACADEMY OF FINE ARTS
