The Prudential Eye Awards, which showcases the work of emerging contemporary artists in Asia, is back for its third year. The exhibition at the ArtScience Museum includes 39 works from 15 shortlisted artists in a range of media, from videos to installations, all imbued with varied perspectives and ruminations on everyday life and socio-political issues in the region.
VIEW FROM ULU TIRAM (2015)
By Robert Zhao
Archival piezographic print in frame, 121x84cm
This photo from the Singapore 1925-2025 series is prompted by the artist's interest in the initial stages of land reclamation, during which surreal landscapes emerge. While Singapore has been reclaiming land for decades now, people here seem to have no memories or connection to this transitional state, he notes.
TAMAN BUDAYA: FACE OFF FACE DINNER (2015)
By indieguerrilas
Metal, rubber, acrylic sheet, terracotta, wood, lamp, electrical components, concrete, mini LCD display, CCTV, leather, 275x89x342 cm
This piece by the Indonesian husband-and-wife artist collective looks at the communal ritual of eating and how it has evolved, with diners more involved in their own "small screens" than in conversations over food.
METAL GRAVES 1 (2009)
By Shumon Ahmed
Photographic print on archival fine art paper, 76x131cm
The artist from Bangladesh was drawn to the catastrophe of battered big ships, his work capturing the melancholy of these vessels rusting and falling apart. "Ships became a metaphor of the idea of my own life going through time, which will eventually be dismantled with death," he says.
WHEN NEED MOVES THE EARTH (2014)
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WHERE: ArtScience Museum, 6 Bayfront Avenue
MRT: Bayfront
WHEN: Till March 27, 10am to 7pm daily
ADMISSION: $13 (standard), $9 (Singapore resident), concessions available for seniors aged 65 and older, and children from two to 12 years
By Sutthirat Supaparinya
Video installation, 20 minutes, 25 seconds
The Chiang Mai-based visual artist's piece examines large-scale electricity production and its environmental impact at two fragile sites in Thailand, located in an area of active seismic faults. Construction, she says, can lead to man-made earthquakes. Her video impresses on viewers the need to consider less hazardous construction practices and more efficient ways of producing energy.
PRODUCTION LINE- MADE IN CHINA & MADE IN TAIWAN (2014-2015)
By Huang Po-Chih
Denim shirt, wood structure, texts, Variable dimensions
The Taiwanese-born artist explores the culture of production and consumption in an installation using multiple forms, such as words and images, as well as an outfit he designed with his mother to question the role individuals play in the larger machinery of trade.
WARNING HOUSE (2013, Ongoing)
By Sareth Svay
Found materials
Variable dimensions
The Cambodian-born artist's work is triggered by his past, living through war and as a refugee, and represents a shelter that shares the likeness of his family home, where he lived from 1979 to 1992." It becomes a refuge for the audience, even if for a moment," he says.
ARTIFICIAL THEATER:BIG STAR JOHN LENNON
By Zhang Wei
Photo Rag, 113x143x7cm
In his Artificial Theater series, Zhang re-envisions the faces of famous people using composites of his portraits of regular folk to "probe into the significance of truth and invention, reality and fiction".
UNTITLED (2014)
By Toshiyuki Konishi
Oil on canvas, 194x130cm
The artist creates his characters with bold strokes, lines and dots that capture the physicality of the human body, along with a certain primal instinct.
Nur Asyiqin Mohamad Salleh
