A disparate series of works, from ceramics to oil paintings to video works, done by four Singapore artists - Jason Lim, Joo Choon Lin, Robert Zhao Renhui and Vincent Leow - are on display at the No Boundary exhibition at ShanghArt Gallery. The quartet drew its inspiration from diverse sources. Leow, for example, created his art after a residency programme where he witnessed violence in the Middle East, while Lim sees the transformation of clay upon heating as a metaphor for new life.
View Gali Batu, Overlooking Bukit Panjang (2014)
By Robert Zhao, 121x84cm, archival piezographic print
Visual artist Robert Zhao has travelled across the island, documenting its massive sand depositories, as he is interested in landscape transformation in Singapore. "I wanted to create a work where we can start to imagine a new way to read these features," he says.
Towards A New Geological Age - Fulgurite (Lightning- Impacted Sand-Glass) (1995)
By Robert Zhao, 45x45x140cm, excavated fulgurite in wooden vitrine
Fulgurites are formed when lightning strikes the ground and this particular piece was discovered by Zhao in Changi a long time ago. "It is interesting when something unexpected occurs naturally, especially where everything is under such precise control," he says.
White Dogs (2012)
By Vincent Leow, 120x150cm, oil on canvas
Leow did this series of paintings after his stay in Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates between 2007 and 2013. During his stay, he came to know of assault on civilians, violence and torture in parts of the Middle East. Many of these works are influenced by Spanish painter Francisco Goya's Disasters Of War series.
Big Bad Wolf (2012)
By Vincent Leow 120x150cm, oil on canvas
Leow was inspired to do this painting, which portrays two ominous-looking figures cradling an infant and inscribing his brain, after seeing the "blatant ugliness of war" in the media.
Intestinology Series 01 - We Have The Most Beautiful Intestine (2014)
By Joo Choon Lin, video, 1 minute 48 seconds
This garish-looking video features an image of the intestines, overlaid with the text "Most Beautiful", which looks as if it was refracted through a diamond. The work references "intestinology", a utilitarian approach humans take to keeping and discarding objects and beings, as identified by Joo.
Intestinology Series 02 - The Black Paraphernalia (2014)
By Joo Choon Lin
120x200cm, mixed media installation
This work is inspired by the Black Museum in Scotland, which houses a collection of criminal memorabilia. Joo explores how seemingly innocuous items, such as ketchup bottles, can be fraught with meaning, just because they are used in crimes.
1111 (2014)
By Jason Lim, stoneware, size varies according to bowl arrangement
As the name suggests, this work consists of 1,111 individual bowls placed together to form a single artwork. Lim says he was inspired by the "mass production technique" and taken with how the work is a greater sum than its individual parts, in its "way of presentation at various sites".
Works From The Garden - Split 2 (2010)
By Jason Lim, stoneware, 105x15x16cm
The idea behind this bulbous sculpture came during Lim's walks to the studio during his art residency in the British city of Lincoln. "The path I took was one garnished with beautiful plants in full bloom. So the works try to emulate the ideas of sprouting and seedlings," he says.
WHERE: ShanghArt Singapore, 9 Lock Road, 02-22 Gillman Barracks
MRT: Labrador Park
WHEN: Tomorrow to Nov 15, 11am to 7pm daily except Monday
ADMISSION: Free
INFO: www.shanghartsingapore.com
Lee Jian Xuan
