Hour At The Museum

WALL PAINTING (2016) PHOTOS: LASALLE COLLEGE OF THE ARTS

Impermanent Durations: On Painting And Time is an experimental exhibition by three artists who are also academic specialists in contemporary painting: Professor Beth Harland from the Lancaster Institute for the Contemporary Arts in the United Kingdom; Professor David Thomas from the School of Art in Australia's RMIT University; and Dr Ian Woo from Singapore's Lasalle College of the Arts.

It is composed of works that are meant to be viewed as part of a larger "picture", spanning the gallery's walls. The placement of these works highlights the relationships between them and recurring motifs. The exhibition at Lasalle explores how colour, matter, installation, painting and photography affect a viewer's interpretation of time and transience.

GROUPINGS OF WORKS (2016)

By Beth Harland, David Thomas and Ian Woo, various materials including synthetic polymer paint, paper and wire, dimensions variable

This cluster of small works by the three artists, installed at a corner of the gallery, forms the starting point for the exhibition. A painted grey line serves as a "shelf", supporting the works.

METHODS OF MODERN CONSTRUCTION (Part 1) (2016)

By Beth Harland, mixed media, 140x190cm

This is a series of small works that draws on the conventions and forms in modernist painting. Originally developed by the artist as studies for larger paintings, the works in this series use collage and colour to create a sense of depth and visual rhythm.

WALL PAINTING (2016)

By Beth Harland, David Thomas and Ian Woo, synthetic polymer paint on wall, dimensions variable

This wall painting is the largest in the exhibition. Painted in grey, it resembles a large shadow, a quality higlighted by a small, black painting by Thomas towards its left. The form for the wall painting echoes Harland's Methods Of Modern Construction (Part 1) series.

METHODS OF MODERN CONSTRUCTION (PART 2) (2016)

By Beth Harland, synthetic polymer paint on canvas, digital image, overall dimensions variable

A digital image (above, right) highlights the immediacy of digital representations, whose rapid circulation and impact contrast with the time it takes to appreciate physical paintings. A painting of a pixellated image (above, left) offers an ironic reminder of this contrast.

SOUL PATTERN (2016)

By Ian Woo, synthetic polymer paint on canvas, 200x180cm

This features a number of what Woo describes as "screens" - brushstrokes that veil layers of paint and create formal boundaries within the composition. The artist first paid particular consideration to the relationships between painting and time while working on this.

YELLOW AND GREY, WATERLOO BRIDGE LONDON (FOR MONDRIAN) (2016)

By David Thomas, synthetic polymer paint on photograph and mixed media, 190x160x3cm

In this painting, the artist highlights the frame - the structure that usually surrounds a painting - as the primary subject. Here, a frame seems to have "exploded", its four parts cutting across the edges of a photograph showing a scene from London's Waterloo Bridge.

Nur Asyiqin Mohamad Salleh

WHERE: Brother Joseph McNally Gallery, Institute of Contemporary Arts Singapore, Lasalle College of the Arts, 1 McNally Street

MRT: Rochor

WHEN: Till July 24, noon to 7pm (Tuesday to Sunday). Closed on Monday and public holiday

ADMISSION: Free

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on July 01, 2016, with the headline Impermanent Durations: On Painting And Time. Subscribe