Provocative Things

excerpt of the article by Sian E Jay, Sculpture Magazine USA, March 2000, pages 76 - 77.

...“A lot of provocative things were not understood then, and they were simply pushed aside.”...

...If the work shown by the 16 Singaporean artists provokes anything today, it is interaction and dialogue with the viewer, and one suspects that it would be difficult today not to understand or to push aside what is presented. Perhaps this is an indication of how far the Singaporean audience has come since 1991.

In general terms, the work displayed a singular interest on the part of the artists in the fabrication of materials, which they embody with their own meanings. Works ranged from the more sculptural in the conventional sense (in that the pieces occupy a particular space and are somehow settled within three dimensions) to installations that play with and challenge our ideas about space and dimension...

...All these works are subtle, sophisticated expressions of often complex ideas that nevertheless indicate the depth of thought and expression of Singaporean artists. Even very simple ideas are expressed imaginatively. W\all-mounted works that, by their very presence, test the concept of relief sculpture are good examples... Chng Nai Wee’s Biotics (1995-97) starkly comments on the way the body is perfected and preserved through the use of drugs...

...As an exhibition whose aim is to provoke the viewer into considering how the parameters of three-dimensional art can be extended within the Singaporean context, particularly in the way that materials have been transformed, the exhibition can be deemed a success.