December Pang Hwee Kuen

     She Pours and Pours, 2001 Thread/mixed media 34.5 x 23 cm x 2               

    Untitled 30, 2002 Thread/mixed media 37 x 37 cm x 2

ART under 1000

Venue: Valentine Willie Fine Art
1st Floor, 17, Jalan Telawi 3, Bangsar Baru, 59100, Kuala Lumpur
Monday-Friday 12-8pm, Saturday 12-6pm, Closed on Sundays and Public Holidays
Date & Time: Dec 04-14 (Mon-Sat: 12pmñ8pm)
Tickets: Free admission
Telephone: 03-2284 2348
Synopsis: Following the huge success of previous years and in conjunction with the festive season, Valentine Willie Fine Art is happy to present ART under 1000. An exhibition of paintings and works on paper valued up to RM 1000, this will be an excellent opportunity not to be missed for seasoned and new collectors alike. Featuring an array of works by exciting young talents as well as preliminary smaller works from more established figures.

ART under 1000 will feature Peter Harris, Chang Fee-Ming, Yusof Ghani, Chuah Chong Yong, Chong Siew Ying, Fernando Escora, Eric Chan, Yusof Majid, December Pang, Yau Bee Ling, Sidney Tan, Wong Perng Fey, Chang Yoong Chia, Wong Chee Meng, Ooi Kooi Hin, Arvind Parishca, Lau Mun Leng and many others.

Links: http://www.artsasia.com.my

 

New Finds

AGA Galleries Festival 2002 is 10 exhibitions (9 solos) simultaneously in 9 Singapore galleries, plus a combined curated exhibition at the Artrium @ MITA. Most of the artists, from Singapore, are making their debut.

Featuring:

- December PANG: Umbrellaless

Venue: Art-2 Gallery

- Meley LAW Mei Nei: Well, Wash, Watch

Venue: Artfolio

- KHENG-LI Wee: Views of a City

Venue: Art Forum

- Jason LIM: 10 Wasted Years

Venue: Gajah Gallery

- Vanessa TONG: cera-Heart-cera-Path

Venue: Galerie Belvedere

- Robert TEO: Sense of Space Reinvented

Venue: Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts

- Steven WONG: Cinema City: Excerpt one

Venue: Plum Blossoms

- LEE Mei Ling: Nature in Design

Venue: Soobin Art Gallery

- CHUA Koon Beng: Making Marks

Venue: Sunjin Galleries

New Finds aims to encourage more galleries to support young Singapore artists, and to encourage the artists by exhibiting their works in this event. This is the first time such an event is taking place in Singapore.

It hopes to stimulate discourse, understanding, interaction and affiliation between gallery, artist and the public and so nurture the relationship between the gallery and the artist.

Date: 19 - 30 Apr 2002

Venue: Artrium @ MITA an participating AGA Galleries

Time: 11am - 7pm daily except Sunday and public holidays

For more information, e-mail info@artsingapore.net or click HERE!

AGA: Art Galleries Association of Singapore is a non-profit organisation of Singapore's leading art galleries. Launched officially on 8 Feb 1996, AGA aims to promote professional gallery practices and also to increase public awareness of the role and responsibilities of reputable art dealers.

All the President's artists

By Tan Dawn Wei

Originally published in Project EyeBall (now defunct)



THE President's putting his weight behind another event.

This time, it's The President's Young Talents Exhibition organised by the Singapore Art Museum (SAM). It was conceived as part of an initiative to present and promote young emerging artists in Singapore. This inaugural year features 10 such artists, several of whom are familiar names. Ian Woo, December Pang Hwee Kuen and Lim Kok Boon, for instance, were Jurors' Choice winners in last year's Philip Morris Singapore Art Awards. The other artists whose works are showcased are Abdul Rashid Abdul Gapur, Ernest Chan Tuck Yew, Hong Sekchern, Khiew Huey Chian, Noni Kaur, Benjamin Puah and Ye Shufang. The artists were selected by a committee of three curators, including SAM's Ahmad Mashadi. ''We look at artworks that can best provide a kind of linkage between local and overseas platforms,'' he explained of the new series that will be held once every two years.

While all 10 artists belong to the same young generation, their works are conceptually and stylistically diverse. On one hand, there are the conventional paintings where ''the idea of creating an object is there for you to contemplate upon'', said Ahmad. While some of the installation works on display make use of devices that are designed with audience interaction in mind. For instance, Khiew Huey Chian's works include a series of watercolour paintings on the wall, and sponges on the floor. ''The drawings are diversionary. They allow you to imagine walking in a gallery, but in doing so, you're stepping on the sponges and making impressions on them. So, the artwork is constantly evolving,'' explained Ahmad. Just as diverse are the themes. Said co-curator of the exhibition Lindy Poh: ''Some of the key issues in contemporary art, such as politics of gender and ethnic identities, memories and narrative, images and perceptions, are advanced and articulated simultaneously at both formal and conceptual levels. ''Collectively, these artists reflect the rich and varied terrain of art in Singapore today.''

The exhibition will be launched by President S R Nathan today and will run till July 1. Open from 9 am until 6 pm (Tuesdays to Sundays) and 9 pm (Fridays). It's closed on Mondays. Admission is $3 for adults, $1.50 for children and senior citizens. Free admission every Friday from 6 pm

ASIAN ART NEWS

Volume 12 Number 3 May/June 2002

Singapore - New Voices: Emerging Artists/ Threads Of Memory: December Pang/ The Documentary Eye: Kheng-Li Wee/ An Intensity Of Experience: Meley Law Mei Nei/ A Passion For Marks: Chua Koon Beng - Ian Findlay

Art in Unexpected Locations at Raffles City

LASALLE-SIA PRESS RELEASE

Thursday, 2 September 1999

Starting this month, shoppers at Raffles City Shopping Centre will be pleasantly surprised by contemporary art pieces displayed in unexpected locations in and around the shopping mall.

What was once traditional window showcases will now be transformed into provoking spaces for site-specific installation art pieces. The installations will challenge viewers' perceptions that art belongs in the museum or gallery, and visual merchandising belongs in the shopping mall.

Entitled "Space C: WindowFront", the window showcase exhibitions are part of the continuing series "Art in Alternative Spaces - Spaces A to Z" by LASALLE-SIA College of the Arts. From September 1999 to September 2000, Space C: WindowFront will feature artists from LASALLE-SIA's Bachelor of Arts (Fine Art) and Master of Fine Art programmes, as well as practising artists who are recent graduates and lecturing staff. WindowFront is jointly presented by LASALLE-SIA and Raffles City

"Over the years, Raffles City has strongly supported the Arts. Artistic expression in all its facets has always found a place of prominence in our shopping mall. As a Patron of the Arts recipient, we are committed to raising the level of arts appreciation and enhancing the quality of life for all Singaporeans," says Ms Dorothy Koh, Advertising & Promotions Manager of Raffles City Pte Ltd. "Continuing that tradition, WindowFront will enhance the shopping experience as well as provide an avenue for budding artists to showcase their creativity

"In keeping with LASALLE-SIA's focus on critical contemporary art practice, one of the issues we address is the extension of the exhibition space from the gallery or museum to a place where art can be made part of the daily experience," says Mr Rhett D'Costa, Head of LASALLE-SIA's School of Fine Art. "'The mall' in Singapore has become more than just a place to shop - it has become a social, educational and cultural venue. Holding WindowFront at Raffles City is a great opportunity for our artists to explore 'the mall' as an alternative space to encourage new ways of experiencing and appreciating art."

Art in Alternative Spaces - Spaces A to Z

Art in Alternative Spaces aims to bring contemporary art to the community by exposing them to art in 26 unexpected locations (Spaces A to Z). Art in Alternative Spaces began with "Space A", a small room at LASALLE-SIA, used by Bachelor of Arts (Fine Art) students to explore different ways of presenting art. "Space B: Platform" followed at Esprit, Orchard Road in 1998 on their 2nd floor platform. It was the first alternative space outside of LASALLE-SIA and showcased a series of six artists.

Space C: WindowFront

Space C: WindowFront will feature a quarterly series of exhibitions in five window showcases at Raffles City Shopping Centre. The windows are located on the first and second levels - Level 1, external window outside Esprit, and Level 2, corridor outside Westin Plaza Caf».

The 1st Series, held from 20 September 1999 - 10 December 1999, will showcase six artists. Their themes vary from formalist concerns of line and form; to themes on order and chaos, vast and restricted spaces; to issues on self and identity; to questions on fashion and the ideal body.

The 1st series - Artists and their work


Level 1, Window C1 - Sanjot Kaur Sekhon & December Pang

Sanjot Kaur Sekhon deals with the slippage between cultures that results from one's repeated migration from one country to another. Through the use of furniture and personal artefacts found in the home, Sekhon's work is about coming to terms with the shifting of one's identity. Sekhon continues to work in Singapore as a practising artist, and has shown in Singapore, Germany, Thailand, and Australia. She is a recent graduate of the Master of Fine Art (by coursework) - Painting programme at LASALLE-SIA, and is currently a Lecturer at LASALLE-SIA's School of Fine Art, Department of Graduate Studies.

December Pang's previous work involved the personification of "rain" as a childhood friend that embodied joy, goodness, and the power of nature. She uses various techniques such as printmaking, drawing, and mixed media assemblage. She has just graduated from the Bachelor of Arts - Fine Art, Printmaking course at LASALLE-SIA.

Sekhon and Pang's collaborative piece for WindowFront combines the imagery of nature in poetry and text to symbolise and explore notions of waiting, anticipating, searching, expecting, remembering, and looking forward to memories and the final realisation of self and identity.

Level 2, Window C2 - Saraswati Gramich

Saraswati Gramich explores the exchange and interaction of 'energy' (ie, thermodynamics - the relationship between heat and other forms of energy) and the process of order and chaos by organising her installations within a given framework of space and time. Her installation for WindowFront intends to simulate the energy of molecules within the space of the window, and, at the same time, to investigate the relationship between wall, floor, and window.

Gramich's works have been included in major art shows such as the President's 1997 Charity Art Exhibition, Singapore Festival of Arts '98, and The Sixth Contemporary Art Fair in Australia. This year, she represented Singapore in Thailand at Womanifesto II, International Women Art Exchange and Workshop. Gramich completed her Bachelor of Arts (Fine Art) course at LASALLE-SIA in 1997, and is currently a candidate of the Master of Fine Art (by coursework) - Painting programme as LASALLE-SIA. She is also a Lecturer at LASALLE-SIA's School of Fine Art, Department of Foundation Studies.

Level 2, Window C3 & C5 - Yvonne Lim & Clara Lim

Yvonne Lim and Clara Lim explore similar themes in questioning the 'ideal' body portrayed by popular culture. For WindowFront, their collaborative installations include objects representing bodies that have imperfections or lack 'ideal' body features - eg, the objects have fat, round bodies; short, useless limbs; and clothes that are too flat for wearing. The windows are set up like a changing room, bathroom, kitchen or bedroom, distorting the privacy of these home spaces and prompting the viewer to reconsider the way the 'ideal' body is perceived. Both have just graduated from their Bachelor of Arts (Fine Art) - Painting course at LASALLE-SIA.

Level 2, Window C4 - Janet Teoh

Janet Teoh's earlier work included jewelry pieces that were inspired by the calligraphic lines and forms of her Mandarin name, 'Zhang'. Moving from that formalist perspective, she now uses the jewellery medium to create installation-based work that also plays with light, shadow, size and space. Her installation for WindowFront reflects memories of a recent trip to Braidwood, Australia, where the contrast of a vast, rich and still landscape is compared to the restricted, artificial and hyper-urban space of cosmopolitan Singapore.

Teoh has exhibited in Singapore and Australia, and is a recent graduate of the Master of Fine Art (by coursework) - Gold & Silversmithing programme at LASALLE-SIA. She is currently a Lecturer at the LASALLE-SIA's School of Fine Art, Department of 3D Studies.


Space C: WindowFront - Exhibition dates

1st Series - 20 September 1999 - 10 December 1999

2nd Series - 20 December 1999 - 10 March 2000

3rd Series - 20 March 2000 - 9 June 2000

4th Series - 19 June 2000 - 8 September 2000

The 1st Series of Space C: WindowFront will be complemented by an installation of sculptures by Kelvin Chuah at Level 1, Garden Court, Raffles City Shopping Centre, from 22 September 1999 - 16 October 1999. Chuah is a current student of the Bachelor of Arts (Fine Art) - Painting programme at LASALLE-SIA.