Donna Ong

1999 Shell-NAC Scholar, Donna Ong, will be presenting new insect-wing drawings and sculpture at her inaugural solo exhibition titled, "Palace of Dreams". This young visual artist has only recently returned to Singapore, following nine years of sponsored study in London, where she read art and architecture at the prestigious Goldsmiths College and University College London respectively. An entire room filled with 24 large macro-drawings of insect wings; hand drawn with technical pen. Outside, a strange object lies - a solid mahogany desk with ungainly wooden airplane wings strapped to its sides. Common articles such as clocks, radios and a joystick, complete the illusion of being in a plane's cockpit when one sits at the desk.

PALACE OF DREAMS was conceived through Donna's struggles to come to terms with her idealistic dreams and desires of youth, in the face of the harsh realities, especially life as an artist - e.g. chronic illness, gangrene, financial insecurity, social alienation, etc. Using the motif of the insect wing, the idea of possessing a dream - both conscious and unconscious - is explored through the fast disappearing technique of architectural draughtsmanship. Each A1 (118.8 x 84 cm) drawing is meticulously and laboriously hand-drawn in fine lines on paper and can be read as a visual metaphorical prayer of hope - each drawn line becoming an indication of the draughtsman's belief in an unknown dream. Thus an invisible hope is made visible through the physical action of drawing and its traces.

Date 3 Nov - 15 Nov
Gallery opening hours: 10 am - 10pm
Venue: The Arts House at the Old Parliament - 1 Old Parliament Lane