Gajah Gallery Singapore proudly presents The New Now 2: Vivid & Veiled, a group exhibition of 7 emerging Singaporean artists. This exhibition marks the 2nd edition of The New Now series that has become a permanent fixture on Gajah Gallery’s yearly roster of exhibitions.
Each young artist in this exhibition were handpicked for their sensitivity to material, aesthetic quality, engaging concepts and their eagerness to push their practice. Most of the participating artists were scouted at their graduation shows and were invited to respond to the curatorial framework. The exhibition consists of art students and recent graduates from LASALLE College of the Arts, Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (NAFA) and School of the Arts (SOTA).
In this exhibition, notions of memory and remembering are reflected through the artists’ various practices in painting, sculpture, installation, photography, and paper cut. Representing the “new” artists of the “now”, the exhibit relooks and engages with the past in order to better understand the present. “Memory” is thus expressed dynamically—whether it be personal or collective, factual or fictional, hazy or vibrant, and truthful or embellished. The terms “vivid” and “veiled” further allude to how memory can be perceived either as clear and accurate, or blurred and hidden. Ultimately, the exhibit will leave viewers reflecting on how memories and emotions attached to them are recollected over time, in what ways these memories are reimagined and expressed through art, and finally, why certain memories become forgotten.
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Gerald Tay (b. 1992)
Gerald Tay is a visual artist working primarily in drawing and painting. He uses figuration as a departure point to explore ideas of the mask and the act of masking. The paintings are a reflection of his mental states–the way he thinks and feels. Apart from drawing and painting, Gerald also experiments with found objects to create assemblages of masks. The sculptural form of the assemblage allows him to see same mask in different perspectives. This process in turn encourages Gerald to apply the overlap of lines and planes in his paintings to suggest the simultaneity of different forms in the figure.
Jay Ho (b. 1997)
Jay Ho is a painter that puts utmost priority to process and the act of doingin his oeuvre. Influenced greatly by the existentialist school of thought, Jay believes that acting and doing are affirmations of one’s individuality and existence. Relying on spontaneity and chance in his process, his works tackle the infinite and sublime, along with creation and destruction. His investigations with space, colour, light, and vision ultimately aim to provoke viewers into both reconsidering their relationship with the external world and examining their interiority.
Muhammad Masuri Bin Mazlan (b. 1990)
Multidisciplinary artist Masuri is a creative hyphenate who unravels his inquisitive mind through a plethora of art-making with the industrial material. His ongoing enquiry lies in the notion of beauty in abjection of the embarrassing body and its by-product through endless repurposing, perpetual deconstruction and reconfiguration by marrying unlikely elements to produce his body of work. In 2016, he was awarded the prestigious Goh Chok Tong Youth Promise Scholarship Award. In 2017, he was the only Singaporean representative on a global platform to clinch the International TAKIFUJI Art Award in Tokyo, Japan.
Ong Si Hui (b. 1993)
Ong Si Hui is a multi-disciplinary Visual Artist based in Singapore. Formally trained in sculpting during her diploma from Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, she recently graduated with a Bachelor in Fine Arts from LASALLE College of the Arts. Incorporating elements of language, her art practice explores various material forms, and their correlation with the human condition. Most recently, Ong was a finalist for the Visual Arts Development Association’s 2017 Untapped Emerging Exhibition and Affordable Art Fair Singapore’s Young Talent Programme 2017/18. She has exhibited in Singapore, India, Japan, Taiwan, and New Zealand.
Shayne Phua Shi Ying (b. 1997)
Shayne is a sculptor and ceramicist. Her recent explorations include reconfigurations of vessels and the functionality of banal objects, studies on the peach in Chinese culture and mythology, and enquiries into the lullabies and oral traditions from her childhood. Most recently, her works were exhibited in Chan+Hori Contemporary as a collective of young emerging artists called ‘The Dung Beetle Project’. Shayne has also worked in various ceramic art studios and participated in Ceramic Firing events.
Tan Shao Qi (b. 2000)
Shao Qi’s studio practice revolves around explorations of nature where she attempts to draw a connection between man and the environment. Living in Singapore where the urban landscape is constantly evolving, she draws her observations of how the natural environment is affected, giving her a better appreciation of nature. Shao Qi derives inspiration from fragments in natural landscapes as she seeks to make visible the stories in the local flora that are often overlooked and discarded. Her interest lies in materiality where she employs mediums of recording to preserve the evanescent landscape, commenting on the fragility of nature in Singapore.
Vivian Loh Hui Ting (b. 1993)
Vivian Loh Hui Ting is a multi-disciplinary artist with a specialization in oil painting, murals, assemblages and drawing. In her artistic practice, she seeks to convey and transform the value of communication through visual language. Her interest lies within the practicality of picture making with the objective of reconstructing our recognition of things within an image. She was formerly an art instructor at Henry Park Primary School in year 2017 and frequently participates in charity drives held in Cambodia to conduct art workshops for school children.
