Tay Bak Chiang, Ingenuity

I do not know the exact date that I've been to Mr. Tay Bak Chiang's exhibition, but the experience has certainly sparked me off in a new interest for rice paper. Titled Ingenuity, Tay's third solo exhibition showcases his Stone and Lotus series.
"Nature, through its many forms, served as Tay Bak Chiang's chief inspiration for his third solo exhibition. The artist's deep found awe in the harmony, balance and perfection in nature is made clear through these sumptuous Chinese ink paintings Both the Stone series and the Lotus Pond series in Ingenuity portray its subjects in their barest forms, with Tak Bak Chiang returning to the essence of his subjects by abandoned motifs that would bear his feelings, points of view and intentions. In doing so the viewer is invited to imagine and ultimately discover first-hand nature's ingenuity."
-- Singapore Art Gallery Guide

These are the works I saw in his exhibition:


云关 (2011)


夜猫子 (2011)


卧龙 (2011)


天工 (2011)


四又四分之一 (2011)


失神的片刻 (2011)


如意 (2011)


青涩的你 (2011)


奇白石 (2011)


红颜 (2011)


黑眉红杉 (2011)


藏巧于拙 (2011)


浮云 (2011)

Taken from: http://chanhampegalleries.com/exhibitions.html?secid=2&catid=1&task=fullview&id=53

It is through Tay's exhibition where I started to see rice paper in a different light. Previously, for me, I commonly associated them to typical Chinese calligraphy- landscapes and animals. Working primarily with Chinese ink and paper, Tay fuses traditional calligraphy with western elements, creatively presenting something simply unconventional. It is intriguing how it appears to be a flat two-dimensional print, yet it's canvas-- rice paper- seems like a real piece of cloth. Enhanced by the fallen bristles and texture of the rice paper, it appears seemingly fragile yet fascinating in it's strength to hold all those ink in it. I was entirely kept in awe over how Tay manages to make the entire space be filled with ink, without having those upsetting blotches caused by overlap of ink, using too much ink or just not painting swift enough before the ink absorbs into the rice paper.

And being a complete idiot at calligraphy, I consulted my friend who told me that in order to achieve a 均匀的 ink effect, he'd have to use a gigantic brush which would be able to cover the entire space he is seeking to fill. This certainly shocked me, and as expected, this needed a great deal of skill to have the command over the brush. So despite the simplicity of the work, hey, it's not that simple.

Tay's paintings have this seemingly innocent and child-like portrayal of things, yet one is able to see the professionalism and detailed-drivenness in Tay through the presence of his clean strokes and lines, and extraordinarily well-smoothed paint. Not only so, on close look, one would too be captivated by detailed, precise but wavering lines. How much skill it is for Tay to deliver such confident strokes which has nearly no room for error.

And if you realize, you'd see the interesting repetition of shapes in his paintings, making his paintings appear as a whole, giving it a sense of unity. Tay uses these bare existing lines as symbols and representations to objects he wishes to represent. However, Tay puts in this element of unknown where he does not dictate what he wants them to see his paintings as, but rather leaves them to do the decisions, thus it is this which makes his paintings so interesting. I particularly like the juxtaposition of the different shapes and sizes which displays Tay's playfulness and conscious attempt to create an intriguing image with much use of broad planes of colour. Tay's works reminded me of surrealism- bird with stone. By reducing the shapes to their bare essentials, he creates a completely clean picture.

At the same time, the broad planes of colour contrasts with the presence of the odd spaces of white (like small specks of 留白), presenting the piece seemingly infilled- reminding me of the spiritual work I wrote about in the Today article (check archives). Another reason I loved Tay's exhibition was the fact that i was simply overwhelmed by the broad colour planes in his work, such as the whites, black, and reds. Standing in front of his paintings seemingly engulfs the viewer into that space, keeping one's vision focused just on these colours, shapes and lines. It is this same effect which keeps me intrigued and excited to how he manages to do it, somehow.

And in conclusion, I really love his works. And I'm so going to learn calligraphy painting at the end of the year.

This is Tay's personal site: http://www.taybakchiang.sg/index.php

(The other works you see in his site is almost entirely different from the ones I've shown here)

Shapes, forms and lines

When I first started drawing, all that I wanted to do was to mimic the object I wanted to copy or create straight on paper. Trying to make the parts I drew look life-like was difficult. But i slowly overcame the obstacles, and am still trying.

I remember Mrstan once telling us that we should treat what we are trying to draw as simply lines, and not as their real form, so as to depict the most truthful observation we see and not what we believe it is. Since we often have the tendency to edit the lines we draw in belief that it will turn out realistic. This is certainly not the case.

Also, in my short learning journey, I learnt the importance of shapes. Not only that, they can be played with in various interesting manners, be expressed in many varying methods and help to convey entirely different styles and meaning.

A form is, "a shape of a thing of people", thereby, it is a crucial tool in aiding the artist in his depiction of things. Artists like Matisse, Picasso, Umberto Boccioni and David Hockney particularly like to have a say and control over the dictating the shape in their painting. Where Mattisse reduces the human figure into the bare essentials, with no edges or details rendered in it, while for Picasso, he fragments his forms into cubes and square planes, using geometric lines to flatten the picture surface.


Matisse, Circle of Life


Picasso, Girl Before A Mirror


Umberto Boccioni, Dynamism Of A Soccer Player

Personally, I find interest in forms, a lot. I think it is very receptive to different ideas and expressions people want to make, and also helps to advantageously supplement drawings as well.

Some of my influences are Brancusi, Bruce Quek, Marcel Duchamp (see new post) and Tay (see new post). I came to know Brancusi after we went for our London and Paris trip last year, and despite everyone else feeling so bored I was majorly fascinated. And for Bruce Quek, after I saw his work at the exhibition with Mr Chang's.

Brancusi's artworks


The Seal, Marble of 1924, c. 1925


Constantin Brancusi's exhibition at the Pompidou
(The one we went!)


Princess X, 1909-16, marble



Male Torso, 1917


Bird in Space, 1923


Sleeping Muse, 1910

Sculpture for the Blind, c.1920

Google Image on February 19 (Brancusi's 135th Birthday)

Made of clean lines, well-smoothed and of intriguing forms just make the sculptures incredible, and enchanting. (Probably due to my love for shapes, lines and forms as well) Playing against reality and it's principles where sculptures require a larger base for support, some of Brancusi's sculptures uses a thin and narrow base, accompanied with a longitudinal upper sculpture part. But it is for all his works, that they appear to be placed out of context from a place where gravitational force and details are not present, lending these sculptures an unapproachable yet fascinating appeal.

See:http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/exhibitions/brancusi/

http://translate.google.com.au/translate?hl=en&sl=fr&u=http://www.centrepompidou.fr/education/ressources/ens-brancusi/ens-brancusi.htm&ei=1APvTPHzLYamcJnUjPoJ&sa=X&oi=translate&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CB8Q7gEwAQ&prev=/search%3Fq%3DConstantin%2Bbrancusi%2Bat%2Bthe%2Bpompidou%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26prmd%3Do

Bruce Quek's artworks


Incidental Traces(2b)

Taken From: http://dreamborderlands.blogspot.com/2011/05/bruce-quek_28.html

Quek puts together varying clean lines, of different length, and angles, forming a geometric plane reduced to it's bare essentials. Lines not only do help to enhance the dimensionality of the plane, but when accompanied with the clean background, also helps to play with the positive-negative space concept.

Personally, I have a thing for minimalist and modernist designs. They fascinate me with their ability to provoke thoughts and wonder in their viewers. Also, making me in awe for their simplicity. Though intangible, it comparatively exudes a mysterious and serene effect as compared to other styles such as surrealism, which provides way more details and control over the work itself as well as what they hope their viewers would see their work as.

It's hard to list every single influence and inspiration that has helped shape my art style and the direction I am heading towards, because almost everything I chance upon in life has this incredible ability to influence me in a certain way, be it minute or in it's entirety.

Coursework at opening night


Final Preview

Coursework had finally ended, and here's the final preview!

It feels really odd to finally be at it's completion. Working on it for so long, coursework somehow is like a part of my life now. Expressing my most utmost emotions through the work, it feels odd how it's now a separate entity, like i've somehow generated it out.

But in total, this has been a fruitful and exciting experience for me :)

Chair 1

Description: This chair has a drawer in it.

Chair 2

Description: This chair has one shorter leg at the back (see final picture at the top) and two planks on the chair seat which makes it uncomfortable (?)

Chair 3

Description: This chair has a narrow and long chair seat and a slant back rest.

Painting 1

Painting 2

Painting 3

This is 201'09 design done this year (right). the original (left).

the shirt hasn't been printed, though i hope it will be.

the process has been on hiatus, or worse stopped. i don't know which it is.

this piece was a part 2 of an assignment, where we were to design our s4 camp tees.

The first few tee designs I had (check archives) were solely on creating a design that represented what I was doing. But over the years, designing tee designs, now had the task to incorporate meaning and relevance in them. So what if it was representational, like art pieces, what do you what to show? What is the thing you want to tell people through the design?

As for this one, it started out as an attempt to "dissect" a nanyang girl, and lay out the things that are being commonly associated to us. I felt that respect for self is something to be gained only when one chooses to conduct themselves with integrity, be it objects or human beings. I tried to show the importance of that 'everything else'- appreciation of own's good qualities, as well as the things and people who help her achieve success- (through her disassembled objects- for that are what makes her a nanyang girl)

The image and video I got inspired by- the act of disassembling. And thus, I came up with the idea of laying out the things we had and used on a daily basis and used a top-down approach for the design. The girl in the center, therefore appears to be lying down.

Did you ever know how many different parts it takes to simply assemble one of those cars out there on the streets? We often take for granted that the car is just simply being manufactured out there by the producers, but we fail to realize the painstaking manufacture of all those various parts which makes up the car. Watch the video, and you'd realise how much how much it is needed to simply assemble one of them. Shocking, isn't it?

I wanted to tell people that every single part that makes you who you are is equally important, because you might never know, if without just one of them, you might not be who you are today.

Sketches here are done on pencil, A4-sized.
Some art influences on my work are:

1. Audrey Kawasaki

A Los Angeles-born and based painter, with works mainly oils on wood panels. Personally, I feel that Kawasaki’s style is a fusion of Japanese Manga, where she gives her subject a distinctive outline and has sculptured near-perfect facial and bodily features, and Super surrealism, where the subject is realistically painted and also often posed in various imaginative-like scenes.

Kawasaki has this distinctively representational style and subject over the years- a young, demure lady, where her innocence is always being contrasted with the confidence and sexual appearance she takes on in various erotic scenes, acts and even absurd and disturbing scenarios.

I have always liked Kawasaki’s works; her technique and rendering of her subject which makes “her” extremely beautiful and inviting.

Not only are they aesthetically appealing, her works also often elude this mysterious and melancholy feeling which draws one to it at first sight. Yet, on closer look, one would realize the creepiness and somewhat cold feeling of the subject, often shown effectively through her eyes.

At the same time, the juxtaposition between innocence, vulnerability and eroticism, confidence makes the piece really interesting. For the viewer, he is constantly in a dilemma and struggle to wonder which stand he should adopt- to see it as an innocent, pure piece or to see it as a provocative one.

Her works influenced me to improve on my technique (of course!) and to also ponder more on the aspect of contrasts and juxtapositions I can play around on future works that I do- not only to make the piece more intriguing, but also help to inject this element of thought and dilemma in my viewers.

Here are some of her works:

Enrapture, oil and graphite on wood panel

2011

Untitled, graphite on paper

2008

Lili and her ghosts, oil and graphite on wood panel

2011

Sophia, Oil on wood 8x17

2006

Okimiyage, intaglio print 8"x12" with Pressure Printing

2008

Here are sketches on Kawasaki's works, and some thereby inspired ones:

This is her official site: www.audrey-kawasaki.com/

You can slowly admire her pieces one by one and be just as fascinated by her skill as I am.

This is an article on Kawasaki I find particularly interesting to read: http://www.laweekly.com/2011-05-19/la-life/audrey-kawasaki-girl-chaser/

2. Ku Hye Sun

Sure enough, most of you would know that Ku’s an actress, not an artist. But  her works really inspire me quite a bit.

However, I am particularly intrigued by her technique in her works, where she gives a sense of fluidity in her paintings and sketches. Her strokes, be it brush or pen entangles itself in a somewhat conjoined manner, appearing to be made up of an endless line. These lines intertwine and weave through one another, presenting many swirls and loops. However, despite so, they are still rather clean and simplistic. The objects are broken down into basic fluid lines yet maintaining its distinct outline. Thick, thin, smudged, distinct; these are elements which Ku plays around with simply through the pen or brush. To me, her works like Kawasaki’s, never fail to make me wonder how she came about painting or drawing the piece. On how she keeps the lines on-going, but at the same time, maintaining the harmonistic sense of the work’s entirety.

Also, on how these lines intrigue me greatly, would be the seemingly invisibility and intangibility of the work. Where Ku successfully creates three dimensionality through the lines, and spaces between them. You may choose to see it by focusing on either the negative, or positive spaces, yet both present a clean and strangely fascinating appearance for the viewer. (Painting)

And to emphasize particularly on this painting, it caught my eye on the arrangement of the piece; where it branched out to the canvas beneath it. I liked the idea, the act of extension and thought of the lines being never-ending. And that, it seemed that you hadn’t need to worry for being more than what the canvas can hold (top), so feel at ease to let yourself flow (I had the imagery of a cup of overflowing milk, with the presence of a bigger bowl helping to support it underneath- to me, it signified stability and serenity)/ and this idea, I chose to incorporate into my coursework :D

This is her official site: http://www.kuhyesun.com/