Jack Ying is a young art-practitioner who received her BA(Hons) Fine Arts from LASALLE in 2010. Her experience of shifting from one environment to another sparked off her interest to explore the notion of change, which subsequently resulted in her investigations on temporality, construction and displacement. Shifting (Re)Iteration is a series of artwork that evidenced her interests in home and displacement. Moving on from the Shifting (Re)Iteration series, she is now directing her interests to the notion of loss and death.

“Shifting (Re)Iteration III is an investigation on the relation of home and security; objects and memories,” Jack Ying explains. “Our home, however, is built upon the memories that have been created in a domestic space. In a lot of ways, objects in a domestic space are like footages that give trace memories of the inhabitants. It is important for human beings to make sense of the past so that we can be certain of who we are in the present. Memory – in many ways is a form of story telling about our past, and is an essential element in giving us our sense of belonging; our identity. To forget is to lose a memory, which leads to an uncertainty to our past and thus makes one experience displacement. Therefore, to avoid this uncertainty, there is a desire to remember and to protect memory from being lost. The desire to remember can be seen from our behaviour. An example is when shifting, the object or personal belonging such as cup; chair, table, wardrobe or bed that we use daily are often wrapped and kept in a box and brought to the new place. Objects in a domestic space are often seen as something with sentimental value. However, originally, objects are meaningless, it is through experiences and interactions with these objects in a domestic space where one gives it a value, a sentimental meaning or memory to it. Therefore, the act of wrapping and keeping can be seen as a form of protection – protection to the intangible memories, behaviour of the old place. We therefore desire the status-quo.”

Jack Ying has participated in numerous exhibitions and received awards such as the 27^th UOB painting of the year (2008), the Georgette Chen Arts Scholarship (2008), the Winston Oh Travel Award, NAC Arts bursary in 2009. In 2010, she emerged winner of the France + Singapore New Generation Artist award and held her first solo exhibition at Alliance Francaise de Singapour.

The  Organisation of Illustrators Council turns four, and they are giving all Singapore based illustrators a chance to show off their work on a new platform that will be launched some time closer to their anniversary, on 18th October 2010.

HOW TO TAKE PART:

1. Register here
2. Download the instructions
3. Post questions here

MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS:

1. This call for entries is open to all budding students/ hobbyist/ professional illustrators residing and practicing in Singapore.
2. No age limit.
3. You can submit maximum 3 entries per artist based on any combination of the listed themes.
4. New Artwork preferred.
5. Artwork must be submitted as instructed and in the stated formats and sizes. Read the instructions.
6. Each artist must have a proper dedicated folio blog of illustrated works with contact info ( email address / hp number etc ).
7. Only selected works will be featured on our final “project” based on careful evaluation by OIC’s selection panel to ensure quality control. This clause is only added to assure participants we hope to uphold quality and good work..
8. Closing date is 31st July 2010 2359hrs

Born in 1988 in Jakarta, Kelvin Atmadibrata has been living in Singapore for the past eight years. Currently pursuing a BFA in Interactive Media at the NTU School of Art, Design and Media, Kelvin’s main practice involves installation, performance and mixed media works.

“For me, the process and research of art making becomes more important than the formal qualities of the works,” Kelvin says. “By creating installation and performance pieces, I am able to explore art as a documentation and a study of the subjects that I am working on. I am particularly interested in creating characters and landscapes which mimic the uncanny attributes found in RPG video games, hence art making becomes a realization of a personal fantasy.”

Men and Acorns -featured above- is a series of works exploring the idea of body, sexuality and authority within the concept of men. “I like using receipts, because I find that they are different, visually interesting and they evolve with time. In this series of mixed media works, I am experimenting with various materials, including tissue paper and cut-out drawings. Acorns are used as a satirical symbol for men’s genitals, and was previously used by Michelangelo for his athlete paintings in the Sistine Chapel.”

Make sure to click on the images, to see the other works in the series.

Dina Razak is a visual artist who graduated with a Diploma in Fine Arts from LASALLE College of the Arts in 2010. She has participated in various exhibitions in Singapore including the UOB Painting of the Year competition in 2009 where she received the Highly Commended Award. Dina specialises in mixed-media paintings with a particular interest in textured surfaces.

Dina about her work titled B Wall & Goner: “Driven by the desire to create and connect the viewer through my works, I am particularly interested in the elements of the everyday. My practice deals with exploring notions of memory and the individual’s relation to it through the process of time. Through time, objects are lost and transformed. My intention is to revive that moment in time, evoking nostalgia.”

Yap Yong Hwang is currently studying in junior college. She hopes to become an architect one day, and build things that are both practical and have aesthetic value. “I spend most of my time being fairly weird, and the rest catching up on sleep.”

Eat With Family is a conversation between artist and family; paint and food, and how they (people, food and art) all come together. Yap Yong explores how staples in family meals play a role in fostering inter-personal relationships between different members of a family. By portraying different grains, she aims to explore various grains and their personal meanings, as well as allow viewers to reflect on what various grains mean to them.

Nur Liyana Ali has been pursuing the arts since she was 14. Her love for materials is evident in all her works. Nur Liyana is currently pursing her BA(Hons) Fine Arts at LASALLE College of the Arts. She specialises in paintings, sculptures, drawings and installations.

“In this fast paced world, one may overlook things such as materials, especially fiber and other mass-produced materials as we tend to take them for granted. In the process of making this artwork -titled Pedicle Reeds- I tried to understand the physical limits of these materials by pushing them to their breaking points, while working within the boundaries of their limitations. This action-based process thus creates an intimacy towards the materials.”

LASALLE graduate, Ezekiel Wong Kel Win left his home country Malaysia for an education in Singapore at age five. Trained in the faculty of Fine Arts (Painting), Kel Win’s works highlight conflicts, confrontations, and questions he has about life.  “I use a comical aspect to give my work a twisted view, and mock the reality of the real world. I often use photography, video and pastel colors, to express imaginary illustrations in my head and reactions to my surroundings,” he adds.

Kel Win’s latest work titled Everyone is a propagandist? was showcased at the 2010 LASALLE Show: “The human tongue is the most powerful weapon that symbolizes speech and it is a restless evil, filled with deadly poison that no human being can tame,” Kel Win explains. “Death and life are in the power of the tongue, it is the one of the causes of many conflicts, which happen as a result of someone’s expression through the tone in their speech or the way they craft their words. It is just easily prone to manipulation. As for other non-verbal communications such as our body language, eye contact and facial expressions, I consider them to be processes that will trigger the tongue to speak.   In my work, I am dealing with the many different types of sayings about the tongue – such as, “Speak of the Devil”. It is through these sayings or proverbs that we can describe or classify how a person speaks, and it can also be a reminder to the individual to think before saying anything. Hence, speech is indeed influential and is also easily prone to manipulation. Now, what is the main instrument to create speech? It is through the use of our tongue? By illustrating different kinds of sayings and sayings of my own, I hope to show how the human tongue has the power to influence people.”

Top (Left) Jonathan Maximillian Goh (Right) Roy Wang Han Yi. Bottom: Sarah Choo.

36 young artists meet 36 art buyers in a game of fate.

12x is an art experiment that provides the works of unknown young artists with a deserving home. Here’s the twist: everyone knows they will get an art work, but no one knows which art work they will get.

It’s all up to chance in an Art Ballot. Ballot numbers are randomly drawn, and you get to choose any available artwork. The earlier your ballot is drawn, the more choice you have!

See what’s at stake at Evil Empire, 48 Niven Road. The 36 works will be exhibited from tomorrow through 11 June, 2 pm – 8 pm. Admission is free.