L A N D I N G S Master of Arts Fine Arts 2014
LANDINGS
Master of Arts Fine Arts 2014 Graduation Showcase 2014 25 April – 11 May, 2014 ICA Gallery 1 & 2 LASALLE College of the Arts
Bridget Tay, Cherin Sim, Chua Ying Yi, Filip Gudovic Gillian Beal, Julienne Tan, Krista Kim, Kray Chen Kerui Lee Pheng Guan, Madhvee Deb, Nadia Oh, Sven Stefanovic
LANDINGS FOREWORD
This is the 30th anniversary of LASALLE College of the Arts. The MA Fine Art programme that began in 1995, 10 years after Brother Joseph McNally founded the college, has survived these past 20 years of studio research. LASALLE itself was birthed in a time parallel to the birthing of experimental art history in Singapore, as it was 4 years later that Singapore saw the inception of the Artists Village which was founded by contemporary artist Tang Da Wu. LASALLE since then has unceasingly produced Singapore’s most important contemporary artists who work with new ideas of the day. The list of alumni literally reads like a who’s who of avant garde art in Singapore. The list of MA Fine Art graduates that have impacted Singapore and the world include Lee Wen, Francis Ng, Shubigi Rao, Donna Ong, Ana Prvacki and Joshua Yang (of the Vertical Submarine). 2014 sees a cohort of new graduates who come from different paths of related practices. Design, digital painting, illustration, architectural and journalistic photography, art education were some of the former practices
of this year’s emerging artists. Historically, the programme has embraced students who come from diverse backgrounds; this is a characteristic that at times puts the programme at risk of diluting the focus of the role of academic Fine Art studies. However, the MA Fine Art programme team has consistently worked hard in its enthusiasm and patience to see each and every candidate through their research and output, ensuring that the fundamental ingredients of independence and research Fine Art practice is maintained. Each intake is a different art project; it takes its own shape, made up by every candidate’s interest, strengths and limitations. This year saw the programme merging their symposium presentations with the RMIT University, Australia. The joint research presentations between our MA and RMIT PhD students were held at Ho Chi Minh City. The field trip and joint symposium were aimed at providing our students with an exposure to, and at inciting an interest in, current art practices forming in contemporary South East Asia. The
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symposium also provided a platform for peer learning and critical discourse with other Post Graduate Studio research programmes. Our group had a wonderful time, inspired by everyone’s stories of art making and play. Ho Chi Minh was a time warp for many of us; we liked sitting on the low stools overlooking the sea, eating tasty pho and drinking coffee. We met with Huy, curator, writer and artist who talked us through the way they managed their art residences, much in the spirit of intuition and serendipity. We visited new galleries like San Art and Gallerie Quynh, where they shared with us each their own way of engaging with the local audiences. Unfortunately, much of new art is still conceived as a Western/EuroAmerican concept. The idea of the exhibition title Landings came from a speech given by artist and Dean of Fine Art of RMIT, Jeremy Diggle, at the opening of our works-in -progress exhibition entitled Silent Giraffe. The students had broached the idea of a Skype virtual speech, since Jeremy was based in Melbourne, and Jeremy had graciously agreed to play along as a fictional navigator, who would describe how each graduate ‘could’ land his/her ‘art voyager’ in his/her own characteristic way. It was an amusing, inventive and philosophical meandering that fully celebrates individuality and self-sufficiency in the spirit of Fine Art practice. Landings showcases the works of 12 MA Fine Art graduates in their final exhibition. The exhibition is an important testing ground in which our candidates work with the Institute of Contemporary Arts Singapore (ICAS) in the logistics, curation and setting up of their artistic presentations. Selection and
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presentation of every candidate’s exhibited artwork is critical, as this is where decision and awareness of the dividing line between the self (the artist) and the audience become evident. It also provides conceptual frames that allow the audience to perceive the shape of the artists’ research within this period of 48 weeks. It is hoped that this is not the end but a continuity of their new lives as practising and surviving artists in the world of art today. The exhibition emphasizes the art object as the main ingredient over introspective content. An accompanying dissertation of history, influence and currency as well as all supporting art works within the context of the graduates studio space are examined separately from the exhibition format. The programme perceives this as an important demarcation, not as a way to lessen the effect of the former, but to accept and to analyse the consequences of an art object that has to eventually hold its own visual and perceptual discourse in its fictional place in this world.
in this changing world of visual conundrum. Perhaps we, as artists, are responsible to find ways to give shape to a future that we are unsure of. It is evident in their practices that every artist in this exhibition has given this idea some thought, and more importantly they have strived to understand the trajectories of the relationships between the art objects and that of the human body in both physical and psychological states. I would like to end this foreword by thanking all supervisors that had worked with our candidates. It has not been easy. I especially would like to thank senior lecturer Adeline Kueh for ensuring all standards of research output
and quality are consistently met: this meant that the relationship between art work and text are matched to satisfy certain academic procedures. This exhibition could not have happened without the help of the ICAS team for their support for the exhibition, space and logistics; to be able to sit with the roster of international exhibitions is indeed a privilege not to be taken lightly. I would also like to thank our Dean Professor Yvonne Spielmann for supporting and expanding the practice of research in our programme, something that has almost become second nature to both students and staff. Finally a heartfelt congratulation to all MA Fine Art candidates for their time with us and for putting up a great show.
Dr Ian Woo Programme Leader Postgraduate Studies
Every candidate’s response to studio research is different in relation to their chosen mediums, history, and that of conceptual influence and inspiration. Landings sees a stronger output of video art that embraces abstraction, political and social issues within our climate local and international. The exhibition also sees various models of hybrid experimentations and presentations; some of which are video and photography; photography and its relation to objects; painting as a reflexive visual juxtaposition as objects in real space; and craft in relation to the temporal of the everyday. It is hoped that these models allow us to better understand the way materials and our lives function both psychologically and physically
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Landings with Baumgartner
“Landings,” the title of this year’s M.A. Fine Arts Graduation Exhibition, has also been a term in the news of late. This is due to the unresolved plight of the missing Malaysian Airlines flight MH370, which took off one fine evening but whose landing had not quite been determined. With international attention focused on the event, it also signaled the worst potential outcome of journeys – one that takes off but whose landing is still in the ocean of speculation. We can add to these the adventures of Amelia Earhart and, closer to home, the movie mogul Loke Wan Tho. Or worse, the Hindenburg on its final take-off. The selection of the term by the graduates, however, also underscored the importance placed on the journeys that preceded them, and I would add, the beginnings. Despite the unknown outcome of such journeys, and the complexion of the different stages, they have persevered through the trials of temporary setbacks and failures to come to some form
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defies gravity before returning us to it, one step at a time, two hundred activated muscles in tow. We do it despite our gait, weight and we develop our own way of walking until it is “unnoticed,” by ourselves anyway. Our feet “land” us with every quotidian step after we learned how it is done.
of resolution with their art practices. The journeys we take with art are never easy, and for the large part they take us into unknown and unexplored realms, both for oneself and the art community at large, to even proffer a compromise between art and self. The setting of an artificial dateline such as a graduation show, is akin to a temporary wayside station to rest and contemplate, to ponder and to strategize our next moves, and never a final destination to land.
In Italy in the 1990s, it was customary for passengers on board to clap after the pilot announced the landing of the plane he was steering, and actually landing well after the announcement. I assumed the aeroplane flights I was in carried mainly Italians, as some had also shouted “Bravo”. I met it as a quaint tradition at first but joined in. “Are they being sarcastic?” I once thought to myself (since there were constant strikes by airline companies during that decade). With a few more flights, I came to realize this was a form of appreciation and relief that the pilot and the crew had done well, and that the passengers on the plane had ground contact, at least. It marked the end of a journey for all on board, for which all had reasons to be thankful. Perhaps we should sense and exude that for our graduates as well, as companions and compatriots on board that “plane”. We have much to celebrate after a landing.
The fact is: we detach ourselves from land and against its internal gravity, and return to it with the simplest of moves. We practise it everyday when we stand up and walk, or jog, or run. By extension, we may note the achievements of Olympians, who seemingly float across the tracks, hurtle over suspended iron bars, or arc over sandpits, and internal forces or national expectations challenging them to go faster, higher and stronger. But the basic act of walking for each of us already
The most spectacular successful landing in recent times, however, must be that of Felix Baumgartner’s free fall from space in October of 2012. From a helium balloon, Baumgartner dropped thirty-nine kilometres at supersonic speed, and landed safely with his parachute in Roswell, New Mexico, USA. The feat set a lot of world records and became international news. The video clips were watched and rewatched, and became one of the most positive news items that year.
We may examine the circumstances of Baumgartner’s jump in greater detail to distinguish parallels and lessons for our journeys, since they presaged the success afterwards. This was not his first jump, having leapt off KL’s Petronas Twin Towers a decade ago, and had the benefit of two practice jumps before his final one. He had generous sponsorship to fund the event, but of course patronage in this case was crucial, like in art (and we won’t go there). He also had the best mentor possible in Joseph Kittinger, who made a similar jump in 1960, and who guided and communicated with him throughout the historic jump. However, despite all the physical and mental training to prepare him for this journey, unexpected obstacles still surfaced. A minute into his free fall, he spun out of control in space for thirty seconds. When he finally stabled this dizzy phase, he indicated to the mission control team on earth that his visor had fogged up and hence cannot visualize his immediate environment. Guided by Kittinger’s voice and his own instincts as he was still free falling, he eventually popped his parachute earlier than expected, but which permitted a proper landing. The venture taken as a whole was deemed successful, but any of the glitches, as uncertainties, may have turned the event onto its other face. But, as it is often said, there is no substitute for the journey and then landing at the destination, and to find out where it has taken you, intended or otherwise. In any institutional relationship, the journey is shared reflexively between the mentors and the students, and there comes a time when they eventuate defining moments such as this exhibition. For Kittinger and Baumgartner, it was at
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the moment just before the jump. Kittinger said: “Stand up on the exterior step (of the capsule), keep your head down, release the helmet tie-down strap. Start the cameras, and our guardian angel will take care of you.”
Baumgartner replies: “Alright now, the whole world is watching now. I wish you could see, what I can see. Sometimes you have to get up really high to feel how small you are. I’m going home now.”
Lai Chee Kien, April 2014
S T U D E N T ’ S Lai Chee Kien researches on histories of art, architecture, settlements, urbanism and landscapes in Southeast Asia. He is a registered architect, and graduated from the National University of Singapore with an M Arch. by research [1996], and then a PhD in History of Architecture & Urban Design from the University of California, Berkeley
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[2005]. His publications include A Brief History of Malayan Art (1999), Building Merdeka: Independence Architecture in Kuala Lumpur, 1957-1966 (2007) and Cords to Histories (2013), and he recently had an exhibit at the Singapore Biennale 2013. www.laicheekien.com
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Bridget Tay
Thrash-ed paintings Paintings Dimensions variable 2014
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Place Mixed media installation Dimensions variable 2014
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Bridget is a Singaporean painter whose current works deals with the spaces and painting in the expanded field of painting. Embodying a rather mischievous punk aesthetic in her works, Bridget plays with typically used clichés and art jargon as commentaries on the political, social and art scape in Singapore.
Diss-ertation Acrylic on canvas Dimensions Variable 2013
With a strong interest in materiality, she also experiments and tinkles with “construction” materials juxtaposing them with paint, something she considers as primary source of fascination and the point of departure in her formal explorations in painting. Bridget is also a recipient of The LASALLE Scholarship and has exhibited in various group exhibitions, most recently “Can-verses”(2014),
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and “Do you believe in Angels?” (2014); A visual arts exhibition curated by Tony Godfrey at the Mo_Space in Manila as well as Equator Art projects( Singapore), “Silent Giraffe”(2013), a self curated zine group show; “Glimpse” 2013, “Tropical lab 7” 2013, “Worlds Apart (fringe)” 2013, “Background Playground”, “Looking for Space” an experimental artist initiated incubation programme with and eventual exhibition, where she co-founded was part of an artist collective which was awarded the National Arts Council Presentation & Promotion Grant in 2012 ,“Stir up”, and the “Art expo Malaysia”.
www.bridgettay.weebly.com reach.bridgettay@gmail.com (+65) 8121 5343
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Cherin Sim
Object of Fashion No. 1 Print on backlit film, wood and light 122 cm x 183 cm 2014
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Object of Fashion No. 2 Vegetable-tanned leather and waxed thread 88 cm x 68 cm 2014
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Born in Singapore in 1987, Cherin is an artist who is trained in painting. She frequently employs installation to express her concerns about consumer culture. The inspiration behind her pivotal work, “A Birkin For You?”, 2008, became the foundation for her subsequent pieces which often blurred the boundaries between fine art and fashion design. Object of Fashion No.3 Fashion magazines Dimensions variable 2014
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Besides being an artist, Cherin is also an accomplished bag designer who currently designs for an international brand. She was conferred her second international award in 2009 in the Design-
A-Bag Competition, where she was invited to Hong Kong Fashion Access to receive the prize. In the same year, she received the Winston Oh Undergraduate Practice Award. In 2013, she received the Winston Oh Postgraduate Research Scholarship and had her first relational art exhibition, “Bringing Back Tradition: The Leather Workshop”, in Singapore after being trained in leatherworking in Italy.
www.cherinsim.com (+65) 9106 4241
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Chua Ying Yi
On Sacred Commodities – Sacralization Box Set Rosewood Box, Stainless Steel Amulet Casing, Flowers. Dimension Variable 2014
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On Sacred Commodities – Sacralization #1405 Photograph on archival paper 29.7 cm x 42 cm, Series of 30 2014
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On Sacred Commodities – Sacralization #1850 Photograph on archival paper 29.7 cm x 42 cm, Series of 30 2014
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Ying Yi is exploring the notions of sacredness and its eventual commodification in this body of work. From our contemporary consumerist culture, iconic objects have veered from the original religious artifacts to the desirable objects of the everyday. The question of how an object may be sacred to one while meaningless to another becomes the central of the work. Drawing subtle references from various cultural artefacts and luxury products, he interprets the process of sacralization through creating amulets from everyday materials. By photographing these amulets in constructed sets, he attempts to create a narrative to weave a myth around the amulets blurring fiction and reality. With this framework, he attempts to question the perceptions of how transcendental values or meanings maybe created.
Ying Yi is a photographer based in Singapore. He focuses primary in the architectural photography and has worked with various architects, real estate firms, financial firms and magazines such as The Wall Street Journal and Wallpaper* magazine. He has graduated with BA(Architecture) from the National University of Singapore in 2001 and have been pursing the art of image making ever since. He has worked in various visual related including film crew for broadcast production studio, photographer and an art buyer for major advertising firm. His interest lies in the responses towards the consumerist attitudes of contemporary lives, everyday spaces and notions on visual cultures.
www.ying-yi.com info@ying-yi.com 21
Filip Gudovic
Map of a zoo Oil, acrylic, pencil and emulsion on canvas 30 cm x 25 cm 2014
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Room (Homage to Sidney Nolan) Oil, acrylic, pencil and emulsion on canvas 170 cm x 230 cm 2014
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Time passing ice cream melting Oil,acrylic, pencil and emulsion on canvas 170 cm x 230 cm 2014
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Filip was born in 1992 in Belgrade, Serbia. His works are an ongoing inquiry on painting that is concerned with the metaphysics of space, time and materiality. The event in his paintings alludes to both fictional and real/actual objects. He is interested in the material construction of the object and its physical relationship to the space around it, both natural and artificial. Also, painting allows him to reconstruct the possibility of things that naturally do not go together, against any ideological preference – an automatist arrangement of things. In the ancient times, Protagoras famously stated “man is the measure of all things” – in the same way one can think of painting as the measure of impossibilities and dreams. Filip’s painting spaces are like carnivals, searching for a feeling of amusement within the ordinary and archaic. His first solo show “Shifting between surfaces” was held at Tri Space, Institute of Contemporary Arts
Singapore in February 2013. He has participated in numerous artistic projects such as BELEF and Tropical Lab, and extensively exhibited in group shows in Singapore, Hong Kong, Russia and Serbia. In 2011, he was a recipient of Travelogue Practice Award and participated in the first Singapore Affordable Art Fair as The New Editions. Filip has also exhibited in Hong Kong Contemporary Art Fair, Art Stage Singapore: 2014 and participated in TERRA sculpture residency in Serbia. Recently he showcased his works on paper in a group show “Do you believe in Angels?” in Manila and Singapore. Currently he is preparing works for a group show “Departure” at iPreciation gallery in Singapore.
www.filipgudovic.wix.com/arts filipgudovic@gmail.com (+65) 8420 2473
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Gillian Beal
Traces: Purple Oil on canvas 81 cm x 81 cm 2014
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Traces: Indian Yellow on Indian Yellow 1 Oil on Linen 89 cm x 81 cm 2014
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Gilly’s work is a study of the line and the brushstroke, centred on the notion of the trace. She is intrigued by how a simple gestural stroke can create a series of captivating lines, how the spaces between the lines carry information, and how what is not there can sometimes be as meaningful as what is.
Brushstroke #12 Brushstroke #15 Brushstroke #13 Mixed media on board 25 cm x 25 cm 2014
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Her work takes as its starting point a series of photos that record the traces of life in everyday encounters. These traces might be a scratch on the side of an old van, the imprint of tire tracks in mud at a building site, layers of paint on the side of a boat or score marks from cutting wood on a piece of concrete. Often linear in nature, they record marks or traces of life over time, but the source or the maker of the mark is of course unknown or absent.
Building on this photographic paradigm, her work explores how to translate the ‘still’ image through a series of abstract ink drawings and paintings on canvas where the traces of the brushstroke record their making. The movement of the brush loaded with pigment over the surface and the resulting linear image traces the physical gesture of the maker, the trace of a moment in time. She has exhibited her work in both the UK and Singapore, and in 2012 had her first solo show, “Life Lines” at Fort Canning.
www.gillybeal.com gilly@theline.com.sg (+65) 9627 6461
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Julienne Tan
Memorial: Companions Paper pulp, Chinese pigment, found objects Dimensions Variable 2014
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Memorial: Recess Paper pulp, Chinese pigment Winstedt Campus courtyard 2014
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Memorial: Recess Paper pulp, Chinese pigment Winstedt Campus courtyard 2014
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Julienne seeks to build temporary memorials for abandoned places and objects by overlaying them with the pulp of her own paintings. Being a material subject to decay and disintegration, the pulp highlights the ephemeral nature of the co-dependent relationships between people and the everyday objects and spaces that belong to them.
Technological University. She has been working as an illustrator and designer, specializing in fine line drawing and printed material. Her close relationship with paper led her to pursue explorations on paper pulp in the Masters of Arts (Fine Arts) program at LASALLE College of the Arts. She is currently teaching drawing and graphic design at ADM (NTU).
Julienne received her Bachelor of Fine Arts (Hons) in Visual Communication at the School of Art, Design and Media (ADM), Nanyang
www.julienne-tan.com tan.julienne@gmail.com
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Kray Chen Kerui
There Must Be Something Really Really Good at the End of a Really Really Long Queue 1080p Video 10:00 mins (on loop) 2014
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Exercise Now and Fit a Standard Size Coffin Later #4 1080p Video 01:09 mins 2013
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Exercise Now and Fit a Standard Size Coffin Later (Installation View) (photo credit: Nadia Oh)
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Kray was born in 1987 in Singapore. He graduated with Bachelor of Arts Fine Arts with First Class Honours. He recently held his first solo show 1st Prize and has participated in numerous group shows including SPOTART, Winston Oh Travel Award Show 2011 and 3rd France + Singapore New Generation Artist show . Other than his artistic practice, Kray actively contributes to Praxis Press as a writer and also founded curatorial projects such as Make Space Initiative. Bringing attention to the passive behaviours in society, Kray hopes to draw out the absurdities and futilities
from the complexities in the pursuit of happiness and success. He takes his artistic position on participation in art by basing on Joseph Kosuth’s notion of ‘The Artist as Anthropologist”, where he believed that honesty and criticality are features that, together with humour, concoct insights and humanity in his works.
www.kraychen.com Kray.chen.kr@gmail.com +65 982 5084
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Krista Kim
No. 609 Digital Still on HD screen 928cm x 1650cm 2013
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No. 706 Digital Still projection Dimensions Variable 2014
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No. 656 Digital Still projection Dimensions Variable 2014
Krista is a multidisciplinary artist, currently exploring photography and interactive light installations. Juxtaposing high-tech and the spiritual, Kim’s intention is to create a mediated experience of pure consciousness, as the viewer contemplates stillness and presence through digital technology. She received her Bachelor of Political Science from the University of Toronto, Canada. Kim has lived in Seoul, Korea for five years as a journalist and she studied abstract painting in Tokyo, Japan for four years before moving to Singapore in 2010. Krista is showcasing digital images of LED lights from our urban landscapes and buildings, stripping the images down to pure light and
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darkness. Her photographic approach is as an abstract expressionist, creating digital color field compositions. Her artwork is presented on HD screen, projection installations and on Plexiglas print.
www.kristakimstudio.com krista@kristakimstudio.com
Credits: Music: Gamma Meditation acoustic brainwave entrainment by Dr. Jeffrey Thompson; Exhibition HD screen provided by Samsung; Sound speaker provided by Bang & Olufsen; LED mini-projectors provided by Innovative. 41
Lee Pheng Guan
Italian Chick Single channel video 35:00 2013
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Sisyphus Performance with sand and paraffin wax Dimensions variable 2014
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I AM HUMAN. I am limited by the things I can do as a human. I cannot lift a body of a certain mass. I cannot endure extreme pain. I cannot defy gravity and fly on my own. I cannot remember every single detail of things I have witnessed or experienced. I cannot control time. I cannot travel back in time or foresee the future. I cannot be physically wherever I want to be. I do not understand exactly what you mean from words articulated by you. I cannot understand and feel how and what you feel. I do not understand your pain. I cannot prevent decay. I cannot give life to the dying. I cannot make sense of this life. What is the meaning of life? I do not understand it. I do not understand death. However I would like to.
Weight/less Plastic bag, paraffin wax, nail 35 cm x 23 cm x 20 cm 2013
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In my own limitations, I would like to understand more about the things around me. I would like to understand how to be weightless, to float. I would like to understand how it feels to carry your body. I would like to understand the heaviness of your burdens. I would like to control my feelings, emotions and memories. I
want to remember you. I would like to know how it feels to be alive. I would like to comprehend what it means to die. I would like to make sense of LIFE and DEATH and the in-betweens. My struggle is dealing with control and letting go, and threading the fine line between the two. Pheng Guan LEE (PG Lee) is a visual artist who previously completed his Bachelor degree in Fine Art from Goldsmiths College, University of London. After having worked as an art teacher in various schools for the past 12 years, he decides to revisit his dream of being an artist. He frequently employs installation, video and objects to express his concerns on various aspects of the human condition in his works. PG has taken part in various group exhibitions in Singapore and has collaborated extensively with artists such as Zai Kuning and Felicia Low.
www.pg-lee.com grooviren@gmail.com
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Madhvee Deb
Untitled #1 (Ready As I’ll Ever Be) Photograph Dimensions Variable 2013
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Untitled #2 (Ready As I’ll Ever Be) Photograph Dimensions Variable 2013
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Madhvee uses photography and digital media to express herself. Currently, she is researching the field of gender ambiguity, her research deals with the concerns and impact described by individuals, experiencing profound gender dysphoria. Often these descriptions are highly intangible and provide great challenges in bringing forward the complexities, unless one is engaged in reciprocal exchanges. By positioning herself in the role of a creative tool, Madhvee aims to bring forward the subliminal thoughts, through the medium of photography, video and audio explorations. Concurrently, she uses these time capturing mediums to discover the nuances of places, people and their culture during her travels to different parts of the world. Stay a Little Stronger, a Little Longer 1080p Video 2014
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Madhvee has exhibited in various group exhibitions in Singapore. Her latest work was
part of “Art Stage Singapore” and a group show “Silent Giraffe” at the Praxis Space. Madhvee has also participated in an art talk led by award winning photographer Francoise Huguier, organised by “Alliance Française de Singapour”. She was nominated for the “Prudential Young Artist Award” at the same time she was also shortlisted in two categories for “Eye on Asia Awards”. Her work has been selected for multiple auctions to raise funds for various charities. Her photographs have appeared in a few online magazines. She was also featured as “Photographer – Asia” for online travel magazines, Photozoom and Fotoritim.
www.lenstrail.com madhvee@lenstrail.com +65 8522 4034
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Nadia Oh
The Present Thread, wool and photographic print on linen 140 cm X 140 cm 2014
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The Stitching Play Thread and acrylic on calico fabric 88.6cm x 88.6cm 2014
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Stacks & Blocks Photographic printed fabric wrapped on wood Dimensions variable 2014
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Nadia Oh is an artist who lives and works in Singapore. Her current art practice explores the moments of everyday elements in a microcosm of nature and how one perceives them from confined familiar spaces. There is so much to smile about, simply for what takes place in each moment. To experience and to re-connect with the nature that is to be fully present in each living moment. A poetic and intricate approach in preserving the time and memories of everydayness in photographic prints on fabric together with stitching, painting, drawing and cyanotype photography. Inquiring a compressed and suffocated pace of life with tension bring about a disconnection from natural rhythms and cycles. Inspired by changing light and shadows in particular moments of looking out into nature
from a confined domestic space. It is how one perceives and to rediscover the unseen presence that is undeniably precious. Nadia Oh is currently a lecturer in LASALLE College of the Arts. Graduated with Bachelor of Arts in Multimedia Art, University of Central England in Birmingham. She has taken part in group exhibitions namely: DIALOGUE 2010, Transposition 2011, Patch Art & Craft Tea Party 2012, The Bird Project 2012, Stitch a Leaf exhibition in December 2013 and The Seni Mini Show April 2014.
www.NadiaOhSP.com nadia.ohsp@gmail.com +65 9848 7352
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Sven Stefanovic
The observer Video projection 1:00 looped Dimensions Variable 2014
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The gallery watcher Video projection 1:00 looped Dimensions Variable 2014
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Coming from a Cinematography background, Sven has always put emphasis on a filmmaking aspect of his work. Although formerly a film student he undertook his masters in fine art to broaden his perspective and possibilities of personal expression and multi disciplinary exploration. Being also a documentary filmmaker his interests have revolved around the types and possibilities of documentation devices and the people who capture the moment rather than the moment itself. Revealing and identifying the person behind the trigger and the switch of roles in relation to time.
The specter Video projection 1:00 looped Dimensions Variable 2014
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His latest project began as journey through cultural coloring techniques in black and white portrait photography and the impacts they had on our view on ‘art photography’, the constant struggle of trying to capture a true emotions through a lens and what experiencing or reexperiencing a moment really is. This lead him
to questions who is truly engulfing, embalming time; the camera or the mind and could a photographer work without the camera? Sven is also very interested in constant growing and ever changing trends of social photography and the impact of Internet social networking on photography but furthermore on the newly immerging trend of ‘overdocumenting’ life around us. His search for the ‘real’ documentation device has finally lead him to produce a group of portrait videos which would act as the gallery observes rather then only being observed giving visitors an idea of scrutinizing art. While his preferred medium is motion and still photography he is always open, willing to work and collaborate on a wide range of platforms.
Website: http://svenstefanovic.simplesite.com
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About the Master of Arts Fine Arts Programme
Started in 1984 by Brother Joseph McNally, the Fine Arts programme is the oldest and the most established programme in the college. The Master of Arts Fine Arts programme at LASALLE College of the Arts came into being in 1994, as a franchise agreement with RMIT (Australia). Since then, after having gone through a couple of validations processes, the MA Fine Arts programme has earned its stature as one of the leading research practicebased programmes in Southeast Asia. From its inception, the programme acknowledges the centrality of the role of the artist in research practice. It is the artist (through guidance and supervision of practising artists, curators and art critics) that generates and produces independent discoveries that is pertinent to the realisation of individual artistic language/vocabulary. These factors further support the practice
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of Fine Arts at LASALLE where the individual and differentiation of artistic voice is constantly being maintained as the core of the programme’s underpinning philosophy.
Furthermore, the programme has also been committed to providing a conducive learning environment by virtue of being able to situate the discourses of contemporary art practice within the contexts of both geographical and socio-cultural milieu in Southeast Asia, as well as being within a integrated campus (alongside faculties of Media Arts, Design, Performing Arts and Creative Industries). Historically, Singapore has positioned as a
meeting port in which English is the lingua franca: this point is critical in maintaining communication and contact in generating possible art-related negotiations between Southeast Asia and the world. Concurrently, Singapore’s drive to enhance its infrastructure for the arts also translates to the environment and location of the programme here being a meeting ground for renowned international and regional artists.
In order to achieve this core, the programme has prided itself with studio experimentation and innovation. It is not enough to merely mirror global trends in contemporary art practice: the programme fosters the uniqueness as the only practice-based programme in Singapore with multi-disciplinarity as the linchpin, with individualized attention and support from a dedicated core faculty, adjunct lecturers and a distinguished roster of guest lecturers/artists (see Point 10 on Staff Profiles & Research Area; & Point 4 on examples of visiting artists & lecturers). As such, the faculty comes from a wide range of academic and artistic backgrounds as well as geographical locations.
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Since 2001, the programme has developed its postgraduate symposiums to facilitate critical dialogues around artistic processes and thereby nurturing a postgraduate culture at the college. Newer adaptations and changes were also made over the 17 years: via open studios, information sessions, visiting artist lectures,
and exhibitions, and an integrated curriculum of studio and professional practice, critical study, and critique sessions, the programme encourages diligent explorations of all aspects of contemporary art practice at the cusp of a networked global culture and the traditions of Southeast Asian communities.
Moreover, the network of galleries within the Institute of Contemporary Art Singapore (ICAS) has also served as a platform for artists and curators in LASALLE to realize their projects and exhibitions. The ICAS has a vibrant programme known for its open cultural discourse and flexibility of ideas, and for engaging both local and international artists at various stages in their careers. The exhibition of art within the institution is very active. Students and staff put up exhibitions every month and work closely
with the Director of the ICAS in realising ways to promote new works by students from various levels of learning. These opportunities are critical in allowing students and staff to experiment, analyse and put to test the role of their works of art within a spatial context. In addition, the ICAS’s list of international and regional contemporary art exhibitions and talks also provide the necessary yet relevant influence, discussions and knowledge to the entire Faculty of Fine Arts.
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In essence, the programme has unrelentingly worked towards preparing our graduates for this rapidly evolving world through a crossdisciplinary postgraduate programme that places advanced studio practice and research at their centre. Presently, the programme enables a diversity of contemporary arts practice that
includes Drawing, Painting, Photography, Printmaking, Sculpture, Site Specific and Time-Based Art. Candidates can locate their research area within the context of their mode of expression or choose to work with an interdisciplinary approach.
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Guest of Honour Paul Tan, Director for Sector Development (Visual Arts), National Arts Council
MA Fine Arts programme Yvonne Spielmann, Dean, Faculty of Fine Arts Ian Woo, Adeline Kueh, Milenko Prvacki, Tony Godfrey, Amanda Heng, Adele Tan, Tan Wee Lit, Jason Wee, Tan Shir Ee, Shubigi Rao, Hazel Lim, Jeremy Sharma, Hilary Schwartz, Gilles Massot, Andreas Schlegel, Urich Lau, Antoine L’Heureux, Betty Susiarjo, Michael Lee
Patron Dr Winston Oh, the Winston Oh Postgraduate Fine Arts Research Fund
Visiting Artists/Speakers Stelarc, Jeremy Diggle, Rhett D’Costa, Kevin White, Peter Hill, Ang Song Ming, Chun Kai Feng, Martino Nicoletti, Jon Catappan, Sarah Wang, Francoise Huguier, Caroline Turner, Semay Johnston
Institute of Contemporary Art Singapore Bala Starr, Director Hafiz Osman, Mohammed Redzuan bin Zemmy, Ramesh Narayanan, Alif Sufian bin Samsiyar, Amelia Abdullahsani-Gerrick, Jessica Anne Rahardjo, Joleen Loh, Elizabeth Lim
For programme enquiries, email enquiries@lasalle.edu.sg, or call +65 6496 5222 LASALLE College of the Arts, 1 McNally Street, Singapore 187940 / www.lasalle.edu.sg
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