Creative Capital: The naked artist who thinks contemporary art can be really dumb
Advertisement
CNA Lifestyle
Creative Capital: The naked artist who thinks contemporary fine art can be really impaired
Heman Chong, one of Singapore's virtually pregnant contemporary artists, says we must permit for all kinds of art to inform how nosotros run across the world – good or bad.
The artist. (Photo: Heman Chong)
18 Nov 2022 06:30AM (Updated: 04 Jul 2022 09:31PM)
I have a lithograph by Singaporean contemporary artist Heman Chong hanging in my dining room. It was function of a series produced in collaboration with the Singapore Tyler Print Found. It is a gray scale geometric work with four words emblazoned in big san serif type beyond the height of the print, "Advanced Studies In Totalitarianism".
Given our geographical context, it'southward a piece that always makes people stop, and, more often than not, chuckle. My wife and I besides have another piece, this one representative of a trope that has engaged Heman for over a decade – redesigning and painting book covers. Ours depicts Dr Seuss's Green Eggs and Ham, and was a nowadays to us when our eldest child was born.
READ: Minimalism exhibit in Singapore: What does Calvin Klein have to do with a slice of rock?
Heman is a friend and one of Singapore's most significant contemporary artists. The 41-year-sometime'south work has ranged from ii-dimensional paintings to big installations. He describes his practice as "the intersection between image, operation, situations and writing". His solo exhibitions are numerous, and have ranged from here in Singapore to Berlin, New York and London.
Contemporary art is literally art that's made right here, and correct now. Almost of information technology is actually, really terrible and impaired and downright awful.
He has participated in numerous international biennales, including the 50th Venice Biennale (2003); the 4th Busan Biennale (2004); the 2d Singapore Biennale (2008); and 20th Sydney Biennale (2016).
Elsewhere, he is the co-director and founder (with his wife Renee Staal) of The Library of Unread Books, which has been installed in NTU'southward Centre for Contemporary Art in Singapore; The Museum of Gimmicky Fine art and Pattern (MCAD) in Manila; Casco in Utrecht, The netherlands; and Kunstverein Milano in Milan, Italia.
Despite all the many accolades and accomplishments, Heman remains grounded and very grounded. And cocky-deprecating. In an interview with ArtAsiaPacific, he described his own piece of work from the 2003 Venice Biennale every bit "super crappy" and "pretentious". I like this about him, that he tin be disquisitional and honest.
Be hungry! Look at everything! Don't call up in terms of good and bad! Expand your mind!
And the next step for this respected creative person is to take on a new medium. He'due south long said, in reference to the video installations he used to create in his younger days, that he was quite bad at making them. Instead, he opined, he should make a moving picture.
Just fifty-fifty that would have fourth dimension, patience and collaborative skills he didn't posses. "So I thought perhaps I'll just write a novel. It's more Heman Chong anyway." Which is what he is at present doing. His first novel The Book Of Drafts will be published by Polyparenthesis in 2019.
Here, in CNA Lifestyle's series where we speak with creatives making their marking in Singapore, Heman discusses creative challenges, the land of contemporary art, and his unique vesture-optional process.
CAN YOU Explicate WHAT CONTEMPORARY ART IS TO THE LAYPERSON?
HEMAN CHONG: Contemporary art is literally art that's made right here, and right now. Most of it is really, really terrible and dumb and downright atrocious, but yous'll be able to see some really great stuff if you're persistent plenty.
IS Fine art EVEN Notwithstanding RELEVANT TODAY? AND WHO IS YOUR Ain AUDIENCE?
Yes! I have a pocket-size merely dedicated following. I don't want numbers! I want a truck load of intensity. I prefer to have one single person who's totally into my work, rather than having ane,000,000,000 who would take a iii-second glance.
WOULD IT BE POSSIBLE TO Selection OUT THE Virtually SIGNIFICANT ARTWORK CREATED IN THE LAST DECADE?
In my opinion, it'southward irrelevant what the greatest artwork is, e'er, because when it comes to the creative earth, it's non productive to recall in absolute terms. Nosotros must permit for a whole agglomeration of artworks to inform how we come across the world. Exist hungry! Expect at everything! Don't call back in terms of skillful and bad! Expand your mind!
Every single error that I've made, every failure I've encountered has defined me more than than anything else.
WHAT ARE You lot WORKING ON RIGHT NOW?
Since May 2018, I have been collecting images of back entrances of embassies in every city that I visit. These are doors in plain sight, but completely ignored and disregarded and frequently unmarked.
I spoke to a friend of mine who works in an embassy, and she told me that these back doors have multiple pragmatic uses: For the delivery of takeaways, for family members of the ambassador to enter and leave without hassle, but also for things that happen in the shadows which I take promised never to talk about.
These dorsum doors fascinate me because they correspond everything in politics that is unsaid, invisible and sinister. They are gateways to secrets and lies. It is interesting how these unassuming and unglamorous doors have such a useful purpose to them, and I beloved this air of mystery.
I have decided to never reveal which door these embassies belong to in whichever city as I am not interested in uncovering the mystery, but rather, to allow something to remain veiled and inaccessible. I have also chosen to force a viewer to see the image many times around, equally if he or she is a figure of surveillance, forever watching these passages.
IS SINGAPORE A TOUGH Identify TO Be A Artistic?
Yes. But unfortunately, everywhere else is tough besides! If you're serious nigh something, accept some time out, sit and brand a program and be prepared to work 10 times harder that you've ever expected. The toughest identify is that place inside your head named "Lazy" and "Procrastination".
READ: The Singaporean hip-hop and dancehall artist who has headlined festivals all over the world
IF You lot COULD Go Dorsum AND Encounter YOURSELF As A YOUNG Art STUDENT, WHAT ADVICE WOULD Yous Give HIM?
Ha ha! I would destroy the time auto with my bare hands to finish myself from going dorsum in fourth dimension. Only because every single error that I've made, every failure I've encountered has defined me more than anything else.
DID YOU E'er HAVE I OF THOSE "WHAT IN THE World AM I DOING?" MOMENTS?
Yep! Every single waking moment. Just you merely deal with information technology, you know. For an artist, it'southward immensely more fun not knowing what you're doing than having everything figured out at the offset.
I make nigh of my piece of work completely naked! Sorry, but yous asked.
Yous'VE LIVED IN NEW YORK, LONDON, BERLIN AND NOW YOU'RE BACK IN SINGAPORE. WHAT DO YOU MISS ABOUT THOSE OTHER CITIES?
Of all the cities I've lived in, I miss New York the about, only because of three things: The Strand Book Store, Shake Shack and the fact that y'all walk up and down Manhattan in completely straight lines. And the Met. And the train ride to Dia Beacon. And driving across to Brooklyn at 4am. And groceries from Trader Joe's. And sunsets in Brooklyn Heights.
My solo exhibition – Ifs, Ands, or Buts – at the Rockbund Fine art Museum in Shanghai where I had to fill seven floors of existent estate with new works. And I only had a yr. And I had to brand another solo at the South London Gallery at the same time.
WHO IS YOUR Ain DESIGN OR Creative HERO?
On Kawara!
WHAT'S BEEN THE HIGHLIGHT OF YOUR CAREER TO Appointment?
At that place are many! Simply if I take to mention i, it would be that I met my wife, Renee, while making an exhibition at Witte de With Eye for Contemporary Art in Rotterdam.
TELL ME SOMETHING About YOUR CREATIVE Process I WOULD NEVER Wait.
I don't have aircon in my studio! I make most of my work completely naked! Sorry, but you asked.
READ: Naked art: Accept a peek inside a nude drawing course in Singapore
Contempo Searches
Trending Topics
Source: https://cnalifestyle.channelnewsasia.com/entertainment/heman-chong-singapore-contemporary-artist-book-of-drafts-238666
0 Response to "Creative Capital: The naked artist who thinks contemporary art can be really dumb"
Post a Comment