Chan + Hori Contemporary, 6 Lock Road, #02-09, , 108934

ALMA MATTER conditions. Also on display are the camp and pageantry captured Curated by Khairuddin Hori in the short-lived, gender-probing artistic practice of Khairul Ikhwan (deceased). Exhibition Dates: 24 May - 17 June 2018 Usually associated with the notion of an academy combining Opening Night: 24 May 2018, 7 p.m., featuring orthodox Western and Chinese art traditions, these artists have performances by Ella Wijt and moved on to establish themselves in the spirit of the contemporary The Kaizen M.D. and are emblematic of the ‘now’. Through their works, they have gravitated beyond local and regional concerns to incorporate a Held in conjunction with the Academy of Fine Arts universalism that connects with human experiences. (NAFA) 80th Anniversary celebrations, Alma Matter is a visual art exhibition organized in collaboration with the NAFA Fine Art PRESS RELEASE Alumni Chapter and Chan + Hori Contemporary. It features FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE artists who have graduated from various fine art programmes at the academy in the past ten years. Curated by NAFA alumnus Artists: Samuel Khairuddin Hori, the exhibition takes its inspiration from a Khairul Ikhwan wordplay of alma mater - which ordinarily refers to an institution Warren Khong one has studied in and graduated from. In its original Latin form, Fiona Koh alma refers to the act of nourishing. It is paired here with Loi Cai Xiang matter - referencing affairs relating to the concerns and practices Justin Loke of the artists. Placed together, Alma Matter alludes to the artists’ Ong Si Hui past training at the academy while simultaneously reflecting on Ezzam Rahman their place in the contemporary art of today. Sebastian Mary Tay Ella Wijt In a conversation with the curator, artist Ong Si Hui considers herself ‘traditionally trained’ in sculpture at NAFA - a terminology Venue: Chan + Hori Contemporary hardly used by contemporary artists today. Strength in heritage, or 6 Lock Road, #02-09, the of art, is the hallmark of this pioneer arts Gillman Barracks, institution. Yet, this is a quality that stands the test of time, Singapore 108934 contributing to both physiological and philosophical development (Tel: +65 6338 1962) of artists who went through its system. High-resolution artwork images and the artwork specification sheet can be Artists presented in Alma Matter engage with multiple disciplines downloaded at https://we.tl/tPvcfLarK3 (The link expires on 24 May 2018.) and utilise new approaches and uncommon mediums in their This exhibition is held in conjunction with NAFA’s 80th Anniversary. practices. Take, for example, Ezzam Rahman’s sculptures made of his own skin or Sebastian Mary Tay’s photographs composed of sawdust, fog and light. Ella Wijt engages with faith and womanhood, while Cai Xiang elucidates the void between the conscious and subconscious as a reaction to personal health Chan + Hori Contemporary, 6 Lock Road, #02-09, Gillman Barracks, Singapore 108934

Khairul Ikhwan. (Image courtesy of the artist and Chan + Hori Contemporary) Khairul Ikhwan Education (b. 1993 - d. 2016, Singapore) 2016 Muhammad Khairul Ikhwan was an artist that focused on Diploma in Fine Arts (Western Painting), NAFA, Singapore painting, drawing, illustration, performance art and new media works. His works dealt with representations of his body and face Selected Exhibitions synthesised with imaginary creatures, based on subconscious thoughts. He conjured images that extended his own identity, while 2016 alluding to the nature of human behaviour. His amorphous forms HOPE, NAFA, Singapore suggested that beings were gender-fluid and that individuals existed on a spectrum. The videos he published featured himself in flamboyant outfits and make-up in a bid to spread messages of love and acceptance and self-empowerment.

Khairul was diagnosed with Stage 4 colorectal cancer in 2015, which led to his hearing and vision being impaired. Despite this, he held a solo exhibition titled HOPE in 2016 that featured 87 of his artworks. He used the exhibition as a channel for creativity, dialogue and awareness. Chan + Hori Contemporary, 6 Lock Road, #02-09, Gillman Barracks, Singapore 108934

#116, Warren Khong, 2018. Glass, metal, LED light. 32 x 30 cm. (Image courtesy of the artist and Chan + Hori Contemporary)

(1) #116, #117, #118, #119, #120 Education (2) #121, #122, #123 2014 - 2015 Warren Khong MA in Fine Arts, Goldsmiths’ College, University of London, U.K. (b. 1984, Singapore) 2008 - 2009 Produced at a factory based on Warren’s instructions, both series BA (Hons) in Fine Art: Painting and Drawing, of eight new works comprise lines made on glass. The first series University of Huddersfield, U.K. (#116, #117, #118, #119, #120) does not rely on external lighting and takes reference from the paintings of Mark Rothko. Natural light 2002 - 2006 invades the glass and produces shapes, forms and textures within. Diploma in Fine Art, NAFA, Singapore The second series (#121, #122, #123) relies on external lighting to cast shadows and images. Warren engages with the premise of Selected Exhibitions light and shadows as materials for art-making and emphasises their temporal presence. Light and shadows become form, with light 2017 as the active agent that asserts the artworks’ existence. Created In Praise of Shadows, ADM Gallery, with NAFA’s history and tradition in mind, these works represent Nanyang Technological University, Singapore Chinese ink paintings of bamboo - the first element taught in foundational year classes. Supernatural, , Yogyakarta, Indonesia

Warren investigates materiality in art - pushing the possibilities of 2016 representation in painting and drawing, as well as their reception. Light-Space (in collaboration with Ulrich Lau), He engages the intangibility of materials in art-making as a way of - Centre for Photography and Film, Singapore challenging the ontological status of art and art objects. Whitewash, Institute of Contemporary Arts Singapore, LASALLE College of the Arts, Singapore

Turn Loose the Mermaids, iPreciation Gallery, Singapore

GELB, Zwischenzeitraum, Luzern, Switzerland Chan + Hori Contemporary, 6 Lock Road, #02-09, Gillman Barracks, Singapore 108934

Artist’s Impression of Chasing Deers, part of the Tua Kang Medicinal Hall series, Fiona Koh, 2018. Mixed media. Dimensions variable. (Image courtesy of the artist and Chan + Hori Contemporary)

Chasing Deers, Education part of the Tua Kang Medicinal Hall series 2008 - 2010 Fiona Koh Master of Arts in Contemporary Practice (Distinction), (b. 1994, Singapore) University of Huddersfield, NAFA

Tua Kang Medicinal Hall takes reference from the medicine in Louis 2003 - 2004 Chia’s wuxia novels. In these stories, poisons and antidotes are BA (Hons) in Fine Art: Painting and Drawing described as being extracted from rare species of animals and (Upper Second Class Honours), University of Huddersfield plants. They are formulated in dubious pills, powders, poisons and so forth with extraordinary qualities to kill or heal. In this artwork, 2000 - 2003 Chasing Deers, one encounters a collection of poisons and Diploma in Design (Communication Design) (Distinction), antidotes re-created from one of the pugilistic novels, by a fanatical LASALLE-SIA College of the Arts toxicologist who believes there is an invisible pharmacy that dispenses medicines to heroes and villains alike. Selected Exhibitions

Fiona Koh is the co-founder and a member of art collective, Vertical 2016 Submarine. In 2009, she was a recipient of the President’s Young EËJA, Institute of Contemporary Arts Singapore, Talent Award. Her multi-disciplinary background attempts to Lasalle College of the Arts, Singapore integrate art and design as a common field of inquiry. Lecturing part-time at NAFA, she held her first solo show,EËJA , at the 2015 Institute of Contemporary Arts Singapore in 2016. A New View of An Old Estate, Taman Jurong Market, Singapore ex-libris, Central Public Library, Singapore

2014 Practice and Perfection, NAFA, Singapore

2013 All that dazzles (part of Urban Sensations for South East CDC), Goodman Arts Centre, Singapore Chan + Hori Contemporary, 6 Lock Road, #02-09, Gillman Barracks, Singapore 108934

Punctured, part of the Void series, Loi Cai Xiang, 2016. Oil on canvas. 102 x 102 cm. (Image courtesy of the artist and Chan + Hori Contemporary)

Punctured, Education part of the Void series 2010 - 2013 Loi Cai Xiang Diploma in Fine Art, Western Painting (Distinction), NAFA (b. 1992, Singapore) Selected Exhibitions The catalyst behind Void arises from a sense of intimacy and familiarity that one shares with their environment. It taps into the 2017 emotional resonance that arises from spaces that rekindle Void, Chan + Hori Contemporary, Singapore experiences and memories. Like an actor interpreting dialogue, Loi Cai Xiang’s paintings draw from personal experiences and first The Artling Pop-Up, Artspace@Helutrans, impressions to interpret environments and synthesise new represented by Chan + Hori Contemporary, Singapore narratives. He posits that the constant need to define a void that resides between us and the physical world is an attempt to analyse Not A Summer Hang, Chan + Hori Contemporary, Singapore our modes of being. This series is a personal exploration, a search for a sensibility to define a private gulf that exists between 2015 conscious and subconscious states of mind. Bank Art Fair 2015, Pan Pacific Hotel, Singapore

Cai Xiang’s view of art-making is that it is a meditative process. He Affordable Art Fair 2015, , works mainly in oil and seeks to explore different modes of represented by Artist Alliance SG representation through realism. He was a recipient of the Tay Chay Bing and Ngee Ann Kongsi scholarships and has exhibited his 2014 works in Hong Kong, Korea and Singapore. His works are held in Academy Rules, Chan Hampe Galleries, Singapore private and corporate collections such as Clifton and Asia Capital Reinsurance. 2013 Affordable Art Fair 2013, Singapore, represented by Artist Alliance SG

Milieu, Dahlia Gallery, Singapore

If Not Now, When?, Diploma in Fine Art Graduation Show 2013, NAFA, Singapore Chan + Hori Contemporary, 6 Lock Road, #02-09, Gillman Barracks, Singapore 108934

Lottery, part of the Monkey Business series, Justin Loke and Samuel Chen, 2016. Chinese ink and watercolour on rice paper, mounted on scroll. 69 x 34 cm. (Image courtesy of the artist and Chan + Hori Contemporary)

Lottery, Bowling, Copulation, Smoking, Fighting I Education part of the Monkey Business series 2010 Justin Loke and Samuel Chen MA Contemporary Practice (Distinction), University of Huddersfield, United Kingdom Monkey Business is an exhibition of ink paintings centred upon the late Nanyang artist, (1906 - 1991). The ink paintings 2004 are parodies of Chen’s well-known works featuring the gibbons BA (Hons) Fine Art: Painting and Drawing, engaging in anthropomorphic activities such as gambling, University of Huddersfield, United Kingdom drinking, fighting and commuting. Apart from paying homage to one of Singapore’s most important artists, this parody also changes 2000 and questions the function of these images as canonical icons in Diploma in Fine Art (Painting), NAFA, Singapore our local art history.

Selected Exhibitions Justin Loke (b. 1979, Singapore) 2016 Death by a Thousand Cuts, Chan Hampe Gallery, Singapore Justin Loke is a member of the art collective, . In 2007, he was selected by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan Condemned Milk, Foundation La Roche Jacquelin, as the Singaporean representative to the Global Youth Exchange: National Heritage Board, France, Singapore Youth Visual Culture in Tokyo and Kyoto. He received the Japanese Chamber of Commerce and Industry (JCCI) Singapore Foundation 2015 Arts Award in 2009. From 2010 - 2013, Justin was one of the John Martin: Butcher or Surgeon, Nunu Fine Art, Associate Directors of TheatreWorks (Singapore) and part of the Associate Artist Research Programme at . As part Drawing as Draft, Dialogic, Golden Mile Tower, Singapore of Vertical Submarine, he received the Credit Suisse Art Residency Award, the Grand Prize of the President’s Young Talents Awards Noise Alumni Show (curated by Vertical Submarine), organized by the Istana and (2009) and the Foothill Gallery, Singapore Celeste Prize in New York (2011). Penetrations (Hokkien Rhymes), Chan Hampe Gallery, Singapore Chan + Hori Contemporary, 6 Lock Road, #02-09, Gillman Barracks, Singapore 108934

Smoking, part of the Monkey Business series, Justin Loke and Samuel Chen, 2016. Chinese ink and watercolour on rice paper, mounted on scroll. 69 x 34 cm. (Image courtesy of the artist and Chan + Hori Contemporary)

Samuel Chen Education (b. 1987, Singapore) 2015 Certificate of Summer School Program Completion, Academic Samuel Chen completed his Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Fine Arts Drawing and Painting, Saint Petersburg State Academic Institute of at LASALLE College of the Arts in 2012 and studied at NAFA from Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, St. Petersburg, Russia 2005 to 2008, specialising in oil painting. He attended the month- long Summer School programme at the prestigious Russian 2012 Academy of Arts in St. Petersburg, Russia in 2015. In 2013, he Bachelor of Arts (Honours) Fine Arts with Second Class Honours, participated in , presenting After... at the Open University/LASALLE College of the Arts, Singapore Singapore Platform. He was featured on okto Channel’s Watch This Space (Season 2) with artist Justin Loke, producing the work 2008 Hors d’oeuvres by Chef Liang at the 313@Somerset in 2012. Diploma of Fine Arts, NAFA, Singapore

Selected Exhibitions

2014 I learned my history from the TV, Grey Projects, Singapore

2013 After...presented at I’m an Artist: Now What? at the Singapore Platform for Art Stage 2013

The Photographer: An Executioner’s Assistant with the Black Baroque Committee for Engaging Perspectives: New Art from Singapore, Gillman Barracks, Singapore

2012 Hors d’oeuvres by Chef Liang with Justin Loke for Watch This Space (Season 2) on okto Channel at 313@Somerset, Singapore Chan + Hori Contemporary, 6 Lock Road, #02-09, Gillman Barracks, Singapore 108934

Caress, part of the Teetering series, Ong Si Hui, 2018. Marble (Bianco Carrara). 44 x 15 x 7.5 cm. (Image courtesy of the artist and Chan + Hori Contemporary)

Teetering Education Ong Si Hui (b. 1993, Singapore) 2018 Bachelor in Fine Arts, LASALLE College of the Arts, Singapore

Teetering is a series of stone sculptures that examine order and 2016 disorder in a state of rest. Spatiality is explored through the Diploma in Sculpture, NAFA immediacy of the sculptures placed on the floor, as well as their close proximity to one another. In Caress, ten identical cones are Selected Exhibitions neatly arranged in a rectangular unit. They rely on each other to stay in formation and their harmonious arrangement is a delicate 2018 illusion. While marble and black granite are industrial materials that A Dive, Splendid!, Lasalle College of the Arts, evoke a sense of strength, these created forms address the subtext of vulnerability. Winstedt Campus, Singapore

Ong Si Hui is a multi-disciplinary visual artist based in Singapore. Melange, Lasalle College of the Arts, Praxis Space, Formally trained in sculpting during her diploma from NAFA, she Institute of Contemporary Arts Singapore, Singapore graduated with a Bachelor in Fine Arts from Lasalle College of the Arts. Incorporating elements of language, her art practice explores Of Human Heritage, Sculpture Society (Singapore), various material forms and their correlation with the human Art Spice Gallery, New Delhi, India condition. Ong is a finalist for the Visual Arts Development Association’s 2017 Untapped Emerging Exhibition and Affordable 2017 Art Fair Singapore’s Young Talent Programme 2017/18. She has Between, +Project, Gallery Tomo, Kyoto, Japan exhibited in Singapore, India, Japan, and . Young Talent Programme 2017/18, Affordable Art Fair in collaboration with Ion Orchard, F1 Pit Building, Singapore

3rd Taiwan International Miniature Sculpture Exhibition, The Sculpture Association of Taiwan, National Dr. Sun Yat Sen Memorial Hall - Bo-ai Gallery, Taipei, Taiwan Chan + Hori Contemporary, 6 Lock Road, #02-09, Gillman Barracks, Singapore 108934

when i asked you about love you quote me a sonnet, Ezzam Rahman, 2017 - 2018. Artist’s skin, adhesive, epoxy resin, threaded wire, willow charcoal, porcelain bowls, glass canisters and painted wooden stools. 33 x 20 cm. (Image courtesy of the artist and Chan + Hori Contemporary) when i asked you about love you quote me a sonnet Education Ezzam Rahman (b. 1981, Singapore) 2017 Master of Arts (Fine Arts), Goldsmiths, University of London, LASALLE College of the Arts Ezzam Rahman’s first skin sculptures were created for a class exercise with the theme of ‘art and time’ at NAFA, during his 2010 Bachelor in Fine Arts programme in 2009. They began with a small Bachelor of Arts (Fine Arts), 2nd Upper Honours, Painting and sculpture of a fish skeleton made from his own skin. He developed Drawing, University of Huddersfield, NAFA and explored the material over the years and, in 2015, was nominated by the Singapore Art Museum for the President’s Young 2003 Talents Exhibition where he presented an installation consisting of Diploma in Fine Arts Sculpture (Distinction), miniature skin sculptures. He won the Joint Grand Prize award and LASALLE-SIA College of the Arts Viewer’s Choice Award for these works.

Ezzam is a multi-disciplinary installation and performance Selected Exhibitions artist who has presented his works in countries including the U.S.A., Cyprus, Japan and the U.K. He is known for his interest in the body 2018 and use of accessible and unconventional materials to produce POTLUCK - A Conversation About Intimacy, MOX, Katong Point, works. His narratives challenge or expound upon notions of identity Singapore politics, as well as the inherent paradoxes of presence and marginality. In 2016, he was awarded the Goh Chok Tong Youth with The Artist Village, NAFA, Singapore Promise Award by Yayasan Mendaki and the prestigious Young Artist Award by the National Arts Council, Singapore. In 2017, he NAC VIP Media and Engagement Event, Art Basel Hong Kong, was selected as one of the artists for Singapore: Inside Out in Ping Pong 129 Gintoneria, Hong Kong Sydney, Australia - organized by the Singapore Board. Photo Exhibition of Light Art Performance, Baker University Center, Ohio University, U.S.A.

Light Art Performance, Photo and Video Art Exhibition, ADAB Literary and Educational Centre, Khorramabad, Lorestan, Iran Chan + Hori Contemporary, 6 Lock Road, #02-09, Gillman Barracks, Singapore 108934

Chromatic Solstice #3, Sebastian Mary Tay, 2016. Photography / Giclée printing on lustre paper/ Powder, pigment, sawdust, ice, fog, lights. 105 x 80 cm. (Image courtesy of the artist and Chan + Hori Contemporary)

Chromatic Solstice Education Sebastian Mary Tay (b. 1989, Singapore) 2016 Master of Research in Creative Practices, The Glasgow School of Art (Distinction) Chromatic Solstice is a photographic series of handcrafted comprising sawdust, powder, pigment, fog and light. 2015 They were inspired by the dramatic light of Scotland’s skies, Bachelor of Arts (Honours), Fine Art - Photography, observed through repetitive equinoxes and solstice cycles. The Glasgow School of Art (First Class) Originally from Singapore, Sebastian spent six years living in Scotland. He observed the weather conditions in the two 2009 countries were drastically different - ranging from the quality of Diploma in Fine Art - Photography, NAFA light, the way it diffused and scattered across landscapes and seasonal changes across the year. Making use of the vocabulary of light, his created landscapes provided a theatrical space where Selected Exhibitions colours could manifest and engage with each other. The process of construction and photography for each image took between three 2018 to seven days. (INTER)TWINE, Supernormal, Singapore

Sebastian is an interdisciplinary artist based in Singapore. He has The Foster Emporium, FOST Gallery, Singapore participated in exhibitions across the U.K., Singapore, Malaysia and . His works have been shown at The Royal Scottish Academy 2017 on seven different occasions. Awards he has received include The Reflections, Taksu Gallery, Royal Glasgow Institute New Graduate Prize (2016) and The Royal Scottish Academy Latimer Award (2013). Fiction of Precision, FOST Gallery with Art Galleries Association Singapore, Singapore

Bilateral Bonds, Taksu Gallery, Singapore

The Royal Scottish Academy Open Exhibition 2017, The Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh

Residual, New Glasgow Society, Glasgow. Chan + Hori Contemporary, 6 Lock Road, #02-09, Gillman Barracks, Singapore 108934

Soft Language, Ella Wijt, 2017 - 2018. Plaster of , transferable ink and dried flowers. 20 x 15 x 10 cm. (Image courtesy of the artist and Chan + Hori Contemporary)

(1) Soft Language Education (2) Asmara 2015 Ella Wijt Bachelor of Fine Art: Painting and Drawing, Distinguished Merit (b. 1990, Indonesia) Scholarship Recipient, School of the Art Institute of Chicago

Ella Wijt’s work moves between memories and possibilities. It 2012 serves as a bridge, a branch, a ladder - and it is from here that she Diploma in Fine Art: Painting and Drawing, projects herself outwards, illuminating the shape of what is Tuition Grant Deed Recipient, NAFA, Singapore interior and innate. In the studio, she questions, doubts and develops through an intuitive process that is an open conversation. Selected Exhibitions Art is the medium through which she prays and the residues of those prayers are images of her womanhood, Asmara. Her praise is 2018 a Soft Language. Her works address faith and assert what being a Grass is Ordinary, Lemari Buku-Buku Festival, National Library, woman means. Jakarta, Indonesia

Ella began making art in 1993 and actively exhibited her work from 2017 2005 onwards. She has held solo exhibitions in 2007 and 2008 Art Market Jakarta Vol. 8, Kuningan City, Jakarta, Indonesia at the Indonesia National Museum. She was offered a scholarship from NAFA and began honing her Fine Art skills in Singapore. She Art-Tivities Now, ArtSerpong Gallery, Tangerang, Indonesia then decided to focus on the medium of painting and moved to the U.S. to study at School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC), where 2016 she was awarded a Distinguished Merit scholarship. Working with Liar Project Vol. 4: MUM, Kedai Kebun Art Center, her advisors in the Advanced Painting Studios, Ella broadened her Yogyakarta, Indonesia work to encompass a variety of media, concepts and intentions. She graduated from SAIC in 2015 with the Edward L. Ryerson 2015 Fellowship Award and continued her practice in Chicago - after Open Colon, Fulton Street Collective, Chicago, Illinois which she returned to Jakarta in 2017. Perhentian, Duduk-duduk Kafe, Jakarta, Indonesia

Advanced Pain, Cry Baby Gallery, Chicago, Illinois Chan + Hori Contemporary, 6 Lock Road, #02-09, Gillman Barracks, Singapore 108934

PRESS (SELECTED)

The Straits Times Ong Ye Kung promises arts support as Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts celebrates 80 years

https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/education/minister-prom- ises-arts-support-as-nanyang-academy-celebrates-80-years

Singapore Tatler NAFA 80th Anniversary Celebration Gala Dinner

https://sg.asiatatler.com/events/nafa-80th-anniversary-celebration- gala-dinner

Singapore Business Review Growing pains in Singapore’s art scene

https://sbr.com.sg/sites/default/files/singaporebusinessreview/ print/Singapore%20Business%20Review_April%20May%202018_ The%20Art%20Issue-32-33.pdf

Angie Chan, co-owner of Chan + Hori Contemporary, comments on higher foot traffic at Gillman Barracks. She is undeterred and committed to help make Gillman Barracks the go-to arts destination in Singapore.

Art. Talking. Business. Forum Speakers

http://arttalkingbusiness.com/the-forum/

Chan + Hori Contemporary’s Curatorial Director, Khairuddin Hori, was invited to be a speaker for the Art. Talking. Business. Forum on 27 and 28 April 2018 in Berlin - a high-profile conference supplemented by meetings, tours, keynote lectures, discussion panels and personal exchange opportunities.

PRESS CONTACT Bradley Foisset Singapore [email protected] Tel: +65 6338 1962 Mobile: +65 9646 8828