Grayscale!, curated by Savita Apte, highlights the working practices of Yanyun Chen, Madhvi Subrahmanian and Bestrizal Besta and introduces the work of Fiona Seow with a deliberate mediation on the various shades of grey between a luminescent white and the dark opacity of black. Whilst engaging with investigations into mark-making and materiality, the exhibition concentrates on the collaborative and cross-disciplinary conversations between the artists while elliptically underscoring the palliative energy of repetition and ritual. In doing so, it uncovers micro- narratives that are both intellectually, provocatively and visually diverse.

Pg. 3 Grayscale! Essay by Savita Apte

Grayscale! showcases the works of four disparate artists, Yanyun Chen, Bestrizal Besta, Madhvi Subrahmanian and Fiona Seow, living and working in South East Asia (Singapore, Indonesia). In doing so, the exhibition deliberately foregrounds the collaborative and cross-disciplinary conversations between these artists to reveal an underlying series of intellectually provocative micro-narratives, even as it engages with the larger questions of materiality and the act of mark making. Te very concept of collaboration especially intercultural and inter-community encounters is fundamental to the socio-cosmological worlds that make up South East Asia and account for its tradition as well as its contemporary cultural wealth. Te artists featured in this exhibition should be seen within this framework of exchange as the protagonists of a new dialogic potential.

Seen against the backdrop of the pandemic, during which these works were conceived, visualised and made: and to which the works naturally allude – some directly, others more elliptically, the works in this exhibition resonate with our moment of enforced isolation, quiet introspection and heightened emotion and are offered as new possibilities in creativity in an attempt to apprehend and negotiate the enormity of this unique historical event. Grayscale! fnds its values in light, shadow, cast shadow, refected light and ambient occlusion and the artists, each in their own unique way, manipulate these values to investigate some of the arguments around the construction of memory and place.

Yanyun Chen and Bestrizal Besta’s practice brings into sharp relief the disjunctures and consequent disorder of the Anthropocene: the dystopian consequences of which, are exemplifed by the zoonotic antecedents of the pandemic.

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Besta’s œuvre is defned by the application of fgurative motifs entangled within exquisitely detailed strangulating lines in heavy charcoal on dark ominous backgrounds. In Live Only Once, (2020), the linen surface is replete with images drawn from his everyday life in Yogyakarta and tempered with the incorporation of culturally loaded shamanistic imagery drawn equally, from the cultural and material history of Western Sumatra, as well as from his fertile imagination. A prostrated fgure, with arms outstretched behind her, is clearly discernible through the graffitied overlay of texture, as are stray and random limbs that seemingly are unattached to bodies.

Besta’s work does not reveal its symbolism easily or methodically but demands a constant return to the picture surface for clues. Live Only Once appears as a cautionary tale that grapples with existential questions concerning the imbalanced relationship between human beings and their surrounding ecologies. Saura Alam (translated to Voices of Nature) (2021), is an obsessively and meticulously rendered work depicting two magnifcently plumed birds – a peacock and a palm cockatoo on one side and a swan on the other, imprisoned in barbed wire entwined with real and imagined vegetal depictions, the whole held in delicately rendered upturned hands. Even through the silenced cacophony of the birds Besta’s question is tangible – can humanity think of is existence outside of nature? Duniya Yang Akan Datang (translated to Te World to Come) (2021), with its immaculately rendered, yet grotesque transformations of fora and fauna, studded with Coleoptera with jewelled wing cases, foregrounds the consequences of human alienation from nature. While delving into his own personal history, geography and cultural forbears as a foundation, and rendering work that pushes the boundaries of nature morte, Besta’s work resonates with deeply pertinent questions about the Anthropocene.

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Like Besta, Chen too is an ardent visual critic of the dislocations of the Anthropocene — the era defned by humanity’s profound impact on Earth. Both artists create dreamlike scenes that fip back and forth between the symbolic and the specifc. Teir works are scrupulously detailed and the details speak to lived experiences as well as collective histories and memories. Whereas Besta’s work addresses humankind in general, Chen’s work addresses not only the relentless fow of imagery that has come to defne the 21st century, but also the deliberate slippages between word and meaning, so ofen exploited in local politics. Chen has tenaciously carved out an aesthetic space where her own strident personal politics and digital materiality meet.

Known for her provocative and visually seductive moving-image and virtual reality works that collage together a wide range of source material, including 19th century continental philosophy as well as the hugely infuential philosophy embodied in In Praise of Risk by Anne Dufourmantelle; Chen’s meticulous draughtsmanship, honed by her classical training, is annotated and accentuated by animation in Constructing Mementos: Nation States I (2021) and Constructing Mementos: Nation States II (2021). Both works are deliberately displayed with the visual symmetry of Qing Dynasty peach wood hall couplets, which comprised two complementary poetic lines. Chen’s dystopian Chinese style couplets, on the other hand are not laudatory epistles but are veiled criticisms of the indiscriminate urbanisation that appears to be conjoined in nation states with the notion of development: such that, over time both the vision and symbols of progress depreciate, existing only as mirages. Tis slippage is captured in the accompanying animation or as Chen describes it herself, her animations are “a representation drawn from a representation, rotating indefnitely in the abyss of reconstruction, performing naturalness.” Complementary to the animations are drawings executed in meticulous chiaroscuro, deliberately drawing upon the nature morte tradition in European Art History to accentuate the discrepancy between laudable intent - in this case the valorisation of the hybrid Vanda Miss Joaquim and the capitalist reality of the concretisation of all fora.

Pg. 8 Chen uses the contrast of the stillness of the drawn work against the movement in the animation to rebel against tradition, to redefne the idea of the original and simultaneously cast true focus on one part of the artwork that either makes the work more visible or deliberately invisible.

Against the backdrop of the overwhelming shifs which exposed the chasms in the global, social and economic systems, Chen’s applied metaphor takes on an even greater urgency. Chen’s work and her constant probing, places her as a leading voice in the discourse around the relationship between nature and culture as she questions the possibility whether culture and critical thinking can ever signifcantly impinge upon local political discourse and the shifing beliefs of national agendas.

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Contrasting with the dark aesthetics and dire dystopias of Besta’s and Chen’s practice, Subrahmanian’s and Seow’s works offer an antidote to the heightened anxieties of imbalance amplifed during the paradoxical mix of solitude and imposed togetherness, that recent months necessitated. Both artists fnd meditative solace in the healing ritual offered by mark making through repetition.

Born in India, Subrahmanian moved between continents before settling to live and work in Singapore. Her peripatetic lifestyle guided her investigations into the constructs of memory and place and these formulations resonate throughout her practice. Subrahmanian’s current practice is directed by her investigations into the physical experience of the gesture and the myriad ways in which this can be expressed at the intersection of sculpture and installation. Her preferred material is ceramics, a uniquely cross-cultural medium which records and expresses a long history of individual and collective mark making. Informed by her transformative engagement with clay, Serra’s performative Verb List became both a source of contemplation as well as an inspirational framework for Subrahmanian. Afer Serra (2021) is both an acknowledgement of indebtedness and simultaneously a tribute to Richard Serra’s Verb List which he formulated between 1967 and 1968 as a subtext for his experiments with materials and infuses a calming repetitive cadence into everyday actions. Subrahmanian conceptualised her work as a set of graduated rolling pins, fve on each display, each with a verb mirror etched into its surface which instructs viewer to perform the everyday tasks that Subrahmanian undertakes as part of her process: fold, mark, twist, enclose, continue, roll, swirl, rotate, encircle, continue. Without the infnitive form that Serra used in his Verb List Subrahmanian’s word lists are transformed into urgent exhortations, at odds with the contemplative physicality of the process. Tis ambiguity infltrates the work and is transubstantiated into a source of creative energy so that the rolling pins become objects of action rather than passive mediators of the words.

Pg. 11 Spiral #2 (2021) may be read as the redemptive culmination of all of these verb actions. An intuitive symbol of identity and spiritual development, the spiral has existed across cultures and across aeons and is refected in art, philosophy, religion, magic and occult: its meaning expanding to represent life, creation, birth and rebirth, evolution, awareness and growth. As such, it forms the ideal symbol for redemption, refected in the minutiae of the everyday and in the enormity of cosmological movements. Spiral #2 comprises of approximately one thousand multiples of conical shapes, the dark cones expressing the latent energy in the unfurling of a tight spiral while the light cones, each painted with a dark spiral appear to reverberate like charged electrons in a protective haze. Tis spiral symbolises the consciousness of nature – starting from the centre and expanding outwardly, archly questioning the viewer with its contrapposto. Yet the work is saturated with the fundamental principles of rhythm and the calm manifestation of repetition and ritual. Indeed, repetition is the cornerstone of Subrahmanian’s creativity and she uses it as both an aesthetic as well as a poetic device: to create stillness and movement at one and the same time.

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Tis fascination with repetition and mark making, is echoed in Seow’s practice which reveals an obsessive recurrence of line, shape and pattern which is extrapolated and manipulated by the artist into distinct sets or series: the end of a series seems to be arbitrary and this adds to the tension in the work seen for example in Flux ( 2017) which also manifests some level of translation, refection and rotation of the triangular component making the series, seen as a whole, far more arresting. Seow implements a compulsive repetition, exploring regular repetition in 50 x 50, (2015), a fxation on the number 50; irregular repetition in Counting Circles (2019 - 2020) a series of drawings that were undertaken weekly since 24 March 2019, over a period of 9 months. Tese succumbed to ritualistic process that saw Seow drawing circles and counting them - each drawing taking an average of 5 hours to complete; and radial forms of repetition in Some Stacked Drawings (2021) to create aesthetic design and inculcate movement within the art work. Each of these creative strategies produces a uniquely different visual result. Motivated by a passion for order and a need to document time and place, Seow’s practice may be seen as a visual journaling of a meditative process - a defnitive antidote, as it were, to the fast-paced consumerism and the race for achievement that surrounds her.

In other works not displayed in this exhibition, Seow experiments with graduation where the component parts slowly expand or contract in repetition. Sometimes as in Repetition (08), part of the tessellated triangles series, the surface of the work is enhanced making it more interesting to the viewer, though Seow always maintains a sense of order in the composition so that repetition helps to build not only the visual part of the work but provides a deeper meaning to the art work, hiding a more philosophical and conceptual identity. Te works on paper are works of meditation for the artist and are offered as works of contemplation for the viewer. At the same time, even while Seow is in the throes of her repetitive ritual she is aware of the concepts of Time and Labour but they do not impinge on her practice – they occupy her only afer the gestures of design are replete.

Pg. 14 She has a similar relationship with the symbolism of the shapes she chooses – a circle symbolises perfection and is also linked to the continuity of life and the notion of cyclical time. But these repetitions also allow her to explore the atmosphere of our present, where repetition is seen as a cause of boredom and alienation. Seow’s work suggest the contrary, that repetition can in fact lead to bliss.

Inspired by Escher’s experiments with tessellation, Seow uses delicate paper to create compelling stalagmites of sculptural installations. Tis series of small objects is an ever-expanding project that sees infnite possibilities in composition and arrangement; the process involves repeated attempts at chasing perfection through geometric precision. Tis experimental project was intended to replicate the idea of model making, except that each work from the series is not seen as a mock-up of its successor, but a stand-alone sculpture in its own right – reduction and geometry allow Seow to fnd order amidst the chaos of conficting ideas.

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Te artists’ creations speak to lived experiences mediated through individual as well as collective histories and memories. Even though the artists featured in the show share similar near historical experiences they possess diverse artistic and aesthetic preferences and, they are creators of singular visualities linked to the mythological, ecological and cosmological relationships that are unique to each of them. Te processes used by the artists to present the disruption of the Anthropocene, healing and redemptive properties of repetition and ritual in daily life, the perseverance of daydreaming, highlight the different modes of being in the world that they reveal.

Produced with the luxury of time and solitude that the pandemic allowed, Grayscale! invites quiet contemplation, the slow unravelling of the micro-narratives that connect the artists’ works, the leisurely deliberation on the collaborative strategies of display and cross cultural dialogue and fnally a gradual wallow in the pleasure of the sensory experience.

Pg. 17 SAVITA APTE Curator

Specialising in modern and contemporary South Asian art, Savita Apte began her career at Sotheby’s where she was a consultant expert from 1995 to 2001. While at Sotheby’s, Apte was instrumental in founding the Sotheby’s Prize for Contemporary Indian Art. Apte was a co-founder and Director of Art Dubai and instituted and chaired Te Abraaj Group Art Prize. Apte was an Associate of Serpentine Gallery for Indian Highway, and co-respondent for the 53rd Venice Biennale under Daniel Birnbaum. Apte was on the advisory board of Art and Business UK, Te Sovereign Art Fund and Para/Site. Apte is also a regular lecturer at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London and the Sotheby’s Institute. Currently, Apte is pursuing her PhD at NTU.

Pg. 18 ARTISTS BESTRIZAL BESTA (b.1973) Lives and work in Yogjakarta

Bestrizal Besta was born in Padang, West Sumatra, and was domiciled in Pekanbaru, Riau, before settling in the city of Yogyakarta, where he continues to hone his craf in surrealism. Besta’s works are easily identifable by their surrealistic scenarios, monochromatic palette and intricate details. His paintings have been exhibited in many group and solo shows and have enjoyed great sales and popularity at auctions such as Christie’s Hong Kong ‘Asian Contemporary Art (Day Sale)’. One is able to change one's circumstances

Just by changing their current attitude

We live every day and only die once

Be something good, because God loves all good.

Bestrizal Besta Bestrizal Besta Live Only Once 2020 Charcoal and Acrylic on Linen H200 x W200 cm

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Bestrizal Besta Dunia Yang Akan Datang (Te World to Come) 2021 Charcoal on Linen H200 x W200 cm

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Bestrizal Besta Suara Alam (Voices of Nature) 2021 Charcoal on Linen H200 x W200 cm

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BESTRIZAL BESTA // CV

Solo Exhibitions 2020 Seeing The Unseen, Primae Noctis Art Gallery, Lugano, Switzerland 2019 Mother Nature, Art Porters Gallery, Singapore 2013 Hopes and Fears, Semarang Gallery, Jakarta Art District, Grand Indonesia, Jakarta 2011 Changes, Semarang Gallery, Jakarta Art District, Grand Indonesia, Jakarta 2009 Cybernetic Blues, CGartspace Gallery, Jakarta.

Group Exhibitions 2021 2015 • Grayscale!, Art Porters Gallery, Singapore • [Belum Ada Judul], Pameran + Peluncuran Buku Enin Supriyanto Sangkring Art Space • BAKABA#4, Jogja Gallery, Yogyakarta 2020 • Art Stage Singapore 2015, Singapore • Arte Fiera Bologna 2020, Primo Marella Gallery, Milano, Italy • Art Geneve 2020, Primo Marella Gallery, Milano, Italy 2014 • Shout!, MACRO – Museo d’Arte Contemporanea Roma, Italy 2019 • Bazaar Art Jakarta 2014, Jakarta • Art Jakarta 2019, Indonesia • Artissima 2019, Torino Italia, Primo Marella Gallery, Milano, Italy 2012 • ASIA NOW Paris Asian Art Fair, Primo Marella Gallery, Milano, Italy • It’s Complicated, Green Artspace, Jakarta • Art Stage Singapore 2012, Singapore 2018 • BAKABA#2, Sangkring Art Space, Yogyakarta • Indonesian Identities, Primo Marella Gallery, Milano, Italy • Bricolage, D Gallerie, Jakarta 2011 • BAKABA#7, Jogja Gallery, Yogyakarta • Indonesia Art Motoring Exhibition, Indonesia National Gallery, Jakarta • (Final) Challenges, Gallery Semarang, Semarang • Changes, Semarang Gallery, Jakarta Art District, Jakarta • Biennale Jakarta #14, Indonesia National Gallery, Jakarta 2017 • BAKABA#6, Jogja Gallery, Yogyakarta 2010 • Almost White Cube, The 12th Anniversary of CGartspace, Jakarta 2016 • Percakapan Masa, Indonesia National Gallery, Jakarta • Art Stage Jakarta 2016, Indonesia • Indonesian Art Award, Indonesia National Gallery, Jakarta • BAKABA#5, Jogja Gallery, Yogyakarta • Art Stage Singapore 2016, Singapore FIONA SEOW (b.1992) Lives and work in Singapore

Fiona Seow graduated from Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts with a Diploma in Fine Art (Sculpture) in 2015. Her works were exhibited at the 2015 edition of Affordable Art Fair and Singaplural. She was the recipient of the Tan Chay Bing Scholarship (Diploma) in 2014 and was also awarded the commendation prize for NAFA Fine Art Graduation Awards in 2015. She was selected as one of the winners of Affordable Art Fair's Young Talent Programme, in collaboration with ION Art in November 2015.

Seow has exhibited both locally and internationally. Her works were exhibited in National Design Centre for Singapore Art Week 2019, Only Connect - Creative Centre Osaka and also at BACC Bangkok for the 5th International Drawing and Print Triennale. She recently had her frst solo showcase at Esplanade earlier this year. Seow’s works are primarily driven by an obsession with perfection and order, coupled with a compulsion to repeat. Her geometric abstract drawings and installations are the by-products of various processes that she engages in to achieve a meditative state or a sense of pleasure.

It is through the act of repetition that she is able to fnd peace and assurance. Mathematics is a constant that she fnds assuring; working with geometry allows her to fnd order amidst chaotic and conficting ideas. She ofen employs the symbolic meaning behind geometric shapes in her works. For example, the circle symbolises perfection, cyclical time, and on a more spiritual level it is also linked to continuation of life and beyond. Triangles on the other hand, are the most stable shape that allows tessellation and multiplication, which can be translated into growth.

While most resolved works appear to be visually “clean”, there is ofen a dark undertone that questions the purpose of her existence. Her process is an ongoing debate on how time, labour and the returns relate to one another. It is also through these processes that she fnds meaning in art making. She is currently working on various series of durational works. Fiona Seow 50 x 50 2015 Ink on Paper Drawings: H5 x W5 cm each (25 pieces per frame) Frame: H11 x W149 cm each

Pg. 31 50 x 50 is an obsession over the number 50 - Fiona Seow

Pg. 32 Fiona Seow Flux 2017 Ink on Paper Drawings: H42 x W29.7 cm each Frame: H52 x W40 cm each Triptych

Pg. 33 ‘Flux’ is a result of spontaneous tessellation of the triangle. - Fiona Seow

Pg. 34 Fiona Seow Counting Circles 2019 Ballpoint on Paper 39 drawings H25 x W25 cm each Frame: H142 x W220 cm

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Tis is a series of durational drawings that occur weekly since 24 March 2019, over a period of 9 months. It takes on a ritualistic process that sees myself drawing circles and counting them as I go. Each drawing takes an average of 5 hours to complete.

Tis work is an attempt at translating the concept of habits and rituals through a painstaking process of repetition. Trough counting and documenting the process of each drawing, the result is a higher awareness of time and thoughts about what I could have done with the same amount of time.

- Fiona Seow Pg. 38 Fiona Seow Repetition (08) 2020 - 2021 Ink on Paper H24 x W16 cm each Frame: H67 x W88 cm

Pg. 39 ‘Repetition (08)’ is from the ‘Tessellating Triangles’ series where only 1 shape - the triangle, is used across all the drawings. Working with a parameter - ofen within a box drawn on the paper while maintaining a border of 1 inch away from the edge, the drawings organically spills over the borders. - Fiona Seow

Pg. 40 Fiona Seow Some Stacked Objects I 2018 - ongoing Paperboard 25 objects, 3 - 10 cm each Acrylic cover: 50 x 50 x H15 cm Plinth: 50 x50 x H90 cm

Pg. 41 Fiona Seow Some Stacked Objects II 2018 - ongoing Paperboard 25 objects, 3 - 10 cm each Acrylic cover: 50 x 50 x H15 cm Plinth: 50 x50 x H90 cm

Pg. 42 Fiona Seow Some Stacked Objects III 2018 - ongoing Paperboard 25 objects, 3 - 10 cm each Acrylic cover: 50 x 50 x H15 cm Plinth: 50 x50 x H90 cm

Pg. 43 Tis series of small objects is an ever-expanding project that sees infnite possibilities in composition and arrangement; the process involves repeated attempts at chasing perfection through geometric precision. Tis experimental project is intended to replicate the idea of model making except that each work from the series is not seen as a mock-up of its successor, but an actual sculpture on its own. - Fiona Seow

Pg. 44 Fiona Seow Some Stacked Drawings 2021 Ink on Paper Dimensions variable Acrylic cover: 50 x 50 x H20 cm Plinth: 50 x50 x H90 cm

Pg. 45 ‘Some Stacked Drawings’ is a set of drawings that sit one on top of another, forming a mount of randomly stacked paper. Tis series takes on a meditative and repetitive process where each stroke is made almost equal in length and thickness. Each drawing is dated and numbered. - Fiona Seow

Pg. 46 FIONA SEOW // CV

Solo Exhibition Other Artistic Activities 2020 In Order, Esplanade (Community Wall), Singapore 2019 • Let’s Make Art @ OTH, Our Tampines Hub, Singapore Group Exhibitions • Befriender’s Arts Toolkit – Prototyping and pilot testing, National Arts Council, Singapore 2021 • Wood Sculpture Symposium, Pasir Ris Park, Singapore • Grayscale!, Art Porters Gallery, Singapore 2018 2020 • flat, Sullivan+Strumpf, Singapore • Set design – “Animal Farm”, Act 3 International, Drama Centre, Singapore • Artists’ Night Out – Night Lights, Dhoby Ghaut Green, Singapore 2019 • PassionArts Festival 2018 – The Give, workshop with St Luke Golden Years Centre, People’s Association, Singapore • Steeped Strong, Far East Plaza, Singapore • Set installation – “Into the Forest with Hansel and Gretel”, Act 3 International, Singapore • The 5th Bangkok Triennale International Print and Drawing Exhibition, Bangkok Arts and Cultural Centre, Bangkok, Thailand 2016 • Only Connect, Creative Centre Osaka, Osaka, Japan • Neon Lights 2016, Fort Canning Park, Singapore Home (work), National Design Centre, Singapore • • The Great Egg-Venture 2016, Sentosa, Singapore 2018 • Wood Sculpture Symposium, Fort Canning Park, Singapore • Urban Expedition, Sculpture Society Singapore Annual Show, Visual Arts Centre, Singapore • Of Human Heritage, 2018 New Delhi Sculpture Exhibition, Art Spice Gallery, New Delhi, India 2015 Crit Grp – Art for Art’s Sake, Singapore 2017 • • Untapped Discovery, VADA, Shophouse 5, Singapore • #BuildYourWorld, SHINE Festival 2015, Singapore • 澄懷觀道, Sculpture Society Singapore, 2017 Taiwan International Miniature Sculpture Exhibition, The National • Drawing Symposium, Golden Mile Complex, Singapore Sculpture Carnival – Once Upon A Time, Singapore Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall, Taipei, Taiwan • • 远观- Sight, Sculpture Society Singapore, 2017 Outdoor Sculpture Exhibition, Dhoby Ghaut Green, Singapore 2014 2016 • Bronze Casting Workshop, Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts, China • NAFA Alumni Show, Merlin Gallery – Waterloo Street, Singapore • Paper ++, Temasek Polytechnic - Glocal Connect Village, Singapore 2013 • Second Nature II, Fort Canning Park (OMSQ), Singapore • Wood Sculpture Symposium, Fort Canning Park, Singapore 2015 • 50 Obsessions, Lasalle College of the Arts (Winstedt), Singapore Awards • Young Talent Programme 2015, Affordable Art Fair Singapore Autumn 2015, F1 Pit Building, Singapore 2019 IMPART Awards, finalist • The Grad Expectations – Best of Best Show, Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts Diploma Graduation Show, Lim 2018 The 5th Bangkok Triennale International Print and Drawing Exhibition, finalist Hak Tai Gallery, Singapore 2015 Affordable Art Fair Young Talent Programme 2015, winner • Drawing as Draft, Golden Mile Towers, Singapore 2015 NAFA Fine Art Graduation Awards, Woon Brothers Commendation Prize • SG50 Feature Wall – Let’s Celebrate For Charity, Affordable Art Fair Singapore Spring 2015, F1 Pit Building, 2014 CDC/ CCC Bursary, People’s Association (PA), Singapore Singapore. 2014 Tan Chay Bing Scholarship (Diploma), Tan Chay Bing, Singapore • SingaPlural (Design+Makers by Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts), 99, Beach Road, Singapore • Flagship Genius, Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts Annual Feature, Lim Hak Tai Gallery, Singapore 2014 • Singapore-Taiwan Shoebox Show, Sculpture Society Singapore Annual Show, Fort Canning, Singapore 2013 • Second Nature - Wood Sculpture Symposium, Fort Canning, Singapore MADHVI SUBRAHMANIAN (b.1962) Lives and work in Singapore

Born in Mumbai, India, Madhvi Subrahmanian's practice explores the performative intersection between sculpture and installation and is informed by her consistent engagement with the sensuous materiality of clay. Subrahmanian's focus predicates the possibilities and challenges of meditative multiples and immersive installations, through which she contemplates the ever-changing concepts of space and place.

She has exhibited in several solo and group shows both locally and internationally. Among the biennales and trienniales, she has been invited to are the Gyeonggi International Ceramic Biennale 2019, Korea, Indian Ceramics Triennale, 2018, Jaipur, India , Te First Central China Ceramic Biennale, 2016, Henan Museum, China and 3rd Contemporary Jakarta Biennale, 2014, Jakarta, Indonesia.

Subrahmanian's works have been published in international magazines such as Ceramic Art and Perception, Ceramic Review and books such as Contemporary Ceramics by Emmanuel Cooper as well as on the cover of Art India, the premier art journal in India.

She is an elected member of the International Academy of Ceramics, a UNESCO affiliated organization in Geneva; ArtAxis and NCECA, international professional organisations based in the U.S.; and Singapore Sculpture Society. Subrahmanian is also one of the founding members and curators of the Indian Ceramics Triennale. Afer Serra 2021 Madhvi Subrahmanian

Repetition is the ritual of obsession. Repetition is a way to jumpstart the indecision of beginning. To persevere and to begin over and over again is to continue the obsession with work. Work comes out of work. In order to work you must already be working. - Richard Serra

Twirling, twisting, folding, holding, enclosing, encircling- continuous repeated action is the cornerstone of my practice. Repetition quietens my mind and calms my senses. As I repeat the actions, minutes roll into hours, and days melt into weeks, and the continual, physical action in my studio acts to hold my anxieties at bay. Unbeknownst to me there are moments in the studio when my chaotic mind recedes leaving my physical body to roll, swirl, rotate, press, and push on and on.

As I was refecting on the process in my studio, I came across Richard Serra’s list of infnitives titled Verb List, a work from 1968 – I was totally blown away by it. Serra is one of the greatest artists of our time- his large works in rusted metal engulf and consume me within their form. I am always awe struck in the presence of a Serra work.

Following my recent exploration into the world of words with Rolling Pins (2017) and Pandemic Pills (2021) I decided to explore Serra’s Verb List and pay homage to Serra. Engraving some of the words backwards from his Verb List onto a porcelain rolling pin, I commit them permanently onto an object of action from daily life. As I keep working in the studio, I wonder does the repetitive process lead to form? Or does form emerge from continual process? Is process more important than what gets produced? Does repeated physical action result in a quiet mind or does one bring a quiet mind to the space in order to get into the zone of repeated process? Madhvi Subrahmanian Afer Serra #1 2021 Porcelain Approx. H58 x W55 cm

Pg. 50 Madhvi Subrahmanian Afer Serra #2 2021 Porcelain Approx. H58 x W55 cm

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Spiral #2 2021 Madhvi Subrahmanian

Te spiral is fundamental to my work in clay. Layering coil over coil, I build forms that spiral upward, leaving behind the marks of my hand on the skin of the forms. Tis elemental form is intrinsic to my medium and my process. I return repeatedly to the spiral from my early works to recent explorations like Ode to the Unknown and Growth. Te spiral is symbolic of growth and momentum, as seen in the unfolding of ferns and rising of waves and on a snail’s shell it represents protection and containment.

Te spiral pattern has manifested itself in the art, architecture and philosophy of several ancient cultures and countries, ranging from stone-age societies in Europe and pre-dynastic Egypt to countries like China and Peru.

Te installation Spiral #2 is made up of approximately 1000 individually made black and white cones. Te process of twirling, twisting, folding, marking each cone individually in a repetitive manner allows me to enter a meditative state. Each white cone also has a spiral painted on it. Te shapes of the handmade cones are similar to what mathematicians call a Conchospiral or a Conical Spiral - i.e. a spiral on a spiral base.

Lighting thanks to:

Pg. 53 Madhvi Subrahmanian Spiral #2 2021 Stoneware on marine plywood H243 x W122 cm

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MADHVI SUBRAHMANIAN // CV

Solo Exhibitions 2020 Walk and chew gum, Thomas Hunter Project Space, Hunter College, NYC, USA 2017 Mapping Memory, Gallery Chemould, Mumbai, India 2017 Ode to the Unknown, Special commissioned project for India Heritage Centre, Singapore 2012 Absorbing Japan, Japan Creative Center, Singapore 2011 , Indigo Blue Art Gallery, Singapore 2010 Organic/Abstract, Lacoste Gallery, Concord, MA, USA 2010 Organic/Abstract, Chemould Prescott Road Mumbai, India

Group Exhibitions 2021 2015 • Grayscale!, Art Porters Gallery, Singapore • Chawan International Exhibition, Belgium • Singapore Ceramics Now, Gillman Barracks, Singapore • Unfolding Perspective, The Deck, Singapore • Bus Stop Art, Public artworks, Gillman walkway and Alexandra Road bus stop • Six By Six, Australia Ceramics Triennale, Canberra, Australia • An Artist Inspired Space, Playeum, Affordable Art Fair Singapore 2020 • SingaPlural : Celebrating Design, Singapore • Quartz Inversion, online exhibition- artists response to the pandemic • Indo-Korean Collaboration, Chennai, India • Ceramic Sculptures, 079 Stories, Ahmedabad, India • Raindrops, Gillman Barracks, Singapore

2019 2014 • Elements of Mythology, Gallery Ark, Baroda, India • India Art Fair, Chemould Prescott Road, New Delhi, India • Architectural Digest Show, Chemould Prescott Road, Mumbai, India • Singapore-Taiwan Shoe Box Sculpture, Singapore • Gyeonggi International Ceramics Beinnale, Icheon, South Korea • Chawan International Exhibition, Singapore • Modus Operandi II: In Situ: an artist studio, Chemould Prescott Road, Mumbai, India • Bridges, Stainless gallery, New Delhi, India • From Lost Roots to Urban Meadows, The Private museum, Singapore • 3rd Jakarta Contemporary Ceramic Beinnale, Jakarta, Indonesia • 8th Naori Eco- Art Festival, South Korea 2018 • Breaking Ground, Indian Ceramics Triennale, Jawahar Kala Kendra, Jaipur 2013 • Architectural Digest Show, represented by Chemould Prescott Road, Mumbai • Indian Contemporary Ceramics, FuLe International Ceramic Museum, • New Orientalia, Yingee Ceramic Museum, Taipei, Taiwan Fuping, China • Modus Operandi, Chemould Prescott Road, Mumbai • The Black Frame Project, Indigo Blue Art Gallery, Singapore • Printing, Drawings Ceramics, Art Motif Gallery, New Delhi • The Bucket Show, Forum Art Gallery, Chennai, India • Special Projects Booth, Chemould Prescott Road, India Art fair, New Delhi • Traditions Evolving, NCECA, Houston TX, USA • 4th ASNA triennale, Karachi, Pakistan 2017 • From the Ocean to the Silver City, Australian High Commission, Singapore • Here Be Dragons and Other Coded landscapes, Curated by Meera Menezes Sakshi gallery, Mumbai

2016 • Cont(r)act Earth, First Central Ceramic Biennale, Henan Museum, Zhengzhou, China • Tree of Life, Ayala Museum, Manila, Philippines • Across the Table, Across the Land, NCECA, Kansas City, USA • Ceramic View: International Exhibition, National Gallery Bangkok, Thailand MADHVI SUBRAHMANIAN // CV

Curatorial Selected Lectures 2018 Curatorial team for the first India Ceramic Triennale, Breaking Ground at Jawahar Kala Kendra inJaipur. 2021 Artist Talk, NCECA, Online Conference. 2016 Curator of residency at Art Ichol: Exploration, Experimentation and Examination 7 artists from 7 countries, Ichol/ 2020 Artist talk, Clay Art Center, Port Chester, NY Maihar, Madhya Pradesh, India 2019 Artist Talk, Hunter College, New York, New York, USA 2013 Curator of Traditions Evolving: Golden Bridge Pottery and Indian Contemporary Ceramics exhibition as part of 2018 concurrent show in NCECA Houston, TX • Presentation at the 48th General assembly and congress at the International Academy of Ceramics, Taipei, Taiwan Collaborative experiences: • Presentation and workshop at Greenwich House Pottery, Soho, New York, USA 2019 United World College SEA-East Campus, Collaborative Public Artwork with 8th grade students and community • Word and the Image in Art and Society Conference, Asian Civilization Museum, participation Singapore 2017 A collaborative film with Lea Vidakovic based on the rubber tapping cups made for Ode to the Unknown my 2017 Presentation on Ode to the Unknown at Indian Heritage Center, Singapore installation at Indian Heritage Centre, Singapore 2016 2016 Hideaways, An interactive and collaborative program with kids at Playeum, Singapore • Artist Talk at Henan Museum, Zhengzhou, China 2016 Curator of residency and a collaborative project at Art Ichol: Exploration,Experimentation and Examination, • Lecture and workshop at San Diego State University collaboration between 7 artists from 7 countries, resulting in large scale outdoor works. • Talk at Ceramic View conference in Bangkok, Thailand 2013 Rainforest, An interactive and collaborative program with kids at Playeum, Singapore • Lecture at Greenwich House Pottery, NYC, USA 2002 Public art-contemporary ceramics in collaboration- temporary interactive installation consisted of 4 large • Presentations at symposium, Exploration, Experimentation and Examination, rotational columns set on the pavement outside the National Gallery of Modern Art, Mumbai, India. Habitat Center, New Delhi, organized by Madhvi Subrahmanian 1993 Abhimanyu’s Chakravayu: temporary interactive installation, collaborative work in mixed media foyer of Meadows 2015 Tradition and Transition lecture at Austrailian Triennale, Canberra, Museum Of the Arts-Dallas, TX, USA. Australia 2014 • Lecture: At the Jakarta Contemporary Ceramic Beinnale symposium • Lecture: Indian Contemporary Ceramics for Chawan international expo, • Lecture: Ceramics and Community In the Indian Context, Post Museum, CCA, Gillman Barracks, Singapore • Lecture Traditions and Transitions, talk on ceramics in India from traditional to contemporary at the Asian Civilization Museum Singapore. 2013 Talk By Artists, Presentation at Gyeonggi International Ceramic biennale, Incheon, Korea

Education 2002 Charles Wallace Scholarship work/study with Kate Malone, London, UK 1994 Assistant to William Daley, Haystack School of Crafts, Maine, USA 1993 Summer school with Val Cushing, Alfred University, NY, USA. 1993 Masters in Fine Arts, Meadows School of the Arts, SMU, Dallas, TX, USA 1990 Assistant to Warren Mackenzie, Peters Valley, Layton, NJ. USA 1985 Golden Bridge Pottery with Ray Meeker and Deborah Smith, Pondicherry, India YANYUN CHEN (b. 1986) Lives and work in Singapore

Dr. Yanyun Chen is a visual artist, and runs a drawing, new media and installation practice. Her works delve into the aesthetic, cultural and technological inheritances on one’s body, unravelling fctional and philosophical notions of embodiment, and are grounded in the physicality of human and botanical forms. She builds two trains of thought throughout her works: on bodies and on constructs: in the former, she researches cultural wounds, dowry traditions, hereditary scars, philosophies of nudities, and etymology, and investigates stories as a skin which we wear; in the latter, she questions memorialising the artifce in art as opposed to being present to the experience of witnessing withering and death of what is outside of one’s self.

She received the prestigious National Arts Council Young Artist Award (2020), Singapore’s highest award for young arts practitioners, aged 35 and below. Her works were also awarded the Prague International Indie Film Festival Q3 Best Animation Award (2020), ArtOutreach IMPART Visual Artist Award (2019), National Youth Film Awards Best Art Direction Award (2019), Singapore Art Museum President’s Young Talents People’s Choice Award (2018), Japan Media Arts Festival (2012) and Lee Kuan Yew Gold Medal Award (2009). She is listed on Tatler’s Asia’s Most Infuential: Te Culture List (2021).

Chen graduated from the European Graduate School Philosophy, Art, and Critical Tought PhD programme (2018), its Communications MA programme (2014), and Nanyang Technological University School of Art Design and Media Digital Animation programme (2009). She is the Arts Practice Coordinator and Lecturer for the Humanities division of Yale- NUS College in Singapore, the founder of illustration and animation studio Piplatchka, and a partner of publishing house Delere Press LLP. Outside of Singapore, her works have been exhibited internationally, including Buenos Aires, South Korea, Canada, USA, Belarus, Te Netherlands and Czech Republic. Constructing Mementos: Nation States I & II 2021 Yanyun Chen Animation with Alex Scollay

When it comes to the construction of a national identity, a fower is selected to engender national pride. In 1981, Singapore honors Miss Agnes Joaquim, the frst woman in the world to have created a hybrid in her garden in 1893, by picking her, the Vanda Miss Joaquim as an emblem for the nation state. However with Te Garden City having evolved into A City in a Garden, the hybrid’s role, alongside the surrounding fora and fauna, transformed from one of being part of the city to one is relegated to the fringes, clinging on against the inevitable construction which have consumed the skyline. It is pushed out, redefned, reconstructed, manicured, and virtualised. What survives is a memory of a construct, a representation drawn from representation, rotating indefnitely in the abyss of reconstruction, performing naturalness.

Constructing Mementos: Nation States I & II expands notions of the constructions of true and false memory from False Truths (2020), frst presented by Art Porters Gallery for SEA Focus 2020.

Pg. 60 Yanyun Chen, animation w/ Alex Scollay Constructing Mementos: Nation States I 2021

Drawing (lef): Charcoal on Paper H90 x W20 cm Frame: H100 x W30 cm

Animation (right): MP4, 1280 x 800 resolution Approx. 2.5 minutes loop Screen H30 cm x W20 cm Frame: H100 x W30 cm

Pg. 55 Pg. 61 Constructing Mementos: Nation States I Drawing (detail)

Pg. 62 Constructing Mementos: Nation States I Drawing (detail)

Pg. 63 Constructing Mementos: Nation States I Animation (still) Pg. 64 Yanyun Chen, animation w/ Alex Scollay Constructing Mementos: Nation States II 2021

Animation (lef): MP4, 1280 x 800 resolution Approx. 2.5 minutes loop Screen H30 cm x W20 cm Frame: H100 x W30 cm

Drawing (right): Charcoal on Paper H90 x W20 cm Frame: H100 x W30 cm

Pg. 65 Constructing Mementos: Nation States II Drawing (detail)

Pg. 66 Constructing Mementos: Nation States II Drawing (detail)

Pg. 67 Constructing Mementos: Nation States II Animation (still) Pg. 68 YANYUN CHEN // CV

Solo Exhibitions Art Awards 2020 False Truths, Art Porters @ SEA Focus 2020, Singapore 2020 2019 Stories of a Woman and her Dowry, Grey Projects, Singapore • National Arts Council Young Artist Award 2019 Variations and Variables, National University of Singapore Arts Festival, Singapore • Prague International Indie Film Festival Q3 “Best Animation Short” For Women in Rage. 2018 Scars that write us, Singapore Art Museum, Singapore 2019 2018 Flower Flights, Art Porters, Singapore • Best Art Direction National Youth Film Awards for “Automatonomy” 2016 Chasing Flowers, NUSS, Singapore • Art Outreach IMPART Awards Visual Arts Winner 2018 President’s Young Talents People’s Choice Award Group Exhibitions 2013 Best Figure Drawing, The Florence Academy of Art, Sweden 2021 2012 • Grayscale!, Art Porters Gallery, Singapore • Japan Media Arts Festival Jury Selection Award • Art Fair Philippines, Philippines • Eco-awareness flash game “Jimmyfish” team project • Mirazur x The Mandala Club, Singapore • Media Development Authority (Singapore) Travel Grant 2012 • Moscow Indie Film Festival 2021, Russia • The Body as a Dream, Art Agenda S.E.A. (AASEA), Singapore Education Open to Interpretation, Asian Art Institutum, Singapore • 2012-2018 2020 European Graduate School, Saas Fee, Switzerland • Cartoons Underground, Singapore Doctor of Philosophy (Summa cum Laude) • Los Angeles Animation Festival, USA Master of Arts in Communication (Distinction) • Montreal International Animation Film Festival, Canada • Singapore Tyler Print Institute, Singapore 2013 • Streets of Hope, National Art Council, Singapore The Florence Academy of Art, Molndal, Sweden Bienal de la Imagen en Movimiento BIM 2020, Buenos Aires, Argentina • Intensive Drawing Course • Appetite by Restaurant Nouri, Singapore • Prague International Indie Film Festival, Czech Republic Media Development Authorities (Singapore) Talent Assistance and • Leiden International Short Film Experience, Netherlands Training Allowance Grant 2013 ; Best Figure Drawing of the year 2013 • Clouds: The 6th International Exhibition on New Media Art 2020, CICA Museum, South Korea • Nefiltravanae Kino Short Movie Club Film Festival “Unfiltered Cinema”, Minsk, Belarus 2009 Puppets in Prague, Prague, Czech Republic 2019 Marionette Carving and Puppets for Animated Film Workshops • Fiction Non Fiction, Cultural Affairs Bureau, Macau National Youth Council (Singapore) Grant 2009 • 2291: Futures Imagined, Art Science Museum, Singapore • Remedy for Rage, Objectifs, Singapore 2005-2009 Singapore Utopia, ChanHori Contemporary, Singapore • Nanyang Technological University, School of Art, Design, and Media, Singapore • Raw Forms, Coda Culture, Singapore • 2018 Still, Singapore Life, Art Seasons Gallery, Singapore Bachelor of Fine Arts, Digital Animation (1st class honours) • Auguries of Modern Innocence, The Arts House, Singapore Lee Kuan Yew Gold Medal Award 2009 ; Nanyang Scholarship 2005-2009 2016 • Untapped Emerging, Shophouse 5, Visual Arts Development Association, Singapore 2008 • Spirit of Place, (part of Liao Jiekai’s The Drawing Room), Jendela Visual Arts Space, Singapore The Animation Workshop, Viborg, Denmark • What! Another Exhibition? (with Singapore Horn Trio), Esplanade Recital Studio, Singapore 3d Character Animation Workshop and The Drawing Academy 2015 Media Development Authority (Singapore) • Studying Life, Artistry, Singapore Capabilities Development Grant 2008 • Noise Singapore 2015 Festival Exhibition, Singapore • Fresh Takes, ChanHampe Gallery, Singapore 2003-2004 • The Mill Destruction & Rebirth, The Mill, Singapore National Junior College, Singapore Ministry of Education Art Elective Programme Scholarship 2003-2004 2014 Sapphire Scholars Programme 2003-2004 • Floral Magic x On Pedder, Singapore • Noise Singapore 2014 Festival Exhibition, Singapore YANYUN CHEN // CV

Press 2021 2018 • The Artling “The Mirazur Art Collection: Revealing the Artist Line-Up” • T Singapore “A Wall Of Flowers For An Art Exhibition” • Art and Market “Pass the Mic Episode 2 | Yanyun Chen on Latiff Mohidin” • 联合早报 “艺术星势力” • Objectifs Film Library “Film Club Recap: The Drawing Room and Episodes from Art Studio” • Rice Media “What does art look like to the people who stare at it everyday?” • Tatler Singapore “Meet Asia’s Most Influential: The Culture List 2021” • Straits Times: “Risk elements help visual artist clinch grand prize at President’s Young Talents awards” • Straits Times “Rare nudes by local artists on show” • Straits Times: “What artworks reside in the homes of Singapore artists?” 2020 • Straits Times: “Arts picks: Charcoal drawings of flowers, Singapore Chinese Orchestra Young People’s nostalgia concert” • Straits Times “My Perfect Weekend” • Buro247: “How to be an artist in Singapore, according to President Young Talents’ artists” • Yale-NUS College “15 December 2020: Yale-NUS lecturer Dr Yanyun Chen wins prestigious Young Artist Award 2020” • AList: “Baring skin, scars and personal stories” • SAGG “Six arts practitioners awarded with Singapore’s top arts accolades” • Straits Times: “President’s Young Talents exhibition: Digging Deeper for Inspiration” • Straits Times “Artistic giants” • Bak Chor Mee Boy: “Museum Musings: President’s Young Talents 2018 at Singapore Art Museum” • Straits Times “2020 Young Artist Award recipients count their blessings in a pandemic year” • The Artling: “Of Soil & Scars: The President’s Young Talents Finalists 2018.” • 联合早报: “六杰出艺术家获颁2020年文化奖与青年艺术奖” • BlouinArtifino: “7th Edition of President’s Young Talents at Singapore Art Museum” • Straits Times: “Soil and scars on display as part of the President’s Young Talents 2018 exhibition” • 联合早报: “在实践中 不断探索与质问” • Straits Times: “National Gallery Hit or Miss?” • 联合早报: “用创作回应 艺术的召唤” • Timeout “Sarkasi Said and Dr. Vincent Leow are the 2020 Cultural Medallion recipients” 2017 Glass: A Journal of Poetry “Review of ‘It’s Fiction’ by Yanyun Chen” • Sinema “Six Outstanding Arts Practitioners Awarded With Singapore’s Top Arts Accolades” 2016 • Asian Movie Pulse “Short Film Review: Women in Rage (2020) by Chen Yanyun, Sara Chong” • 联合早报 “南艺三校友 让音乐与绘画摩擦碰撞” • Appetite SG “In conversation with Yanyun Chen” • Art Hop “A post-mortem reflection: Yanyun Chen’s Chasing Flowers” • Vulture Magazine “Cultural Crossroads” • NUSS Guild House: Chasing Flowers • Patron of the Arts Award 2020 Live Stream Celebrations • Harper’s Bazaar Art Prize “Art on Sale” • Bak Chor Mee Boy “Museum musings: 2219 - Futures Imagined at Art Science Museum” • Yale-NUS College “27 March 2020: J Y Pillay and Georgette Chen Fellowships support Arts and Humanities 2015 professors’ research” • Nitram Charcoal: Artist Feature • SilverKris March 2020 “The SQ Curators” • Female Magazine “Singapore Artist Yanyun Chen’s Still Life Drawings are Hauntingly Beautiful” • Gallery & Studio Volume Five 2015 “History Redefined” 2019 • Culturepush “Exhib! 追花. Chasing Flowers by Yanyun Chen” • Straits Times “A robot dystopia in Singapore” • Straits Times “Stop-motion animation about humans and robots among winners at National Youth Film Awards” 2010 Culturepush “Spotted! Yanyun Chen” • Object Lessons Space: “Yanyun Chen on Navigating the Nude, the Pulsating Qualities of Charcoal and Creating Autofictional Installations” • Bak Chor Mee Boy: “Museum Musings: Stories of a Woman and Her Dowry by Yanyun Chen” • Straits Times: “Is $2,000 worth paying for a young artist’s work?” • 联合早报: “陈彦云个展： 两代嫁妆 三代女人的故事” • Art World Forum “Defining An Artist with Yanyun Chen, “Someone Who Designs the Very Framework of “Responsibility”” • Bak Chor Mee Boy: “NUS Arts Festival 2019: Variations and Variables (Review)” • NUS Staff Awards: “Impactful work wins visual art award” • Female Magazine: “Defenders of the Lost Arts” • Rice Media “Life after Recognition: Does being an artist get easier after winning an award?” • Plural Art Magazine “The Language of Flowers” • Larmoire “In conversation : Floral Magic” Art Porters is proudly supporting KHOJ International Artists’ Association in honour of Ms Savita Apte

GALLERY INFO

Art Porters Gallery, 64 Spottiswoode Park Road, Singapore 088652 +65 6909 0468 Daily from 10.30am to 7.00pm (Monday by appointment)

Guillaume Levy-Lambert [email protected] +65 9815 1780 Sean Soh [email protected] +65 9105 9335 Melvin Sim [email protected] +65 9144 7468 www.artporters.com www.facebook.com/artporters www.instagram.com/artporters