EY Asean Art Outreach Asean Art Outreach Contemporary Asian Landscapes Presented by Chankerk Chankerk 1 Ernst & Young Solutions LLP One Raffles Quay, North Tower, Level 18, Singapore 048583 2 About the artists Chankerk Chankerk’s work employs energetic, impulsive, bold brushstrokes to communicate a sense of dynamism and fluxus within the context of urbanization. His paintings are marked by spontaneity and immediacy, informed by first-hand observations. Diffused, abstract depictions of local shop houses, streets and skyscrapers reflect the rapid changes across the Singaporean landscape, rendering familiar scenes as homogenous urban territories. Chankerk’s visual vocabulary also extends to discussions of migration and globalization by incorporating iconic cultural and historical symbols to reflect an inter-mixed, harmonious global identity in his Melting Pot series. Chankerk completed his Diploma in Oil Painting at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts in 1993. In 1994, he co-founded Impasto Art Junction, a painting center for adults, and in 2005 he founded My Art Space at Istana Park, where he teaches painting and art appreciation. He was also chairman of Sentosa Artists Village from 2001 to 2004. “As an artist, you don’t capture a thing as it is; you capture it as you want to express it.” Lau Pa Sat from Raffles Quay Road(detail) full image on page 18 1 Foreword We are pleased to present the 19th EY Asean Art Outreach program, featuring Malaysia-born, Max Loh 3 Singapore-based artist, Chankerk. In his latest exhibition Contemporary Asian Landscapes, Chankerk showcases 21 paintings depicting abstracts of local shop houses, streets and landmarks Introduction to the exhibition 5 and the ever changing Singapore landscape, including other Asian destinations like Bali, Japan and Cambodia. A graduate of the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, Chankerk is active in teaching painting and art appreciation, having founded My Art Space in 2005. Between the lines 6 Started in 2007 as part of EY’s corporate social responsibility program, the Asean Art Outreach Artworks 8 Foreword, Max Loh provides a platform for artistic talents in the region to display their works in our office gallery. With the aim of encouraging and supporting these young talents, it also provides an opportunity Index of artworks 32 for our clients, staff, and the public to appreciate the vibrant art scene here in Southeast Asia. These series of exhibitions are held once every four months and features different artists from Biography 34 the Asean region including artists from Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines, Myanmar, Indonesia and Vietnam. Proceeds from the sale of works will not only help the artists, but a portion will also be set aside to benefit charitable causes. Through our established position in the business community and our efforts in this outreach program, we hope to bring art closer to our network of clients and friends as well as connect us to business and government leaders in our communities. I hope you will enjoy Chankerk’s works as much as we did in bringing this exhibition to you. The write-ups on the artist expressed in this catalog are that of the writer’s own views and do not necessarily reflect the views of members of the global EY Max Loh organization. Published in conjunction with the exhibition: Contemporary Asian Landscapes. Managing Partner, Asean and Singapore Designed and produced by: Ernst & Young Solutions LLP Bug bug fishing village Bali(detail) One Raffles Quay, North Tower, Level 18, Singapore 048583 full image on page 15 Phone: +65 6535 7777 Fax: +65 6532 7662 2 3 Introduction to the exhibition — Benjamin Milton Hampe, Chan Hampe Galleries Our gallery started in tandem with an arts organization led by Chankerk on the fourth floor of a heritage building in Tanjong Pagar in 2008. It is here — amongst the shop houses, temples, and food stalls — that Chankerk worked furiously away on his popular Chinatown series, which launched an annual series of exhibitions exploring heritage and cultural aspects of Singapore’s urban environment. Today, Chankerk’s vigorously brushed urban landscapes feature locations familiar to most Singaporeans. However, on closer inspection, one finds that not only is the perspective presented often askew, one’s sense of time is also disrupted as the historical and contemporary elements from the site portrayed often overlap. The end result being impressionistic works of the city in a state of flux, reflecting the tension that exists between the past and the present in Singapore and its evolving geographic landscape and social climate. For this special exhibition for EY Asean Art Outreach, Chankerk has widened his oeuvre to include more far-flung Asian locales such as Bali (Indonesia), Osaka (Japan), and Siem Reap (Cambodia). Chan Hampe Galleries sincerely thanks EY Singapore for their unwavering support for arts and culture in the region through their long-standing art program. It is initiatives such as this that bridge divides between communities and open our eyes to new perspectives. Please enjoy Chankerk’s Contemporary Asian Landscapes. Pond series no. 8 (detail) full image on page 19 4 5 ‘Sensing’ a painting is an interesting way to approach his paintings of Bali. Of the boat-lined coast of Amed, for Between the lines instance, there are no details that belabor verisimilitude; we instinctively make out the repeated white lines to be — Yvonne Xu boats that stand out against blue-green seas and earth-toned hills. In these paintings, we may observe the time- space dimension and the ‘fast forward’ sequence that Chankerk speaks of. The boats may be moored, but their energetic, white lines suggest they are on shore only ready to launch again. The hills are riots of colors: there are rich greens evocative of lush vegetation as there are blots of barren yellows and browns; this is not hills ‘as they With their distorted perspectives, exaggerated scales, montaged arrangements and are’, but hills with their entire cyclic nature represented on a hyper-lapsed canvas. disarrangements, Chankerk’s works are Expressionist depictions of worlds as they are felt rather than seen. To the artist, for whom self-expression drives a primary creative impulse, For most artists, the creation of an individual style is crucial to their artistic careers. Chankerk has worked the canvas is a place that bears and carries personal preoccupations. towards creating a signature aesthetic that is interesting when we come to consider his latest Pond series. In terms of subject, one might trace a loose movement from the dense urban streetscapes to small towns and ‘These are my comments on social issues, mostly,’ Chankerk says. ‘But they are not inhabited coastal scenes, and now, to more natural settings. How would a lotus pond, free of human agency, conclusive statements. I like a bit of ambiguity.’ Chankerk paints spontaneously and figure as Chankerk’s subject? viscerally; and more urgently, he asks us to read between the lines. Facets, disjoints, and fractures in his compositional schemes are the in-between, tension-streaked loci Chankerk reveals the pond in question is located in Istana Park, where his studio and the art café-gallery- where we might seek out the artist’s messages. What is being said? workshop space he runs is situated too. He has observed that the pond is a favorite subject for many of his students. ‘It is popular because Monet painted lilies. This gave me a new idea… the idea of wallflower, of the In his paintings of street scenes in Singapore, old, low-rise buildings often occupy the vanity of art.’ pictorial foreground ominously and heavily, and are juxtaposed with gleaming glass-and- steel skyscrapers brushed in lighter, brighter colors in the background. These montaged When he painted his ponds, Monet famously worked on several canvases at once, furiously following the change images, depicted on inclined planes and with quick, disjointed brushstrokes, evoke the of light. Chankerk’s unfinished series is a range that registers different atmospheric conditions; presumably, they sense of dislocation, uncertainty, change, and movement. Chankerk’s street paintings are were created at different times of the day. often read as commentary on the disorientating speed of Singapore’s urban redevelopment. It is a valid interpretation, the artist says, but he clarifies that it is the feelings evoked, rather than the forms depicted, that deliver his message. ‘When I say urgency, speed, it’s Yet, these are not merely an Impressionist’s ponds. The beauty of nature is not what Chankerk is after. not physical… It is the rollercoaster inside.’ The subject, the pond, remains unchanged. Like Monet’s, these ponds are worlds unto themselves. In these Understood this way, the tilted horizons, the ascents, the tight turns and steep falls on works, Chankerk doesn’t employ the montage, what he calls the ‘melting pot of symbols’. And instead of a Chankerk’s canvas gain meaning. The rollercoaster also calls to mind ideas of speed and gathering of speed, there is a gathering of energy. The series is a keen study of the symbolic: of the water lily in velocity, suggestive of distance and displacement — sentiments that the Malaysia-born, the history of painting, of the floral in the tradition of the decorative arts, and, not least of all, of the lotus in the Singapore-based artist still negotiates with. Asian context. These works are dialogs between both a painter and his subject, and an artist and his tradition. Chankerk adds that his paintings are not merely images to him; they are montaged The pond itself is an interesting ‘time-space’ for Chankerk. Set in a small park in a bustling city center, the city sequences. He explains this with an analogy: ‘It is like still photography versus MTV [music thoroughfare is a stone’s throw away.