不/ 存在
Absent But Present
DUO EXHIBITION (2021)
in collaboration with 罗清 Luo Qing,
at Art Seasons, Singapore
11 November 2021 - 30 December 2021
When Art Seasons first showed me works by veteran artist Luo Qing, I was impressed at how natural and fluid a painter Luo Qing is, with his emotionally honest depictions of industrial China and more recently, the psychological inner-worlds of human beings.
Thus, when both of us artists agreed with Art Seasons to work on a duo-exhibition together, I naturally found it interesting that two of us, "painter's painters", had to discuss ideas through video calls and messaging, well knowing we wouldn't meet in person to talk. My mind centered around the contrasts between video-calls and painting as forms of image making and communication.
The former is a relatively new form of image making, a technology that keeps improving as the years go by. Many of us use video calls for communication these days, yet, Covid has shown us too, beyond its practical uses, there's still something missing in this form of image making, that leaves us longing for physical connection especially over the long course of lockdowns.
In contrast, when one looks at a painting, an ancient form of communication and image making, even by an artist who's long dead, there may be a profound sense of connection with what one sees in the painting.
This strange paradox of being connected yet disconnected, and vice versa, in human relations, came to the fore.
ABSENT BUT PRESENT was birthed on such premises. Both Luo Qing and I explore the realms between desired connection and utter alienation, as artists approaching these ideas from our respective artistic directions and contexts.
This show is meaningful for me, as I meditate on the severed connection, as a result of Covid, with a loved one.