Photo courtesy of Hélène Le Chatelier
For Voilah! 2016, the French festival in Singapore, Intersections proposes a second chapter of the InkMagination project presented in 2015. Called “Autographic Matters”, this new chapter continues the exploration of the inkwash technique by contemporary artists and the search for intersections between western and eastern traditions.
This exploration will lead us through the “Three Perfections”, painting, poetry and calligraphy, in the work of two Singaporean artists, June Lee Yu Juan and Calvin Pang, and two French artists Hélène Le Chatelier and Syv Bruzeau.
“Calligraphic Matters”, by June, reminds us that calligraphy is first and foremost the expression of life and energy. Traditionally trained in calligraphy in Singapore and initiated into contemporary mediums in Australia, June uses calligraphy as a soul writing technique. Her artworks symbolize the fruitful encounter between her Chinese roots and modernity. Her artistic practice reflects also the inner struggle induced by the tension between tradition and modernity.
Inspired by literature, Calvin Pang uses paper and texts as artistic mediums. He lets his thoughts express themselves freely in new artistic forms, which are neither proses nor poems but ideographic printed stories. With « Going Home » a book in English and Chinese Pang expresses his quest for family roots and his longing for identity. Presented on tracing paper, each piece of work can only be accessed comfortably while in transition to the next – an act which brings focus to the journey from one point to another.
Hélène Le Chatelier’s new series, “Writing” and “Autographic”, integrate abstract writings into her usual inkscapes. In “Writing” the curvic lines scribbled on the paper allude to the energy deployed to inscribe our own life line and find our own path. In “Autographic” writing can be seen as heart beat recordings striving to analyze the universal and recurring question of living. Automatic writing reflects our personal breathing and our life rhythm. Connected by their focus on the passage of time, Hélène and Pang have collaborated to create an installation, which stages the confluence and paradox between impermanence and writing as a desperate and touching attempt to live, a possible memory’s electrocardiogram recording the fragile and ephemeral traces of our lives.
Following the curatorial line proposed by Daryl Goh, their installation alludes to a tree of life with its multiple roots. Like June, Syv draws on her identity and experience to create poetic installations and dances, which are uniquely personal and nevertheless in conversation with the other artworks. Just for an ephemeral moment, she will be mapping her autography with its many faces and memories. Here is she, nothing but energy. Calligraphy will be danced!
Exhibition Duration: 19 May – 26 June 2016
Performance by Syv Bruzeau: “Autographic Does not Matter”
9 and 14 June, 7.30pm at Intersections
Venue: Intersections Gallery, 34 Kandahar Street, Singapore 198892
Hours: Wednesday to Sunday: 2pm to 7pm
Closed on Monday, Tuesday & PH
Admission is free
