iPRECIATION will be presenting a group exhibition titled “Afterimage…” featuring five contemporary painters from Singapore, Japan and Philippines. They are Hilmi Johandi (Singapore), Khairulddin Wahab (Singapore), Jon Chan (Singapore), Kenichiro Fukumoto (Japan) and Allan Balisi (Philippines). The exhibition will include a weekend artists’ talk. The five artists featured in this exhibition work primarily with the medium of paint; the common thread that runs through their practice is the individual inquiry into the hyper visual culture they are situated in. The works on showcase were created in light of this position and offer diverging perspectives on the afterimage.
Hilmi Johandi (b. 1987, Singapore) graduated from Lasalle College of the Arts, Singapore, with a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Fine Arts in 2013. He uses cinematic language to develop methods of compressing temporal and physical spaces into non-linear narratives in his paintings. He composes and synthesises images from films, archival footages and photographs into fragmented montages that often hint at the social effects of rapid development, and the conflicts between traditional and modern ways of living. In the “Great World City” series, suburban normality is infiltrated by an almost unnoticeable surrealism and meta-physicality. Exploiting his media to its full potential, he constructs and negotiates his imagined spaces like puzzle pieces, layer upon layer, each added element further pushing the boundaries of perceived space and narrative. The documentary quality of these images impersonates a sensibility like déjà vu, making viewers feel like they’ve stepped into a world that’s both familiar and unreal. Hilmi has been involved in group exhibitions such as Eagles Fly, Sheep Flock at the Southeast Asia Platform with Art Stage Singapore (2015); Primavera 4 with Dena Foundation in Galerie Frédéric Lacroix, Paris (2015); Portraits in Verses with Fred Torres Gallery in New York (2015); Peculiar Textures with Galerie Steph in Singapore (2015); and Flux – City of Change with Strarta Art Fair in Saatchi Gallery, London (2013).
Khairulddin Wahab (b. 1990, Singapore) graduated from Lasalle College of the Arts, in 2014, with a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Fine Arts. His artistic practice is informed by his interest in the politics of representation and the philosophy of photography. His interest in the photographic image stems from its significance as a site for memory, history and the emergence of a hyper visual culture in the digital age. His paintings inquire on the authenticity of representation and the construction of its meaning. He has participated in many group exhibitions, including “Art of ASEAN: Our Exhibition” (Bank Negara Malaysia Museum and Art Gallery, 2015), “Grass is Greener on the Other Side” (Winston Oh Research Award, Project Space, Singapore, 2014) and the Arte Laguna Prize Exhibition (Romanian Institute, Venice, Italy, 2013).
Jon Chan (b. 1982, Singapore) graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (First Class Honours) in 2007, and a Masters of Fine Arts from LASALLE College of the Arts, Singapore, in 2008. Chan is the winner of the 2003 and 2007 Winston Oh Travel Award. He was also the winner of the Japanese Chamber of Commerce and Industry Arts award in 2007. In 2016, he presented a series of works in “Paraphernalia”, a solo exhibition at Grey Projects, Singapore. He has also participated in group exhibitions including “Visual Rage” (Institute of Contemporary Arts, Singapore, 2007) and “Departure 2” (iPreciation Gallery, Singapore, 2016). In his body of work for this exhibition, there is a dichotomy between mediated images and how they either intrude or merge with everyday vicissitudes. He is interested in focusing on narratives without the presence of figures. By doing so, he hopes to highlight the unseen structures and borders that govern space both physically and metaphorically.
Allan Ballisi (b. 1982, Philippines) holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Major in Advertising) from the Far Eastern University, Manila, Philippines (2005). His works often possess a strong narrative undercurrent, despite its fragmentary albeit figural nature. He extracts and isolates his subjects from their original contexts and re-encodes them with new ones, mostly as surrogate experiences and borrowed memories, with which he attempts to decrypt and mitigate his personal confusions on matters such as memory and history. His solo and group exhibitions include “Five Paintings” (Blanc Gallery, Manila, 2013), “We are Awake Elsewhere” (Richard Koh Fine Art, Singapore, 2012) and “End Result” (Light & Space Contemporary, Manila). He has also previously been short-listed for the Ateneo Art Awards in 2009 and 2013.
Kenichiro Fukumoto (b. 1986, Hiroshima, Japan) studied at Lasalle College of the Arts, Singapore, as an exchange student in 2013. In 2014, he graduated with a Masters of Fine Arts (Painting) from Tokyo National University of the Arts. He was also awarded the Tokyo Wonder Wall Prize and Art Award Tokyo Marunouchi in 2014. He has exhibited in solo and group exhibitions, including the “TWS Emerging – Open Call Exhibition” (Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building, 2014) and “Cross Encounters” (Japan Creative Center – Japan Embassy, Singapore, 2013). His works frequently explore self-created forms and images among the various shapes found in the realms of fine arts, industrial art, folk crafts and decorative art. Since 2013, he has been influenced by tropical plants and other elements of nature he encounters while travelling around South East Asia.
Artist Talk: Saturday, 18 February 2017, 2pm
Exhibition Period: 17th February – 4th March 2017
Venue: iPRECIATION (誰先覺), 50 Cuscaden Road, HPL House #01-01, Singapore 249724
Opening Hours: Mon – Fri: 10am – 7pm, Sat: 11am – 6pm
When: 17 Feb - 4 Mar 2017, 10am - 7pm
By: iPRECIATION
