Fan Chang Tien, Executed in Ill Health 抱病三月初试笔, 1987, Chinese ink on paper, 35 x 45 cm
Featuring a collection of about 25 ink works by the first-generation master, this show is a timely follow-up to last year’s successful exhibition in Beijing, Fan Chang Tien: Homecoming of a Heritage held at the China International Cultural Exchange Centre from 21 to 30 August 2019. Fan Chang Tien’s work has been very well-received in China and it is only natural that his artistic journey and achievements should also be celebrated in Singapore, where he dedicated much of his life to art and helped nurtured a new generation of local ink artists. Some of his notable students include Nai Swee Leng, Lim Kay Hiong, Tan Oe Pang, Henri Chen Kezhan, Lim Cher Eng, and Chua Ek Kay. Being a link between the haipai tradition in China and the burgeoning art scene in Singapore, Fan was essential in providing Singaporean artists an alternative mode of modernist ink paintings that, though with an entwined heritage, was ultimately different from that taught in NAFA.
Fan Chang Tien: The Timeless Ink Heritage is curated by historian Tan Yong Jun and aims to uncover the many facets of Fan’s adherence to classicism and traditionality – aspects of his art that continue to be relevant today as his students further posit the form of a ‘new literati painting’. In addition to his ink work, a selection of Fan’s seals – self-carved or carved by other artists – and personal items from his study will be on display to provide audience a broader perspective on his artistic practice. We hope to show that rather than being slavishly bound to older forms, Fan innovated on tradition in order to draw cultural meanings from tradition, and in doing so made sense of his cultural Chineseness in diaspora.
Official Opening and Panel Discussion: 4 January 2020, Saturday
Opening, 3 – 4pm
Panel Discussion: The Life and Art of Fan Chang Tien, 4 – 6pm
Speakers: Mr Teo Han Wue, Mr Ho Sou Ping, Mrs Teresa Yao, and moderated by Mr Tan Yong Jun
*Please note that the panel discussion will be held in English.
Venue: artcommune gallery, 76 Bras Basah Road, #01-01 Carlton Hotel, Singapore 189558
When: 3 - 19 Jan 2020, 12noon - 7pm
