• News
  • Add Your Events
  • Support & Advertise
  • Contact Us

Logo

Navigation
  • Art News
  • Art Listings
    • Current Exhibitions
    • Upcoming Exhibitions
    • Auctions
    • Workshops
    • Talks
    • Guided Tours
    • Festivals, Markets, Parties
    • Kids’ & Families’ Events
    • Performances
    • Film
    • Open Calls
  • Art Venues

‘Gone By, Just Before The Present Time’ – An Exhibition by Chen Sai Hua Kuan and Wang Ruobing

‘Gone By, Just Before The Present Time’ features the latest mixed-media works co-created by artists Chen Sai Hua Kuan and Wang Ruobing. As suggested by the title, the works explore both artists’ personal and collective memories of historical landmarks in Singapore. Derived from a familiar form of child’s play, where images overlap and form optical illusions, the installation works allow viewers to participate in an interactive experience as they walk pass. In doing so, the viewer’s abstract sense of memories and places are translated into visual perception, hence being reminded of the transitory present. The exhibition leads viewers down memory lane through old and new landmarks featured in the works, such as the former National Library building which was demolished to make way for the Fort Canning Tunnel, and the Lau Pa Sat food centre which is now surrounded by skyscrapers. The complex images dispel the sense of familiarity that is associated with these iconic landmarks and highlights the relationship between heritage and tradition. Through such an approach, both artists demonstrate the ways in which images of the past change over time and how the past is being used for present progress.

Chen Sai Hua Kuan (b. 1976, Singapore) holds a Diploma in Fine Arts from LASALLE College of the Arts (1997) and a Master’s Degree in Fine Arts from the Slade School of Fine Art, University College London (2007). His art practices extend across a wide range of methods and approaches, including film, mixed media, performance, photography, sculpture, sound and installation. His work often centres around the exploration of space and time in relation to architectural concerns. Sai takes inspiration from everyday materials and experiences in the environment. By ‘documenting, collecting, constructing and deconstructing them’, he subverts the meaning of these objects and situations, altering the usual ways in which they are perceived in daily life. Sai’s works have been exhibited extensively in many solo and group exhibitions, including “Sound Like”, (2016, Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin), “Ling Ting 2”, (2016, ENVISION: Sculptures @ the Garden City, Singapore) and (2015, Grand Palais Paris, Art Paris Art Fair), “Singapore Eye”, (2015, Saatchi Gallery, London), “Space Drawing”, (2014, OSAGE Gallery, Hong Kong), “Sound of the Earth” (2013, Fukuoka Asian Art Museum, Japan); ‘EV+A’ (2010, Ireland); ‘Moscow International Biennale for Young Art’ (2010, Russia); “Busan International Short Film Festival”, (2010 Busan, South Korea); ‘14th Media Art Biennale WRO’ (2011, Poland); ‘Luleå Art Biennial’ (2011, Sweden), and “International Festival for Arts and Media Yokohama” (2009, Yokohama, Japan).

Wang Ruobing (b. 1975, Chengdu, China). Wang was born in Chengdu, China and studied at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, Singapore, where she graduated with a diploma in 1997. She went on to study at LASALLE College of the Arts (1997) and University of London (2001). In 2005, she became a citizen of Singapore and has since been based here, practising art and also taking on various projects as a curator and researcher. She later received her Doctorate degree in Philosophy of Fine Art from Oxford University in 2010, on the Ruskin scholarship, and Lamb and Flag scholarships. From 2011 to 2014, she worked at the National Gallery Singapore as a curator and is currently lecturing at LASALLE College of the Arts. Wang adopts diverse methods in the process of her projects, of which comprises installation, sculpture, photograph and video. Her work challenges and explores ways of seeing, often disrupting perception and highlighting the anthropological nature of her subjects. She frequently works with found objects and spaces from everyday life, correlating them with social, political, urban and environmental issues. She has participated in several solo and group exhibitions, including “Over the Horizon” (2016, The Concourse, Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay, Singapore), “#TransActing: A Market of Values” (2015, Chelsea College of Arts, London, UK), “Follies for è birds”, (2014, National Museum, Singapore), “The Earthly World” (2010, The Ruskin School of Drawing and Fine Art and The Dolphin Gallery, UK), “EVA International” (2010, Limerick, Ireland), “Green For Something” (2010, Mora Gallery, Bucharest, Romania, 2010), “Perfect Forest – Seeded II” (2004, The Substation Gallery, Singapore), “Seeded I” (1999, The Substation Gallery, Singapore).

Venue: iPRECIATION (誰先覺), 50 Cuscaden Road, HPL House #01-01, Singapore 249724

When: 11 - 26 Nov 2016,

By: iPRECIATION

Share this story:
  • tweet

Comments are closed.

Art Calendar

SAGG on Facebook

Singapore Art & Gallery Guide

1 week 1 day ago

www.businesstimes.com.sg/lifestyle/arts-design/national-gallery-singapores-ink-show-ambitious-unsatisfying

National Gallery Singapore’s ink show is ambitious – but unsatisfying

[SINGAPORE] National Gallery Singapore’s new ink exhibition sets out with an ambitious goal: to show ink not as a fixed tradition but as a living, changing language shaped by calligraphers, poets, abstractionists and experimental artists over time and across cultures. Read more at The Business Tim...

1
View on Facebook
Share

Singapore Art & Gallery Guide

1 week 5 days ago

www.littledayout.com/ocean-diving-into-the-unknown-exhibition-alliance-francaise-singapore/

Ocean: Diving Into The Unknown At Alliance Française Singapore

Take a dive into the blue world at Alliance Française’s latest exhibition, Ocean: Diving into the Unknown. A collaboration with the French National Museum of

View on Facebook
Share

Singapore Art & Gallery Guide

3 weeks 1 day ago

www.eco-business.com/press-releases/uob-partners-sg-eco-fund-to-bring-sustainability-and-art-to-the-community/

UOB partners SG Eco Fund to bring sustainability and art to the community

UOB, one of Singapore’s leading banks, and the SG Eco Fund have announced a two-year partnership to drive greater community awareness of sustainability and art.

View on Facebook
Share

Singapore Art & Gallery Guide

4 weeks 1 day ago

www.straitstimes.com/life/arts/eight-singapore-indie-booksellers-launch-bookshop-sg-as-amazon-alternative

Eight Singapore indie booksellers launch Bookshop.sg as Amazon alternative

The online store, which launches on May 14, describes itself as an act of "radical cooperation". Read more at straitstimes.com. Read more at straitstimes.com.

1
View on Facebook
Share

Singapore Art & Gallery Guide

1 month 17 hours ago

www.asiaone.com/singapore/over-50k-gold-coins-cash-stolen-veteran-artist-koeh-sia-yongs-home-while-he-was-bali

Over $50k in gold coins, cash stolen from veteran artist Koeh Sia Yong's home while he was in Bali

SINGAPORE — While veteran Singaporean artist Koeh Sia Yong was away in Indonesia for nearly two months earlier in 2025, his bedroom drawers back home were emptied of more than $50,000 in valuables. The 87-year-old returned to his two-bedroom unit at The Interlace condo in Depot Road on March 15 to...

View on Facebook
Share

Singapore Art & Gallery Guide

1 month 1 day ago

danamic.org/2025/05/11/order-is-essential-what-we-learnt-about-fernando-zobel-at-his-national-gallery-exhibit/

Order is Essential: What We Learnt about Fernando Zóbel at his National Gallery Exhibit

Come learn with us about the life, thoughts and works of Fernando Zóbel in a truly transcontinental exhibition that's open right now!

View on Facebook
Share

Singapore Art & Gallery Guide

1 month 2 weeks ago

www.businesstimes.com.sg/lifestyle/arts-design/how-one-man-made-nude-art-possible-singapore

How one man made nude art possible in Singapore

Yeo Workshop celebrates the legacy of Solamalay Namasivayam, who fought for nude figure drawing when it was still considered 'indecent'. Today, nude figure drawing is a cornerstone of artist training in Singapore Read more at The Business Times.

1
View on Facebook
Share

Singapore Art & Gallery Guide

2 months 1 week ago

www.harpersbazaar.com.sg/lifestyle/robert-zhao-hong-kong-art-week

Robert Zhao Might Be One Of The Best Singaporean Artists That You’ve Never Heard Of, Until Now

We caught up with the creative mastermind behind CHARLES & KEITH’s latest Artist In Residence project.

2
View on Facebook
Share

Singapore Art & Gallery Guide

2 months 2 weeks ago

cnalifestyle.channelnewsasia.com/style-beauty/plain-prints-project-shirts-menswear-461761

This Singapore fashion brand only makes shirts that make you feel like you’re wearing art

If statement-making shirts are your thing, you’d definitely find multiples styles to like from Plain Prints Project’s designs.

1
View on Facebook
Share

Singapore Art & Gallery Guide

2 months 3 weeks ago

www.prestigeonline.com/sg/lifestyle/art-plus-design/artists-to-watch-2025-singapore-and-hong-kong/

Artists to watch 2025: Singapore and Hong Kong

We identify emerging talents from eight East Asian countries that should all be on your cultural radar this year.

View on Facebook
Share
  • News
  • Add Your Events
  • Support & Advertise
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Policy & Terms
© 2020. Singapore Art & Gallery Guide
We use cookies that are necessary for the website's functions. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it.OkNoRead more