The drawings and paintings in Mereka Merdeka are the culmination of nearly four years of difficult labor in the face of mounting physical challenges. In these recent years, Wen is preoccupied with the precariousness of artistic and social freedom, and the intimate histories from which these preoccupations begin.
Mereka Merdeka features eleven new works, including a pair of scroll drawings that express solidarity and intimacy with Wen’s collaborators and confidantes. The women in Wen’s life make strong appearances – his wife Satoko and his lately-departed mother feature in two large canvases. In a suite of small drawings, Wen captures essential details of his studio and living spaces – his guitar, his iPad – objects through which he continues to perform and speak in an unstinting engagement with his physiological and political limitations. Mereka Merdeka is Wen’s desire for the future and his affirmation of the possibilities in the present.
Exhibition opening: 14 September 2017, 6-9pm
Venue: Grey Projects, 6B Kim Tian Road, Singapore 169246
When: 14 Sep - 5 Oct 2017,
By: Grey Projects
