INSTINC x MOYEM is pleased to present a two person exhibition of paintings by Singaporean-based artist Valerie Ng and photo-based works by New York-based artist, Margaret Lanzetta from 22 February to 31 March 2018. An opening reception will be held on Wednesday, February 21 from 7 pm.

The second exhibition by the collaboration celebrates natural beauty in its various forms. In this era where cosmetic surgery is widely available and accepted, there is a movement in the beauty world that is shifting away from drastic and often distorting changes to fit an unrealistic or narrow ideal of “uniform” beauty, towards embracing diversity and development of non-invasive aesthetic treatments and subtle techniques that help nurture the natural beauty of each individual. After all, a flower doesn’t wish to be a different color, or ask for more petals – it just reaches towards the sunshine and blooms.

Inspired by colors, sensations and aspects of nature, each artist creates a distinct response to our shared world environment. Through the constant gathering of images and concepts from their surroundings each artist forms lateral ways of seeing and presenting visual interpretations that call for closer examination, a second look. The works in the exhibition are linked through a formal use of color as a tool with which to communicate. An overall motif, of contrasting and complimentary textures, surfaces, patterns and images is the result.

Using the physicality of paint and gesture, Ng’s paintings present new variations of physical intimacy and tension. Dense pigmented colour and mark making are explored as paths to invoke memory, both real and imagined. This series of oil on canvas works play with hues abstracted and combined for variations in rhythm and dissonant balance: a flurry of strokes and a contemplation of chroma relationships on tinted backgrounds. Complimenting her paintings is a series of handmade artist books which feature collections of ideas and inspiration bound together by strings of thought.

In Margaret Lanzetta’s digital series, titled Famous Ornament, photographs of Victorian botanical prints are juxtaposed with photographs of Japanese sakura: cherry blossoms: real, artificial and pop. In the work, nature is revered, questioned and mimicked. The Victorian botanical prints reveal the colonial exploitation of newly acquired territories with a simultaneous scientific celebration of exotic flora and fauna. In Japan, cherry blossoms embody narratives of both spirituality and nationalism. Famous Ornament examines this cultural exploitation of plants by nations and illuminates opposing threads embodied within Buddhism, colonialism and the field of economic botany. A selection of fourteen images from the larger Famous Ornament series will be on exhibit.

Opening: 21 Feb 2018, WED, 7pm- 9pm

Exhibition: 22 Feb – 31 Mar 2018

Opening hours: 10am to 8pm

Venue: MOYEM 1 Kim Seng Promenade #03-15 Great World City Singapore 237944

When: 21 Feb - 31 Mar 2018,

By: INSTINC