“Self and Beyond” is a group exhibition by Ay Tjoe Christine, Rina Banerjee and Maria Farrar. The works of these three female artists explore themes of the self, expanding on reflections on personal emotions, self-presentation and self-identity in the urban society.
Ay Tjoe Christine’s (b. 1973, Indonesia) intense paintings are made up of layers of considered and powerful lines with an atmospheric blending of oil pigments against a neutral, off-white or greyish ground. There is a maturity in how she creates a fine balance between movement and stillness, gestural and controlled linework, positive and negative space. A recurring theme in Ay Tjoe’s practice is her observations and reflections on human nature. She explores the dualities between one’s inner emotions and how they portray themselves to others in the external world. This contrast between personal feelings and the outer self-presentation can be similarly observed in the push and pull of strokes within her paintings. There is a sense of conflict, and yet a stillness which may be compared to a kind of meditative state.
Maria Farrar’s (b. 1988, Philippines) paintings, on the other hand, depict scenes derived from her everyday life or from fragments of memories. She brings forth personal themes in her work while exploring the presentation and behaviors of women of today. Be it traditional desserts from the Philippines where she was born, childhood memories of Shimonoseki in Japan where she grew up in, or the shop windows and bakeries of London where she currently lives, Farrar captures these concrete moments that take on a life and narrative of their own with the introduction of anonymous female characters. Often with their faces hidden from view, these protagonists are portrayed in everyday situations which are easily relatable for the viewer. Yet, there is always a sense of wonder – whether it is a fox or dog looking directly at the viewer, a pearl earring glistening in the light, or messenger in the form of a bird on the protagonist’s shoulder – that transports one into Farrar’s world, where memories, materiality and desire are reflected in a familiar yet uncanny setting.
Having grown up in mixed cultural communities as far apart as Kolkata and New York City, Rina Banerjee’s (b. 1963, India) multi-faceted creations fuse the boundaries between East and West. There is a thoughtful sensitivity in the multiple materials that Banerjee uses in her work. Be it sculpture or painting, through the technique of collage, Banerjee is able to appropriately represent the density of the urban experience by suggesting disparate phenomena to coexist within the same framework. Though easily found in street markets, each of the objects used in her sculptures are selected with awareness of their origins. She uses items as varied as feathers, textiles, epoxy horns, beads and umbrellas to explore the material manifestations of anthropology, ethnography, mythologies and the Indian diaspora. Banerjee first dismantles and then “reclaims” their readymade status into the hand-made, reconstructing them into exquisite metaphors for the urban, post-colonial, expatriated community of which she is a part.
Venue: Ota Fine Arts, 7 Lock Road, #02-13 Gillman Barracks, Singapore 108935
When: 13 Jan - 2 Mar 2024, 11am - 7pm Tue–Sat
By: Ota Fine Arts
