Mahalakshmi Kannappan, The Crevice I, 2020, Charcoal on wood, 90 x 150cm

Singular Moments is the solo exhibition debut for emerging Singapore-based artist Mahalakshmi Kannappan. Kannappan’s work has become increasingly recognized across the region for her unique application of charcoal on canvas. Her monochromatic works undergo many stages of production to bring out the material’s inherent beauty, each exploring countless textural possibilities.

Kannappan’s practice seeks to identify, amalgamate and distort different materials as a continuous inquiry into their properties, and through experimentation she seeks to discover what can and cannot be controlled. As the artist describes, these are reflections of “how these changes are accepted and accumulated” – the unpredictable responses of the materials further building upon the inexplicable nature of change.

Through her body of work, Kannappan has focused on and sought to portray the characteristics inherent in the medium of charcoal. Some of her works have smooth exteriors, with rough staggered layers of charcoal barks hidden within, whilst others have copious sheets of charcoal dynamically set across their surface. For this exhibition, Kannappan has also expanded into three-dimensions, showcasing a few sculptural pieces created in her iconic medium, for the first time.

As an earthy material, charcoal is mainly composed of carbon, an element which serves as a primary component of all known life on Earth, and can be analaysed in order to determine its host’s age or time period. To Kannappan, this property of charcoal reveals itself through her works, as a physical representation of ‘singular moments’, now frozen in time.

Venue: Gajah Gallery, 39 Keppel Road, Tanjong Pagar Distripark, #03-04, Singapore 089065

Operating Hours:
Mon – Fri: 11:00am to 7:00pm
Sat, Sun & PH: 12:00pm to 6:00pm

When: 5 Dec 2020 - 10 Jan 2021,

By: Gajah Gallery