Chua Chon Hee, 寂 Silence, 2013, Monotype, 38 x 50 cm
The Long Gaze: Prints and Ceramics by Chua Chon Hee features a selection of 18 monotype prints accomplished by the artist between 2013 – 2023 and 8 newly-completed ceramic sculptures.
Chua Chon Hee (b. 1960, Singapore) graduated from Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts with an Advanced Diploma in Western Art in 1982. She is a fine arts educator and a multidisciplinary artist, and works extensively with printmaking, ink, seal-carving, and ceramic work. Her artistic expressions are formally inspired by the organic and quiet dynamism of nature, and spiritually rooted in the Buddhist philosophy of ‘The Four Kalpas’ (成住坏空): the cycle of formation, the cycle of continuance, the cycle of decline, and the cycle of disintegration.
The Long Gaze invites audience to dwell in the meditative yet experimental world of Chon Hee’s artistic quest. The idiosyncratic plays of form and texture in her prints and ceramic expressions encapsulate the immediacy of life and the intricacies of its myriad forms and cycles. For instance, her monotype prints thrive on a meaningful collision of shapes and textures, with some works featuring the contemplative incorporation of leaf forms as bled through her press. These were leaves from her garden or leaves collected during her commutes and overseas travels. Parts of their distinct shapes, organic protrusions and sinewy veins disintegrate and metamorphose into fluid marks and painterly gestures on paper, imbuing her prints with a spontaneous sense of nature in transformation.
This reverence for nature is similarly translated in Chon Hee’s approach with ceramic sculptures. She often utilises a mix of locally-sourced earth as her material, and strives for earthy tones and natural lines during her throwing and the firing process in her own kilns. Her new ceramics in this exhibition are largely inspired by the life forms and trees abundant in mangrove swamps, as well as the growing bamboos in her own garden. These ceramics will be situated in conversation with a series of drawings that capture her observations of natural botanical forms, of which some found their ways into the expressive qualities of her sculptures.
Chon Hee conveys with delight that, ‘Nature responds to my attention with silence, and I respond with beautiful expectations.’
Venue: AC43 Gallery, 76 Bras Basah Road #01-01 Carlton Hotel, Singapore 189558
When: 28 Oct - 12 Nov 2023, 12noon - 7pm
By: AC43 Gallery
