by Teng Jing Xuan
Noise Singapore 2014’s The Apprenticeship Programme (TAP) Exhibition is a breath of fresh air in an art world dominated by older, well-established names. Organised by the National Arts Council, TAP showcases the work of 51 artists aged 35 and younger, produced during four months of apprenticeship under 22 art professionals.
The exhibition, curated by Mug Collective, will be running until Sunday, 7 September 2014 at SAM at 8Q (free admission). This year’s works are based on the theme, “In Transit”, which artists have interpreted in a surprising number of ways.
“The Last Grand Fallible Plan”, a combination of reportage and comic art by Krish Raghav (b. 1987), for instance, tells the story of the evolution of Singaporean rock-and-roll in the 1960s. Raghav’s expressive lines and bold colours evoke the excitement and glamour of a unique moment (1967, to be precise) in our cultural history, complete with text based on interviews with musicians who lived through the era.
Ng Si Ying (b. 1993) shows us how the same theme can take on a dramatically different manifestation. Her work, “Pass By”, is book of meticulously cut-out patterns on white paper. Visitors looking through the book will see shadows cast by the cut-out patterns stretching and transforming, before collapsing and disappearing, when a page is flipped. The shifting and disappearing shadows are intended to remind viewers of the impermanence of life.
Other works in the exhibition range from dramatic (Kelvin Chew’s photograph, “Awak Cakap Apa?”), to elegiac (Genevieve Leong’s documentation of her grandparents’ relationship in “Coming Home”, made more poignant by her grandfather’s recent death), to unbelievably detailed (Rayne Wong’s hand-knit, complexly textured “Self-Weave”). Come down to SAM @ 8Q, and witness firsthand the imaginative power of Singapore’s young artists. More information at http://bit.ly/noisefest2014.
