This article was published by Happening! and cached by Google, and has been deleted from Happening when the site was shut down.
Forays into contemporary art is growing in Singapore, the scene is constantly stimulated by the efforts of Plastique Kinetic Worms, probably the epitome of the starving earnest contemporary artist group in Singapore. Housed in a little shophouse at 68 Pagoda Street, the group often showcases the work of lesser-known artists, concentrating predominantly in the realm of contemporary art. A brand new exhibition titled "Recent Works" kicked off on June 19, focusing on sculpture and presenting the separate works of three artists: Vincent Leow, Baet Yeok Kuan and Lim Poh Teck.
Each artist worked independently on elaborating his own themes; thus the huge banner head "Recent Works" suggests no mention of needful unity but rather an individual freshness. The works displayed were also imbued with distinctive qualities; each artist easily distinguished from the other in terms of his ideas and expression of them.
Perhaps what is most discernable from the pieces is their stoic reduction of contemporary elements: Lim Poh Teck's use of aeroplane propellers in his pieces are reminiscent of Duchamp and the corresponding spawning of installation art.
Most of Lim Poh Teck's propeller-pieces are placed in the centre of the room in a straight line. One spies a tiny little tricycle which has a propeller for handlebars: dreamily evocative of childhood and little aeroplane hats or beanies; or perhaps ferocious energy propelling the child throughout his life. Optimistic art, to me anyway. Every piece of Lim's art in this exhibition has a propeller on it somewhere: a red kettle-like contraption, for example, and a "Power Chair", a chair complete with propeller. Lim's works invoke memories of childhood superimposed with flashes of ambiguous energy; an idyllic feeling juggles feelings of your belly being tickled as opposed to your guts wrenched outside of you.
The overall exhibition was subdued but pleasing: as Nietzche would have it, an exercise in strict Apollinian form with none of those nasty overpowering Dionysian elements. Those who find some merit in Ancient Etruscan work done in the pre-romantic era should find an affinity with the pieces. An exercise in changing new forms, yes, but not wildly insisting on trammeling past new boundaries which is rather pleasant: too much riffraff screams and yells in haunted canvases can look rather ridiculous sometimes.
As mentioned earlier the collection is more of a showcase of each individual artist's individual expressions. One should go in and not look for explorations of a theme but rather discover each artist's distinctive energy and outlook; a convergence and divergence of the Singaporean artist mindset of sorts. Take a look and see what bothers other Singaporeans' minds so much that they translate it into objets d'art.