You are cordially invited to the opening of         

Inscribed Space – 6^th Solo exhibition by Chua Say Hua

Opening Reception on 18^th November 2009 (Wednesday) at 7pm – 9 pm

(above Bee Cheng Hiang on Pagoda St, just outside
Chinatown NE Line MRT Station Exit A)
69A Pagoda Street (2nd Level)
Singapore 059228
Tel: 6222 7809
Email: sales@forth.sg

For detailed map, please visit www.forth,sg/contact.htm
Mon-Sat 12noon – 7pm Sun 12noon – 5pm

The exhibition run from 18^th November 2009 to 29^th November 09

Attendance at the exhibitions are FREE.

About the Exhibition:

“Inscribed Spaces” is a visual art exhibition by artist Mr. Anthony Chua Say Hua @ Forth Gallery. It is the 6^th solo exhibition by the artist. A total of 20 paintings in Chinese ink on rice paper will be displayed . The show aims to showcase a fresh interpretation of old shop house spaces located in the preserved sections of Singapore such as Chinatown, Geylang and Joo Chiat. Through the structural arrangements of the painterly elements such as Chinese ink brushstrokes, the artist will like to address the gaps in the formation of one’s memory of spaces with a history. Say Hua conceptualises spaces by the play of background-foreground relationship and innovative use of material. In particular, recognizable parts of buildings were pushed to the edges of the painting which created tension between fields of gestural mark-making with the depiction of architectural elements. By applying such modernist strategies into edging out the lines that barely depicted the architectural forms, the artist has managed to convey a sense of ambivalence. The economy of lines, the abstractions dominate yet define spaces of the past – thus acknowledging the symbiotic relationship between past and present.

The paintings will demonstrate the artist’s experimentations using various materials traditionally used in Chinese ink medium such as pigments and coloured inks on different rice papers & various aspects of ink effects to depict urban landscape and buildings in Singapore, specifically the older parts of the town such as Chinatown.

Forth Gallery is chosen as it is located in Chinatown which enables viewers to relate the physical site with the painting’s subject. The lyrical use of the Chinese ink brush marks for depiction of wall surfaces, windows, ceilings and more is a break from the traditional Chinese ink landscape where such marks are solely for depicting trees and mountains.

Through the free-flowing use of lines, the juxtaposition of surfaces and marks on the surfaces, both tourists visiting the show as well as local audience will be able to appreciate the play of these elements to reference the surrounding old buildings that the works are based on. For professional audience such as artists, museum curators and art students, Say Hua’s paintings will demonstrate the effective use of a traditional medium towards an exploration of contemporary concerns and contribute towards an academic understanding of an expanded interpretation of the medium.

This new series of works by Chua Say Hua will contribute greatly to the language of contemporary ink painting in Singapore as well as the region. Many local artists such as Lim Tze Ping, Hong Sek Chern and the late Chua Ek Kay have been unique in expanding the Chinese ink landscape painting practice. Here, Say Hua’s experimentation has extended the use of the traditional medium in ways beyond what ink painters in its place of origin can achieve.

About the Artist

The 2001 Young Artist Award winner for Visual Arts, Anthony Chua Say Hua has been actively engaged in art practices full time since 1996. A Highly Commended winner of the recent UOB Painting of the Year awards this year, the art veteran has had numerous exhibitions in Singapore and overseas. Graduated from the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts in 1992, LaSalle College of the Arts in 1993 and Goldsmiths College – University of London in 1997, Anthony has straddled his art practices in the midpoint of Western and Eastern art – combining best of the two cultures.  His unique contemporary Chinese ink paintings are informed in Western Modernist aesthetics whilst employing the logic and philosophy of traditional Chinese ink painting medium.

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You are cordially invited to the opening of         

BOUNDLESS THOUGHTS, INFINITE COURAGE

by JONATHAN T. RACIMO

Opening Reception on 6^th November 2009 (Friday) at 7pm – 9 pm@ FORTH GALLERY
(above Bee Cheng Hiang on Pagoda St, just outside
Chinatown NE Line MRT Station Exit A)
69A Pagoda Street (2nd Level)
Singapore 059228
Tel: 6222 7809
Email: sales@forth.sg

For detailed map, please visit www.forth,sg/contact.htm
Mon-Sat 12noon – 7pm Sun 12noon – 5pm

The exhibition run from 3rd November 09 – 14^th November 09

Attendance at the exhibitions are FREE.

About the exhibition

 Boundless Thoughts, Infinite Courage dwells on ordinary and not-so ordinary people with heroic qualities such as the likes of the intrepid freedom fighter, the late President Corazon Aquino who served as a catalyst in moulding Philippine History. She’s metaphorically represented in “The Little Drummer Girl”, which is the artist’s core painting. Armed with an enormous desire for political reform, intense determination and tremendous courage, she led the bloodless People Power Revolution in 1986 and restored democracy in the country. For this reason that we admire and respect these present day heroes who pull disadvantaged people through their wretchedness and destitutions.

The artworks presented in the exhibition recognize and celebrate heroes’ lives, their positive contributions and the adversities they had successfully overcome. The symbolic representation of those unsung heroes who lead normal lives but have got insurmountable willpower to succeed and learn more about themselves are also the main focal points of the images on display. These so-called heroes demonstrated and confirmed to us that impossible were indeed possible. It’s through their selfless thinking and concerted effort that the quality of life improves. Their congregated actions with the infusion of technology are substantial ingredients to society’s development. The artist believes that a country advances as more and more new breed of heroes are created. Moreover, Jonathan Racimo further restates that there’s an untapped hero inside of us and we become heroes when we stop thinking less for ourselves and more for our country.

About the Artist

Jonathan T. Racimo is an award-winning, multi-faceted artist who specializes in figurative art. He’s an animator, an illustrator and a painter in the Philippines. He obtained his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the University of Santo Tomas in 1994. He has participated in various exhibitions in the Philippines and has won numerous awards and recognitions from Art Association of the Philippines (AAP), Instituto Cervantes de Manila, Shell National Painting Competition and twice at Metrobank Young Painters Annual Competition, both as a finalist and honourable mention. Most of his artworks are being collected by the founder and chairman of Metrobank Philippines, Dr. George S.K. Ty, PLDT IS Operations Support Manager Cirilo Alberto Lim, US collectors and other private individuals. Presently, he is also a contributing artist to the Wonder Woman Day, an annual art show and silent auction benefitting victims of domestic violence and dedicated to supporting survivors of social justice. Boundless Thoughts, Infinite Courage is Jonathan’s first solo exhibition in Singapore.

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21 October 09 to 1 November 09

at

FORTH GALLERY

Forth Gallery Pte. Ltd.

69A Pagoda Street (2nd Level)

Singapore 059228

Opening Hour: Monday to Saturday 12pm to 7pm, Sunday 12 to 5pm.

 We can be contacted at 6222 7809 or Debbie Pang @ 9450 7749 or email:debbie@forth.sg

 The opening reception is on 23 October 2009 (Friday) at 7pm – 9 pm.

 Members of the press are most welcome to attend.

 Attendance at the exhibition is FREE.

 About the Exhibition: 

“Teaching Diary” is Cai Qing’s (Qing Sonnenberg) experience in the School of Art, Design and Media (ADM), NTU. Since his first day at ADM, he decided to record his daily life in the school. Instead of a written diary he sketches his teaching experience. The documentation of the art class for over years will be exhibited.

It resembles the court drawing, where no photo can be taken. Sketching is the only media to transmit the mystery to public. In this way, Qing further transformes the daily life into art.

 About the Artists:

Cai Qing (Qing Sonnenberg) has been living and working as an independent artist in Europe and New York  City since 1989. In September 2007 he accepted a job offer from School of Art, Design and Media, NTU and relocated his family to Singapore.

As a contemporary artist, he uses performance, installation, video and pictures to reveal his feelings and explain his ideas. The concept in most of his art is “Observer and be observed”. He is mostly interested in people of various backgrounds in different societies. He enjoys the interaction with different people and is often inspired by them. Thus, his art is full of real life stories, such as “One Week in Hei Nan”(Performance and video, 1998), “Searching for My Uncle” (video, 2000), “Ava People Sing a New Song” (Video, 2001), “A Late Summer Morning on the Queensboro Bridge” (Video, 2001) and Peace (Performance, 2005).

 With the advances in technology, his communication with people is also shifted from the real world to the cyber space. “Sonn and His Friends” (2002) and “Soul @ Flesh” (2005) were the projects utilized the internet chatting as a platform to establish connections without identity.

 While Cai Qing remains highly productive and creative throughout these years, he also curated several important art shows with the same degree of novelty. In 1998 he has co-curated China’s first contemporary art exhibition in a private space “Trace of Existence”, where he also showed his performance “cultivating”. “Long March trough Europe” in 2005, Kassel, Germany was a collaborative efforts between several artists who utilized the “Red Army” to symbolize the revolutionary Chinese spirit in western contemporary art world. “Drift” in 2005, New York was a show dealing with homeless people and refugees. In 2006 “Dancing Across the 38^th Parallel” was showing the images of North Korea in the Gallery within the New York University. “Eating” is a contemporary art group performance in Beijing, which was really focused on eating in the opening night. Recently, in 2008 he curated the “Construction before Destruction”, the last performance show in Sifo art village before it’s modernization by the local officials.

 For more information about his work please see the attached file and his homepage  http://www.caiqingart.com.

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You are cordially invited to the opening

of         

INDIAN SUMMER

DABHADE PARAG GOPINATHRAO, PARAG VIJAYRAO SONARGHARE, MORE RAJU RAMCHANDRA,

RAVINDRA M. PARKHI, MANISH AINRUDDHA HATKAR, SHRUTI PARESH PETHANI, VINOD NANAJI CHAVAN, GIRAM SUJIT PRAKASHRAO, VRUSHAKET VINYAK SALASKAR, NORA SANJAY LAXMAN

       FRIDAY 

2nd  OCT 2009 7 pm

FORTH GALLERY (above Bee Cheng Hiang on Pagoda St, just outside Chinatown NE Line MRT Station Exit A) 69A Pagoda Street (2nd Level) Singapore 059228 Tel: 6222 7809 Email: sales@forth.sg For detailed map, please visit www.forth,sg/contact.htm Mon-Sat 12noon – 7pm   Sun 12noon – 5pm

The exhibition runs to SUNDAY 18th  OCT 2009 .   

Additional sales enquiries may be made through UTTERLY ART Tel: 6226 2605 HP: 9487 2006 (Keng Hock for appt) Email: utterlyart@pacific.net.sg       

 Indian Summer is an expression given to a period of sunny, warm weather in Autumn in the Northern hemisphere, typically in mid-October till November, after the leaves have turned but before the first snowfall. Like a luxuriant warm breath of fresh air from the Indian subcontinent, the young award-winning artists in this exhibition bring a hearty note to the Singapore art calendar before the end of the present year.

Hailing from the Western state of Maharashtra which is India’s third largest by area, second largest by population and its richest by wealth, the state feeds Mumbai, India’s financial and artistic capital with its human talent: this crop of emerging painters could well turn out to be the masters of tomorrow. Having been born in or having studied in various districts of Maharashtra, these artists have already begun their career by exhibiting in Mumbai, and now Singapore, for many, their first overseas location.

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You are cordially invited to the opening of 

The Red Jacket by Lee Gilbert

Closing Reception on 30th September 09, Friday from 7pm to 9pm @ FORTH GALLERY
(above Bee Cheng Hiang on Pagoda St, just outside
Chinatown NE Line MRT Station Exit A)
69A Pagoda Street (2nd Level)
Singapore 059228
Tel: 6222 7809
Email: sales@forth.sg

For detailed map, please visit www.forth,sg/contact.htm
Mon-Sat 12noon – 7pm Sun 12noon – 5pm

The exhibition run from 27 September  to 30 September 2009

Attendance at the exhibitions are FREE.

About the Exhibition

A Tribute to James Dean:

born 08 February 1931,

died 30 September 1955.

As in the Eagles song, “too fast to live, too young to die, bye-bye”.

James Dean, best remembered clad in jeans and tee-shirt, with a cigarette dangling from his lips, oscillates from ticklish softie to introspective tough guy throughout his three films.

 An icon of freedom, power, and mastery, the car lights up a character, such as the rebellious teenage outsider played by James Dean in the gasoline-soaked “Rebel Without a Cause”. Released a month after his fatal crash in a competition Porsche, this Oscar-winning performance captured the moral decay of American youth, critiqued ineffective parenting, and foreshadowed the growing differences between generations, a continuing trend.

 This collection is a re-interpretation of “outsider” themes from film. The work focuses on Rebel, but including others such as J.G Ballard’s “Crash!,” Guillermo Cain’s “Vanishing Point,” and Stephen King’s “Christine.”   

About the Artists

Educated in the United States and now a Singapore Permanent Resident,  Lee Gilbert  works in varied media, including painting in acrylics and oils and sculpture in precious metals, stone, and concrete. A former student of UK artist Mr. James Holdsworth of Block43 and Singapore oil painter and art teacher Mr. Wee Shoo Leong, he has participated in several exhibitions, including his solo show “Launch! – the Subculture of Speed,” at Singapore’s PanPacific Public Artspace in September 2008.

Please sign up to our mailing list from www.forth.sg or email to sales@forth.sg

You are cordially invited to the opening of 

Wheels and Reels by Lee Gilbert

Opening Reception on 18th September 09, Friday from 7pm to 9pm @ FORTH GALLERY
(above Bee Cheng Hiang on Pagoda St, just outside
Chinatown NE Line MRT Station Exit A)
69A Pagoda Street (2nd Level)
Singapore 059228
Tel: 6222 7809
Email: sales@forth.sg

For detailed map, please visit www.forth,sg/contact.htm
Mon-Sat 12noon – 7pm Sun 12noon – 5pm

The exhibition run from 17 September  to 27 September 2009

Attendance at the exhibitions are FREE.

About the Exhibition

Viewers around the globe will experience our Singapore GP Season 2009. Lee Gilbert translates this raw energy into painted images in his “Wheels and Reels” solo exhibition.

As a painter, he sees technology as central to our culture and as a rich subject for artistic interpretation. Popular media-both film and television-sets the automobile in a social context. Cars represent freedom, power, and mastery: racing cars represent the apex of these desires.

Lee’s semi-abstract work explores these themes, drawing on the unique properties of materials to capture complex interactions among drivers, crew, spectators and the elements of the vehicles in action.

About the Artists

Educated in the United States and now a Singapore Permanent Resident,  Lee Gilbert  works in varied media, including painting in acrylics and oils and sculpture in precious metals, stone, and concrete. A former student of UK artist Mr. James Holdsworth of Block43 and Singapore oil painter and art teacher Mr. Wee Shoo Leong, he has participated in several exhibitions, including his solo show “Launch! – the Subculture of Speed,” at Singapore’s PanPacific Public Artspace in September 2008.

Please sign up to our mailing list from www.forth.sg or email to sales@forth.sg 

You are cordially invited to the opening of 

COUNTERING CLAUSTROPHOBIA by Kim Gravelle

Opening Reception on 4th September 09, Friday from 7pm to 9pm @ FORTH GALLERY
(above Bee Cheng Hiang on Pagoda St, just outside
Chinatown NE Line MRT Station Exit A)
69A Pagoda Street (2nd Level)
Singapore 059228
Tel: 6222 7809
Email: sales@forth.sg

For detailed map, please visit www.forth,sg/contact.htm
Mon-Sat 12noon – 7pm Sun 12noon – 5pm

Art Talk on “Creativity and Compassion” will be held on Saturday 12^th September 2009 at the Forth Gallery @ 2pm.

The exhibition run from 2 September  to 13 September 2009

Attendance at the exhibitions are FREE.

About the Exhibition

Forth Gallery proudly presents – COUNTERING CLAUSTROPHOBIA featuring the paintings of Kim Gravelle. In his exhibition, Kim uses a unique palette of colors and abstract shapes to express the more human, contemplative side of Singapore, one most probably don’t see in the course of daily existence. By blurring the boundary between form and color, foreground and background, he enhances the connectedness of life, and the complexity of human emotion.

Besides the colorful characters, Kim is also attracted by the dramatic coastal setting. The omnipresent background of hollow, still, container ships is eerie and reminds us that we are never completely alone – that Singapore is but a tiny Island in the middle of a busy body of water. And that despite your best efforts, there is no place to hide from the reach of an ever-more globalized world.

In this series, Kim moves away from traditional canvas in favor of plywood. He explains the decision by saying that, “the natural material helps me draw deeper connections with my subject matter. When I drill the surface, I create another dimension – more objective and geometrical than that which I am able to express with my paintbrush.”

Proceeds from the sale of the artwork will be donated to”Singapore Foundation of Rotary Clubs & Make A Wish Foundation Singapore”.

About the Artists

Kim had participated in various solo and group exhibitions in Canada and Singapore. He has a strong background in architecture & design. This is his second solo exhibition held in Singapore. Kim has spent the last eight years balancing his commitments to the “serious” corporate world and his deep compulsion to paint.

This latest body of work consists of acrylic paintings on wood, with inspiration provided by East Coast Park, which Kim visits daily and which he views as his sanctuary.

Art Talk on “Creativity and Compassion”

An artist talk entitled “Creativity and Compassion” will be held in conjunction with this exhibition. It will cover the role of the artist in developing a more caring and compassionate society and will be held on Saturday 12^th September 2009 Forth Gallery at 2pm.

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Wine Sponsor 

Beneficiaries          

You are cordially invited to the opening of 

A Marriage of Convenience By  Aida Dolrahim, Aiman Hakim, Aisha Ramat & Nicholas Chai

Opening Reception on 22th August 09, Saturday from 7pm to 9pm @ FORTH GALLERY
(above Bee Cheng Hiang on Pagoda St, just outside
Chinatown NE Line MRT Station Exit A)
69A Pagoda Street (2nd Level)
Singapore 059228
Tel: 6222 7809
Email: sales@forth.sg

For detailed map, please visit www.forth,sg/contact.htm
Mon-Sat 12noon – 7pm Sun 12noon – 5pm

The exhibition run from 19th August  to 30 August 2009

Attendance at the exhibitions are FREE.

About the Exhibition:

A Marriage of Convenience’ is aimed to bring about social issues affecting not just Singaporeans, but people in general. It is to set a message, NOT of non-compliance, but more towards having a voice and not simply conforming to a certain ‘standard’ society deems fit. It also allows the viewers to simply escape with the artists projected notions of desire or have an insight towards a more plausible future.

Brief description of project: Wikipedia defines ‘a marriage of convenience ‘(plural marriages of convenience) as a marriage contracted for reasons other than the reasons of relationship, family, or love. Instead, such a marriage is orchestrated for personal gain, to hide ones’ sexuality in cases where being openly gay is punishable or potentially detrimental, or some other sort of strategic purpose. Similarly, ‘A Marriage of Convenience’ looks at the output of a group of artists dealing with issues concerning the idea of oppression, and static conformity, being moulded into something that Singapore’s conservative and orthodox society in general, deems as acceptable, suppressing ones desires, resulting in closeted obsessions. Organized as part of the cultural activities surrounding Indignation 2009, ‘A Marriage of Convenience’ also addresses and explores the notion of ideologies and ideals while questioning their relation and impact to the current reality.

Artist’s Statement:

Aiman Hakim

My ongoing works deal with the idea of the representation of ‘an ideal’ with regards to the current reality.  Paintings, for me, have always been a break from reality; pushing towards fantasy, a journey that i have not yet fulfilled, a dream that I have yet realised. Paintings on the other hand, also helps an artist narrate a tale, questioning a current reality, issues that are at play, helping one convey his inner thoughts and opinions of topics that needed to be brought to light. My artworks, repeatedly involves the use of iconic representations of ‘a perfect man’, staged in various situations to reflect and bring about issues that have either affected or involved me one way or another. These iconic representations, whether consciously or otherwise, have always been presented to us since childhood, through toys, mass media, even bedtime stories that have been passed down for generations. Using these as my subjects, my paintings deal with issues that have either affected me on a personal level or simply regarding topics that have been dormant or neglected over the years, particularly due to it being taboo or not wanting to deal with the ‘consequences’ if discussed about. The subject of conformity, ideologies and stereotypes dominate my works. With that in mind, i simply believe that conversation and discussions fosters tolerance and understanding, and that is simply what i would like to achieve from my paintings. On the other hand, my artworks act as a visual journal, immortalising new perspectives and lessons that i might have discovered and learned from, through my everyday experiences.

Aisha Ramat

My inspiration derives from any events, occurrences and observations in my life that conjure profound emotion in me that I find the need to share to others. My subjects are mostly figures and gestures. Other than I have a keen interest in figures and human expressions, I also believe that in order for others to relate to humanly emotions and senses, they have to recognize, relate and experience what they are seeing. I jot down any ideas, sketch and photograph any visuals that I find stimulating and utilize them to help me finalize the concept of my work. Simultaneously, I expose myself to changes occurring during work execution and oil or acrylic on canvas helps me to do that because they give me freedom to explore, manipulate and evolve.Currently, I am executing a series of paintings which I will call, ‘The Two Finger Series’. In this work, I seek to redeem and glorify the significance of two fingers whether as symbolism or a statement. Everybody knows the ‘V’ sign as a symbol of peace and some people may recognize it as a symbol for victory and not many knows that it can be taboo and insulting to certain cultures. The ‘V’ sign also symbolizes the womb, vagina, the chalice and the Holy Grail. If you would put the ‘V’ on your mouth with your tongue sticking out, it then transformed to a symbol known as cunnilingus. Without the ‘V’ sign, the two fingers can be used to hold cigarette, to point, to salute, to insult, used as sexual object and many more wonderful, strange and explicit things others can think off. I aim, with this work, to pay a tribute to the two fingers that we have, yet we often undermine, forget or refuse to acknowledge the significance and importance of them in many people’s lives. These two beautiful fingers that are capable of giving gentle love, happiness and pleasure, can also be forceful, offensive and destructive. Peace.

Nicholas Chai

In his ongoing series of work, Nicholas depicts moments whereby the objects of desire are fully engrossed in embrace. He attempts to reveal his subjects’ self-consciousness. They are aware that they are being watched while blissfully engaging with each other and yet paradoxically, they deal with insecurities they have with their own identity and coming to terms with their own sexuality. He crops them in an attempt to relieve his subjects from the discomfort and uncertainty that might come with the viewers’ gaze. The subjects in his paintings are as much figures of loneliness as they are objects of desire. Moments of longing for another are pondered upon. He believes that our mind is most available for fantasy when we are dreaming and yearning. He intends the seductive palettes of red to stir up sensuality that cannot be touched. Hence, all the more desired his subjects become. These works are his attempt to express memories and desires in relation to loneliness. They are personal concerns arising from the issues of self-awareness and the human condition; particularly of childhood, adolescent, sex and love. Nicholas seeks to make his audience more aware of the intimate and mundane nature of the passing of time, the time that we spent with people or alone in seclusion.

Aida Dolrahim

Aida Dolrahim’s works address female identity within the themes of fantasy and folklore through the appropriation of a fictional world. She reinterprets and recontextualizes common themes and symbols structuring the traditional folktale, with emphasis on the darker undertones as well as elements of horror, desire and suppressed eroticism and the violent subtext within children’s stories. In the works produced for this exhibition, she also looks into the irony behind consumerism related to the search for our perfect “happily ever-after”. 

Please sign up in our mailing list from www.forth.sg or email to sales@forth.sg

You are cordially invited to the opening of “ONE NIGHT IN BANGKOK”

the noir expressionist world of the Bangkok night

by American painter Chris Coles -

The opening reception is on WEDNESDAY 5th August 2009 at 7 pm @

69A Pagoda Street (2nd Level – above Bee Cheng Hiang)

Singapore 059228

Tel: 6222 7809

Website: www@forth.sg  

MRT: Chinatown Station Exit A

For detailed map, please visit www.forth,sg/contact.htm

Mon-Sat 12noon – 7pm   Sun 12noon – 5pm (Closed on Public Holiday)

The exhibition runs till Sunday 16th August 2009.

Additional sales enquiries may be made through UTTERLY ART

Tel: 6226 2605 HP: 9487 2006 (Keng Hock)

Email: utterlyart@pacific.net.sg

Forth Gallery can be contacted at 62227809 (Debbie)
or debbie@forth.sg.

Attendance at the exhibitions are FREE.

One Night in Bangkok is an event of IndigNation 2009.

 
About the Exhibition:

One night in Bangkok and the world’s your oyster

The bars are temples but the pearls ain’t free

You’ll find a god in every golden cloister

And if you’re lucky then the god’s a she

I can feel an angel sliding up to me

-          from the musical Chess, lyrics Tim Rice

The blinding neon and shady denizens of the Bangkok night are captured vividly in American painter Chris Cole’s watercolour renditions of the lurid and colourful world of the Thai capital’s notorious nightlife. Heavily distorted lines and strong, clashing colors dominate in these paintings which portray a chaotic, edgy noir world of colliding intention and misplaced desire, lives out of balance, male-female compulsion, alienation and disassociation. They echo the German Expressionist paintings from Berlin in the early 1900’s as well as the Paris nightlife paintings of Toulouse-Lautrec, Degas and the early Picasso. Organized into twinkling street scenes, situational encounters and mesmerizing portraits of the girls, the boys, the kathoeys (ladyboys) and their clients, Chris Cole shows us how the Bangkok night isn’t “only a sordid money-machine servicing the low-end of humanity”, but “an authentic and unique setting in the ongoing cultural history of mankind”.

 
About the Artists:

The visual arts representative of the emerging Bangkok noir movement (including the crime fiction of Christopher Moore, Jake Needham, Stephen Leader and John Burdett; and the films of the Pang brothers and Smith Timsawit), Chris Coles is an artist and filmmaker who lives in Los Angeles and Bangkok.  One of the first artists to explore the world of the Bangkok Night, his paintings, in the Expressionist style, are jagged emotional portraits, revealing a raw and primitive layer of the human experience.

Chris grew up on the coast of Maine and after graduating from Brown University, received a Watson Fellowship to spend a year living in the Bajuni Islands off the coast of East Africa where he made a series of voyages up and down the coast in Swahili trading dhows.  He has lived and worked in Europe, North America, Asia, the South Pacific, Australia and Greenland. Chris is also a graduate of the British National Film and Television School and has taken art courses at the Otis School in Los Angeles.  Among the films he has worked on are CHAPLIN, L.A. STORY, RAINBOW WAR and BALLET ROBOTIQUE (both nominated for Academy Awards as best dramatic short), CUTTHROAT ISLAND, ROAD TO WELLVILLE,  ROSARY MURDERS, the SUPERMAN films, OUT COLD, the TV series SIRENS and many more.

You are cordially invited to the opening of 

Singapore Guidance Angel 新加坡守护神 BY RICHARD LIM HAN 林汉

Opening Reception on 24th July 09, Friday from 7pm to 9pm @ FORTH GALLERY
(above Bee Cheng Hiang on Pagoda St, just outside
Chinatown NE Line MRT Station Exit A)
69A Pagoda Street (2nd Level)
Singapore 059228
Tel: 6222 7809
Email: sales@forth.sg or justin@forth.sg
For detailed map, please visit www.forth,sg/contact.htm
Mon-Sat 12noon – 7pm Sun 12noon – 5pm

The exhibition run from 22 July to 02 August 2009

Attendance at the exhibitions are FREE.

 About the Exhibition:

Singapore Guidance Angel 

3 years of my creative artworks, i have chosen “Human Figure” as my main source of inspiration. These figure are recent historical representative who are courageous and legendary. Their brilliant contribution to the world is respectable for all such as Gandhi from India, Mother Teresa, South Africa Nelson Mandela and China’s Chairman Mao Zhi Dong. Singapore Senior Minister – Mr Lee Kuan Yew also became my recent year human figure artworks aspiration.

After reading the Biogragphy of MM Lee Kuan Yew, i felt the sense of respect and admiration toward him. Not because he was our Prime Minister or  Minister Mentor but because of his patience & diligent of nurturing Singapore like his own child into an independent country known to the world. At 42 years old, MM Lee became the 1st Prime Minister in Singapore and have taken up the challenge with his intelligent, wit and sharp political judgement & strategy to make Singapore a Miracle. He had created the present strong, prosperous and independent country. On MM Lee, we can see the quality that make a outstanding leader.

He might have created a storm during his leadership years as Singapore Prime Minister but now even as he aged, he is still be guiding Singapore through the present economic crisis and will not even take his rest. To me, MM Lee is Singapore Guidance Angel and will continue to look over Singapore with his presence.

About the Artists:

An Artist specializing in modern and chinese paintings. His Father, Mr Lim Kok Yong, a well known artist from China, spurred his interests in calligraphy at a very young age.

Richard started his career as a fabric print designer. In 1998, he left his business to focus on being a freelance artist. Between 1998 to 2003, he visited Shaoxin, Hanzhou and Shanghai to rediscover his chinese roots and to improve his calligraphy and chinese stone seal craving skills. Richard works from his two private art studios in Shaoxin and Singapore.

关于画展: 

三年来的创作里, 人像画是一块主要的组成拼图. 在我所选择探索创作的主人翁,大部分都是近代历史中伟大, 富有传奇性的人物. 他们的一生都是浪漫, 辉煌,所作所为, 都足以让人们肃然起敬, 普世楷模. 如印度圣雄甘地, 修女泰利莎, 南非的黑人领袖德拉,新中国的建国者毛泽东等等.新加坡资政李光耀先生是我近年来主要的创作对像.

我曾经拜读了李光耀资政的回忆录之后,我对李光耀资政有一种莫名的崇拜和敬仰.那不是因为他是一位总理或资政,我觉得他有一棵赤子之心.义无反顾的精神, 他为国为民费尽心思.在从政过程中也曾经冒险犯难与政敌和极端分子斗智斗勇.42岁成为新加坡第一任总理,挑起国家生死存亡的重担.以他的聪明与才智,敏锐的资治判断力和战略眼光创造了新加坡奇迹.一手塑造了一个富强独特的小国.在他的身上我们看到了伟人所俱有的各种优良品质他都拥有.

当年叱咤风云的李光耀资政现在也垂垂老矣,,岁月不留情, 英雄豪杰, 凡夫俗子都一样不能躲避生命的规律,但是不不管怎样, 这位快乐的老人所创造的国家可以永存,富强不息. 因为他是我们 新加坡的守护神,永远的守护神.守护这块幸福的土地.

 关于画家:

林汉专于现代与中国画.他的父亲是中国著名画家也是鼓励和培养林汉从小写书法的兴趣.  汉开始是一位织布图案设计师.在1998年,他离开了他的生意专注于做一名自由画家.在1998到2003年之间,他去了绍兴,杭州和上海去寻根同时也学习与进修他的书法和篆刻.  现在他在新加玻与中国的绍兴都有自己的画室来作他的美术创作.

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