 |
| Wednesday, May 02, 2007
Exhibition > Imagining a Geographical Presence : A Study of Horizon in Contemporary Painting by Ng Joon Kiat Bigger Than You ThinkWriter : Dawn Fung Imagining a Geographical Presence : A Study of Horizon in Contemporary Painting is the long awaited exhibition by Ng Joon Kiat. Dawn Fung checks out the works and interviews the artist. National History Museum, until 6 May 2007. I think Ng Joon Kiat stands out as one of those Christian artists who put his dissatisfaction plainly on his art. Somehow Imaging A Geographical Presence captured more than painting theory or seminal links on map drawing. It seemed to question, rather poignantly, where one belongs. Maybe it was just the big empty room that was the exhibition space, with three oscillating images in the middle of the wall. Or perhaps it was the jutting displays made uninviting with out of bound markers. The thick paints crouch over the sides of the frames. They look like mounds of caked wrinkles, like old schoolmasters that we make fun of, from a distance. Then there was the austere cabinet that kept sheets of map like images. I eagerly pull out each drawer. I get the feeling that the cabinet grudgingly gives me permission to look.  oscillation of Land Series 3 What do you make of paintings that well, won't behave like paintings? They move, lie, and hide in places that are not becoming. There is less to discuss rather than wonder. Amongst other people, I expect the usual talk of the intriguing presentation of work, or the trend of exploring the relevance of the craft, or of locality and cartography. Yet I suggest that you choose the alternative, less travelled route - listen and not speak. And the longer I listened, the less I saw paint and patterns. I started to make sense of the bigger picture of this thing, like a mass of questions, intermittently appearing like constellation spotting : Are years of paint layers in the process of drying like geological sedimentation? How was Earth formed? How long did it take? Do mountains move like frames oscillating on the wall? How long did it take to carve the route of a river? Did God trace out their paths like squiggly lines that criss-cross like a game? Herein lies the precious riches of the exhibition - just as God's handiwork give clues about his plans, the artist's hands make known hidden thoughts. They are not contented things that could be locked up, pinned to a wall or shown in the living room with ease. They are things that simmer and grow bolder over time, frustrated by constraints, biding a certain impatience. ------------- INTERVIEW WITH NG JOON KIAT  Ng Joon KiatDawn : I was rather intrigued that you dedicated your exhibition, belatedly, to Jesus. Dedicating one's work to God is not new - George Chua, Donna Ong, Namiko Chan and others credit Jesus. Any significance in the word 'belated' ? Joon Kiat : The phrase " a belated dedication to Jesus" is presented with the word belated for various reasons: God has never stopped blessing me whether I am a Christian or not. As years of believing in Him passes by, that reality of his blessing just became so evident that I find it hard not to give him credit. But in those years I was also trying to develop personal understandings of my relationship between Jesus and my art practice besides the apparent facts that He has generously blessed my art practice and that all things belongs to him. I am specifically thinking of how Jesus comes in direct contact with contemporary art in-the-making. This part led me to hesitate in wanting to flippantly declare my belief within the art premise. In those times, I was just not satisfied with quick slogans as my answers. It simply didn't work for me to think of my practice and belief simply in terms of " I am a Christian artist " or " I am an artist who happen to be a Christian" without producing personal conviction and sustaining understandings. I was more interested in the process that led such slogans to become common answers. Having said so much, it is really just me to want to be attracted to such issues. Many of my other Christian friends are just not bothered by it.  Map Drawing Series 2Dawn : I quote a line from T.K. Sabapathy's write up: "In some presentations, the pigment covers the entire surface and more, dripping over the picture's edge and colonising the sides of the stretched canvas". I imagine the presentations were from the Land Series. George Eldon Ladd wrote that the Kingdom of God is "here but not yet" (fully realised). From a Christian perspective, the Land Series gave me an interesting reading - how tactile, and burgeoning the Kingdom of God is. Its materialisation depends on our engagement, forming on the ground in our hearts. Joon Kiat : The frame and/ framing in these oil paintings (Land Series) are a core concern in this project. Conceptions surrounding the idea of the frame primarily consist of viewing visual representation in terms of its imaginary operations with spaces (maps) and in terms of producing tactile experiences (painting in the making). So rightly speaking, themes in my works do not really deal with Christianity per se but it is really interesting to hear a Christian reading of these works. In relating God to my practice, I enjoy asking questions that I am not capable of dealing with and I like asking God to deal with these complexities as I do my research. I am at a point where it is more about maximizing potentials that God has blessed me with, praying for divine interventions in developing these potentials and acknowledging that God play the most important part in it. I like this working relationship because it not only to my profession but other areas of my life as well. Dawn : During the exhibition, something else came to my mind at The Map Drawing Series. I thought of Soo Koon Ang's chest of drawers, which opened to carpet grass and its immediacy of smell and memory. Joon Kiat : The metal cabinets used for presenting the Map Drawing Series were mainly chosen to give the impression of an archive. It was basically my intention to pick pieces of furniture that were stern and cold looking. In the beginning of the exhibition, this point was played out too "successfully" as many audiences thought the cabinets belonged to the museum and were not part of the exhibition! Audiences started opening these metal drawers only when written instruction was displayed. I suspect that this situation probably did not happened to Soo Koon Ang's exhibition as I remembered being enticed by her works to want to open her drawers! The metal drawers, the white display and the oscillating paintings are all presentation strategies attempted to question where the horizon is. Dawn : And as I reread what you said, "The experience of locating is not an end in itself" but "narrating an alternate horizon", I imagined that the series could have had the possibility of joining up together to form something larger, even in a mix and match experiment. Yet that would expansive but incomplete. In the process of 'mapping' such processes, were there any pressing concerns or questions that ran parallel to the course of the work in your journey as a Christian (or Christian artist)? Joon Kiat : Lately I have been thinking a lot about Christians and Church plans boxing God up. Whenever such instances directly involve me, it takes me quite a bit of time to deal with it. Visit Joon Kiat's website at ngjoonkiat.com
|
|
|
 |
 |