Equator Art Projects presents a solo exhibition by Sherman Sam. After a very successful presentation of his work at Art Stage Singapore 2014, he returns for his first gallery show in Singapore. The exhibition reflects the artist’s continued explorations in abstract painting with a selection of his recent works in oil on panel and drawings will be displayed in the Project Room.

Although Sam is a highly considered artist and has exhibited extensively internationally, he is barely known in his home country and few people have had the opportunity to connect with his work in Southeast Asia. His is a unique voice in Singapore: his work is well informed and encapsulates major changes in abstract painting in the last fifteen years.

He is known for his informal aesthetics and the intimate scale of his work, which are all easily portable and most are no taller than twelve inches. The works are envisioned as ‘human sized conversations’, through which the artist connects with the viewer to challenge their perception of how one should interact with paintings and drawings. The paintings are primarily executed in oil on panel and there is a certain heaviness and tactility to the medium, while the drawings are sketched on irregular sized sheets of paper and are shown in archival sheets revealing a sense of rawness and incompleteness to his work. The compositions are built up through overlapping geometric forms and thin washes of iridescent colour, hurriedly applied and through which traces of previous elements are exposed. There is a playful use of line, each unique in its own way and differing in temperament: some are very gentle and fine, others bold and stocky, or are even erratic squiggles.

Sherman Sam (b. 1966, Singapore) is an artist and writer based in London and Singapore. He received his BFA from San Francisco Art Institute in 1991 and completed his MLitt in History of Art at University of Oxford in 1997. Sam has exhibited his paintings and drawings internationally, including one-person shows at The Suburban (Chicago), the Rubicon Gallery (Dublin), Lugar do Desenho (Porto) and the Centro de Arte (San Joao de Madeira, Portugal), and most recently at Some Walls (Oakland, CA). His work has also been included in numerous group shows in Europe and America, including M6: Around London (Andratx, Majorca), Sight Mapping (Sweden, Scotland, Spain), Plan D, an exhibition which he curated (Portugal, Ireland), Rhyme not Reason at the Janet Kurnatowski Gallery (Brooklyn), Paper: A-Z at the Sue Scott Gallery (New York), Connected at Feature Inc (New York) and most recently in Do You Believe in Angels? at Equator Art Projects (Singapore) and mo_space (Manila).

-Equator Art Projects

Image: © Sherman Sam
Courtesy of the artist and Equator Art Projects