Manok Ventura's first solo show in Singapore takes place at Artesan Gallery + Studio's new space at the storied Raffles Hotel, a serendipitous occasion. The building is one of Singapore's most illustrious monuments, boasting a venerable, august history. Its continued survival, quite unlike the reshaping of the city's urban fabric, offers a telling counterpoint to the artist's preoccupation with the concrete: the slow, unhurried life-cycle of fabrication, evolution and maturation that his walls and his materials are subject to.

The collection and the venue presents a stark contrast to the frenetic pace of new construction developments taking place around us today, and this exhibition appropriately serves as a wonderful analogy for the steadfast existence of an iconic structure like the Raffles Hotel - corresponding to Manok's enduring walls that have borne the test of time. We are in a truly fitting venue for the artist's latest works. Things have fallen into place very neatly - and we are not only proud and thankful to Manok Ventura for being true to who he is, but thank the universe equally for the blessing of a celebrated new space.