Vue Privée has the pleasure to announce, “Moving Still”, a group exhibition which will be held from 16th June till 4th September 2011 at our centrally located VP space. Eight accomplished Asian artists, Kim Xu, Aíman Hakim, Sheryo, Agan Harahap, Jolene Lai, Eman Reharno, and Amanda Ang, reinterpret part of a dialogue or quote from a cinematographic frame into their own works of art. In addition, as part of the show, a surprise piece will be revealed by the highly respected and renowned film Director, Glen Goei.
There is a famous saying that “a picture is worth a thousand words”, which refers to the notion that a complex idea can be conveyed with just a single still image. On the contrary, in “Moving Still”, Vue Privée invites eight Asian artists to flip this notion on its head. Thus, each artist have selected a dialogue from a “moving picture” representing it as a new visual statement. The inspirational subject matter varies, ranging from scenes in Napoleon Dynamite, a three-part Indie film by Hong Kong director Wong Kar Wai, to a video recording by the obscure operatic singer Klaus Nomi. The resulting artworks created are not mere simple reinterpretations of original photographic still, but rather unique interpretations in the form of oil on canvas, mixed media on watercolour paper, and digital illustration.
About the Artist
Glen Goei – One of Singaporeʼs leading film and theatre directors and awarded the National Youth Award for his contributions to the arts by Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong, Glen boasts an impressive amalgam of performing and visual arts. Glenʼs professional career started with his Olivier Award-nominated performance in the title role of M. Butterfly, starring alongside Anthony Hopkins in Londonʼs West End. Goeiʼs career developed from there, establishing Mu-Lan Arts in London, the first Asian theatre to exist in the UK. Goeiʼs first feature film, “Forever Fever”, written, produced and directed by Goei himself, was the first Singapore film acknowledged by the film industry world-wide, winning distribution in America and the UK by Miramax. Goei continues to substantially contribute to Singaporeʼs artistic landscape, principally as Associate Artistic Director of the acclaimed Singaporean company, Wild Rice, as well as Director for the most commercially successful company, Dream Academy.
Aíman Hakim — Contemporary visual artist and LaSalle graduate, Aíman, has been contributing to the art scene since graduating in 2004. Hakimʼs main subjects often deal with conformity in society, exploring the “absurd” notion of self-individuation in a culture where communal ideologies still dominate. Additionally, he has capitalized on his creative platform as a means for activism, exhibiting his works both locally and internationally, in art galleries and museum spaces including Utterly Art, Gallerie Belvedere, National art Gallery of Malaysia and the Sunshine International Museum in China for the 2010 Songzhuang Art Festival.
Agan Harahap – Straddling two worlds, commercial and fine arts, Agan has been actively contributing to the Southeast Asian art scene since 2008. He began his career as an illustrator and digital imaging artist after graduating from STDI Design and Art College in Bandung, Indonesia. Since then, Harahap has been part of many exhibitions, including a solo exhibition in Jakarta and Kuala Lumpur in 2010 and 2011 respectively. Since 2008, his photography works have been seen at the Jakarta Photo Summit, Daegu Photo Biennale (South Korea), and APPAF International Photo Festival (Portugal).
Sheryo – Singapore-based illustrator, visual artist and designer, Sheryo, defines her art as slightly odd, imperfect, and gnarly. She is recognized by her use of post-apocalyptic daze of colours. Fascinated by the human psyche, Sheryo constantly seeks to analyze and document frustrations towards contemporary lifestyles and its mercurial nature, inspired by her collection of cloudy thoughts, happenstances, faces, strange beings, modern fears and words. Also part of a collective of international artists, the Army of Snipers, Sheryo collaborates with household names such as Converse, Adidas Originals, Converse, MTVAsia, and Ministry of Sound just to name a few.
Eman Reharno – Better knows as ClogTwo, founded in 2004 on a chemically sprayed wall along a dark canal, he is generally known as graffiti artist. ClogTwoʼs works emerge from questioning social behaviour and the mysteries of religious beliefs. Many artists favor to question themselves if their styles are well defined or recognized, but to him, such definition doesnʼt exist, as style cannot be made, it is simply yourself. ClogTwo has collaborated with a number of institutions and museums such as National arts Council, Singapore Art Museum, Singapore National Museum, Adidas, and etc.
Kim Xu – Kim was born and raised in Suzhou, China, and moved to Shanghai to pursue his passion for art and fashion at the age of nineteen. Kim's art very much reflects his personality and life experiences, fusing both traditional Chinese watercolour techniques - a skill he learned from his grandfather - and Western-style oil-based techniques. This combination creates truly unique pieces that speak of beauty, passion, love and despair. He is regularly praised as one of China's most important up-and-coming artists, collaborating with big names such as Vogue magazine, Hong Kong luxury brand Joyce, and London fashion publication Wound to name a few.
Jolene Lai – Jolene is a Singaporean artist/illustrator currently based in Los Angeles. After studying painting at Lasalle-SIA, Jolene studied graphic design at UCLA and spent a year working at movie-poster design house, The Refinery Creative, before returning to focus on fine art. She works primarily with oil on canvas or mixed media on water colour paper. With bold use of colour, shape and intricate detail, she creates images with a seductive aesthetic and subject matter that weaves in emotions of whimsy, melancholy, irony and absurdity. Lai seeks to engage her audience in works that are approachable, newly imagined spaces that the viewer is invited to explore on their own terms.
Amanda Ang – Amanda originally studied jewellery design at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, after which she decided to obtain her Honours in Graphic Communication at Loughbourough University in 2009. Ang took her art to the streets in 2005, with her wall murals in places such as Marina Square and MAAD at Red Dot, exchanging works and collaborating with street artists overseas. Her style evolved as she dived into digital mediums, doing vector-based illustrations of humans, working mostly with basic mediums like graphite, ink and watercolour, drawing portraits and figures and remixing them with digital tools. Manda has collaborated with Onedotzero, Jeremyville, Red Dot Museum, Peelzine Magazine, Noise, Moleskine, Nike, and Zouk.
