About the Exhibition
This exhibition exemplifies the discovery process of Singaporean artist Tan Haur, who through introspection and the practice of Zen philosophy conceives an intimate vision of the profoundly historical yet uniquely urbanized landscape of Beijing. Having worked and travelled extensively, Tan Haur offers depth to his art by reflecting on a myriad of cultural and visual experiences.
Globalization has incurred a significant impact on our working and living environment. Today's artists have not been exempted from this massive shift in culture and reliance on travel. Through participating in activities, festivals, and projects across the globe, artists inevitably develop foreign and global perspectives, while retaining their core values derived from childhood experiences. Being at this front has inspired unique perspectives, evoked increasingly fascinating points of view from the art community, and enveloped a wider spectrum of subject issues beyond the capacity of a single artist. This synergy has added a different dimension to the course of local art, and in particular, the migratory nature of contemporary art.
Tan Haur employs digital photography as a medium to investigate and question how we grapple with a globalize culture, find harmony in today's fast-paced environment, and maintain a clear mind in the face of issues due to rapid urbanization and globalization. His pictures serve to function as a mirror of Zen philosophy, infusing calmness, concentration, and enjoyment. Through his lens, Tan Haur shares his point of view as he searches for tranquillity within the fast-paced cities of today's modern societies.
The entire artistic idea behind the exhibition:
This exhibition reflects Tan Haur's passion for black & white, and fine art colour photography. By combining straightforward street photography with visual statements of local subject matters onto a single frame, Tan Haur leads the viewer into his world without the use of complicated post-production techniques. The artist explains that, "most of the photos in pairs are simply placed side by side to shed light on the ideas and artistic statement."
This series of artworks represent more than just an artists' experience of Beijing. Instead, it is an in-depth exploration into the expression of Zen in context of daily life.
About the Artist
Tan Haur born in 1963 in Singapore has been a driving force in digital imaging art, photography, painting and underwater art making. He graduated from the Australian National University (Master of Visual Arts) with high distinction and major in digital imaging and photography. Tan Haur spearheads a pioneer digital art community program supported by the Singapore Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts (MICA); he has then been actively involve in many of the regional digital fine art activities and research.
Tan Haur was the Creative Project Consultant from 1987 to 2000, and has undertaking consultancy work for digital art and graphics-related projects worldwide. His years as the Creative Project Consultant (Mattel and Lego) saw him supervising assignments covering photography, digital imaging, loyalty programs (Kris Flyer), graphic design, advertising and promotions, exhibition and interior design, product design, and corporate branding programs (Epson). He has successfully merged his passion and talent together with his career in the art, digital imaging and creative industries and has proved not just to be a talented artist, but also a valuable member of the digital art community.
Prior to committing himself as a fulltime art advisor and artist, he worked as a chief curator cum manager for epSITE Digital Imaging Academy & Gallery (Singapore-Beijing-Shanghai-Tokyo) from 2000 to 2005. The post allowed Tan Haur to pursue his interests as well as to create an awareness of digital art in the region. Tan Haur spearheads a pioneer community art program “Digital Art for All” since year 2007, he is actively involved in organizing workshops and seminars to teach the public artistic concepts and techniques on digital imaging and painting, photograph editing, restoring and archiving. He was the Digital Imaging Art Associate Lecturer of Nanyang Technological University, Singapore from 2007 to 2008. And Tan was also the Academic Director of Raffles Design Institute, Singapore from 2008 to 2009. Tan Haur is the Digital Art Advisor and associate lecturer of: MINDS, Singapore Visually Handicapped (SVH), NLB Digital Art Program Singapore, ADAHK Hong Kong, NDP'08 Singapore, Burgmann College Australia, Very Special Art Singapore. He was the Artist in Residence at Burgmann College, Australia in 2006-2007 and NY Arts Beijing (纽约艺术•北京) in DEC 2007.
He enjoys working on cross disciplinary projects like integrating fine art and commercial design, challenging conventions that effectively result in different unconventional techniques. He is a professional diver and travels extensively, where he is inspired by what he sees and feels, resulting in creative and provocative works of digital photography and mixed media art.
Tan Haur is a multi disciplinary artist and his practice includes the development of individual works/exhibitions, curatorial projects and collaborations. He draws inspiration and ideas from a given location, everyday objects and daily life. He immerses himself into different environments, experiencing the differences, and experimenting different mediums and technologies in art creation and interaction, continuously in search of the relationship between Nature, Culture, Art, Media and Technology. Tan practices Zen in daily activities and the creation of art is a journey of self-discovery to understand and get closer to his very being. Tan Haur’s love for digital art, photography, painting and underwater sketching has motivated him to share this new genre with other enthusiasts around the world. He has traveled to many countries creating art at high altitudes up upon summits as well as deep down in the ocean.
He has received numerous distinctive arts awards and art contribution medals from USA, Australia, Japan and Singapore, including the Merit Award, come-in Art Exhibition Design Contest from the National Museum of Singapore in 2009, the Community Art Program Award from Ministry of Information, Communications and Arts, Singapore in 2007, First Prize Art Award from Burgmann Mixed Media Art Competition, Australia in 2006, World Wide Web Award of Excellence, Art Space 2000 International, USA in 2005, the President’s Award (Seiko Epson Japan) and the Public Art Business Excellency Award/ epSITE Digital Imaging Academy and Gallery in 2004.
