fill-your-walls, an art gallery dedicated to promoting affordable art by emerging local artists presents “Chinatown – Horizon of Changes”, a solo exhibition by Chankerk.  

Chankerk’s fascination with Chinatown, its rich cultural heritage, commercial activities and blend of new and old architecture was the inspiration behind this series of 15 paintings. Capturing the changes around Chinatown, Chankerk aims to demonstrate the contrast between the desire and demand for progressive growth and the pursuit of culture and heritage conservation in Singapore.  

Depicting both the new high-rise buildings and old conservation shop houses, each piece in this series symbolizes an energetic development of urban space and nostalgia. Chankerk explores shifting of images, gestural strokes and layering of paints to create a sense of tension, uncertainty and melancholy, a reflection of the social, physical and spiritual phenomenon of a rapidly changing Singapore. 

About the artist 

Chankerk is a dedicated art instructor and also the founder of My Art Space, an art club for artists from all walks of life. With 15 years of experience in conducting professional painting workshops at regional art academies including Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, Chankerk also spent 10 years in the computer multimedia industry upon completing his formal fine art training at Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts. His long and intensive involvement in illustration and animation has nurtured his sensitivity in capturing movements and interactions in his latter creation of art.  

In his artwork, Chankerk is versatile in approaching different subjects ranging from realistic on-location painting to advanced abstract painting through the use of different mediums like pastel, acrylic, watercolour and oil. His art is solidly grounded in his observation and his surroundings. The visual vocabulary comes from the areas he lives and works in, and the places he knows well – the art studio, landscapes, artefacts and cultures of different countries.