Between Source and Cloud -
Emi Avora, Thun Dina, Hélène Le Chatelier, Chloë Manasseh, Nann Nann, Tamir
at EHL Campus, Singapore
Between Source and Cloud is a group exhibition by Asian and Asia based artists. It encompasses contemporary calligraphy, dream like landscapes and still lives inspired by Asian identity.
Since the Tang Dynasty (618-906 A.D.) in China, the “Three Perfections” refer to poetry, calligraphy and painting (诗书画).
With calligraphic works by Tamir (Mongolia) and Hélène Le Chatelier (France), poetic paintings by Chloë Manasseh (UK, Israël) and allegoric artworks by Emi Avora (Greece), Nann Nann (Myanmar) and Thun Dina (Cambodia), Between Source and Cloud strives to offer “The Three Perfections’ to the viewers.
Since the Tang Dynasty (618-906 A.D.) in China, the “Three Perfections” refer to poetry, calligraphy and painting (诗书画).
With calligraphic works by Tamir (Mongolia) and Hélène Le Chatelier (France), poetic paintings by Chloë Manasseh (UK, Israël) and allegoric artworks by Emi Avora (Greece), Nann Nann (Myanmar) and Thun Dina (Cambodia), Between Source and Cloud strives to offer “The Three Perfections’ to the viewers.
Transmigration series by Tamir
A Drop of Water Makes the Ocean, the title of one of the artworks from this series, expresses the process of transmigration or in other words: going from one state of existence to another.
|
|
As explained by the artist, his artworks encapsulate the energy created during his meditation sessions. Passing through the artist’s body this energy finds shape, colour and tonality on the paper. Vibrations get transformed into a tangible visual state through a process of transmigration.
Autographic Matters by Hélène Le Chatelier
Hélène Le Chatelier’s series uses the ‘energy of writing’ to symbolize how we all try to write our own life. The artist uses automatic writing to mirror heart beats and express our personal breathing, and life rhythm.
Hélène Le Chatelier’s series uses the ‘energy of writing’ to symbolize how we all try to write our own life. The artist uses automatic writing to mirror heart beats and express our personal breathing, and life rhythm.
|
|
. In Among Others the texts repeat themselves endlessly and cover the whole artwork’s surface mirroring our endeavours to retain fading memories and to formulate our inner truth.
Reimagining Landscapes by Chloë Manasseh
The Passing Spring and Petals Fall Now and Then, shown below, are inspired by the passage of time and the changes it implies, from a season to another and from youth to an old age.
|
Chloë’s use of colour evokes a sense of exotic escapism, exploring the process by which imagination can intrude on physical and mental space and transport the viewer into unknown, dream-like environments, reflecting on local folklore, her personal heritage within Asia. Her work considers the limits of representation in relation to the imprecision of memory, exploring the fragility of vision and our intrinsic attachment to landscapes which underpin our sense of identity. Chloë Manasseh" landscapes “invite the viewer to see things from more than one perspective, imagining what was, re-imagining what is, and perhaps what could be.” |
Shwe Shan by Nann Naan
Myanmar is known as the Golden Land because of its numerous stupas covered by gold but also because Myanmar is rich of all the main natural resources from gold, teak, jade, rubies to hydroelectricity and gas.
Shwe Shan, by Nann Nann is composed of vivid yellow and golden brush strokes. This painting is inspired by the Burmese Festival of lights, which celebrates the change of seasons and expresses the floating of one’s sins. The candles and fireworks, which are laid in the hot air balloons make them take fire and become a fire ball. This festival is a major event in the Shan State, which inspired the title: Shwe (gold) Shan.
Still Life series by Emi Avora
Emi Avora’s ‘still lives’ address the theme of transience.
|
|
|
Disappearing Teapot suggests the elusive feeling of the everyday. In this painting the artist explores “how much she can conceal in a painting while retaining the feeling of the subject matter”. Similarly, the profusion of colours as well as the distorted shapes and proportions of Frogs in My Plate and Overgrown strive to create the same sense of disorientation and questioning in the viewers.
Out of the Mud by Thun Dina
With an animal skull in the fore front of the painting, Out of the Mud, by the Cambodian artist THUN DINA, borrows from the tradition of Vanity paintings to reflect the anxiety of his generation who left a simple but peaceful life in the country side to settle in the Capital city.
|
|
Sleep in Peace, is a poetic allegory addressing the transition from rural to urban life and from tradition to modernity, a relevant subject matter in all countries of Southeast Asia.