Joel recently bagged the 27th UOB Painting of the Year competition with his body of work, Anatomical Fantasies of Meat. This generated quite a big wave of debate within our little island, where many felt that a photograph should not win the competition and that they are too grisly to be considered art. Parallels were drawn with Damien Hirst, but conceptually, they are very different.

TOP TO BOTTOM, (from “Anatomical Fantasies of Meat“)
© Joel Yuen, 2007

Frankly speaking, I think these set of work is amazing. The prints are even more breathtaking (and they are available in limited editions at 2902 Gallery). Being the unprecedented winner with a photographic work in a stuffy “painting” competition, he has helped pave the way for the elevation of photography’s status, here in Singapore.

And I say, it’s about time! It’s beneficial on many folds - our society needs to lighten up and to be educated that photography goes beyond happy snapshots and glitzy fashion shoots. The general public recoils at anything that deviates from the mainstream, often not engaging art on a higher cerebral level. We need greater traffic flow at our exhibitions, we need people to look and go beyond the surface.

But of course, this is coming from a cranky guy with a migraine in the morning. I’m sure things are slowly changing and people are opening up. I shall leave this hanging here while I go visit the doctor for my pills. Anyway, congrats to Joel once again, I do hope he doesn’t melt under the pressure of controversy.

I’m back home from training. It had been a painfully long two weeks, with the lack of sleep and constant need to make sure things are moving along.

Things that happened: I flew on a Chinook, took charge of a live firing (organization can be such a pain), went walking through the jungles (picking durians and reliving memories), caught up with my army friends, got myself covered in kiwi/camouflage cream/toothpaste in a platoon assault and relieved stress by being a jerk.

I think I need a few more days of rest and recreation before posting again soon! =)

I’d be away for the next two weeks, without access to email and the blog. I will reply to any mail or comments when I get back.

And no, I’m not going on a vacation (I wish I was). I’d be having my annual reservist training in the jungles. I’d be back two weeks later with mosquito bites to show.

In the meantime, I’m planning for my real vacation in August. Can’t wait!

TOP TO BOTTOM, © Zhu Hao

Zhu Hao’s images of the city are focused on the objects that we often walk pass unnoticed. As an acute and sensitive photographer, Zhu Hao is immersed in the so-called “intoxication evoked by the object being shot” (Jean Baudillard). With the help of photography, he has gone deeper and deeper into the heart of reality’s fascination.

You can view more of his images here and here.

TOP TO BOTTOM, (from “L ‘Etranger”)
© Kar-Wai Wesley

L’Etranger is an invitation to experience Paris as ‘l’etranger’ or in English, the foreigner; the alien; the stranger; the other…

My friend, Wesley, from Memphis West Pictures is holding an exhibition in Paris, his home for the past three years. This exhibition consists of a series of images photographed by him either at dusk or dawn in Paris. He says, “It’s only in the quietness of these times that I truly feel Paris belongs to me.”

30 June - 31 July
Genesis
15, rue des Lavandieres-Ste Opportune
Paris 75001

Liu Tong has some interesting work up on his site. His series, Dream/Life, is a surreal collection of black and white images.

TOP TO BOTTOM, from (”Dream/Life“)
© Liu Tong

Unfortunately, the links on his site are not functioning now. However, images for the series can still be viewed via the directory listing.

Got this in my mail today for a visual art exhibition in New York. Unfortunately, I’m halfway across the globe!

ChinaSquare Gallery New York is pleased to present Germinators, a group featuring Cao Jingping, Chen Wei, Li Jikai, Liao Yibai, Ma’chunfu, Qu Jiehen, Unmask, Wang Haiyang, Wang Tiantian, Wang Yaqiang, and Zhang Peng.

Germinators includes the work of 11 up-and-coming artists from China and Taiwan, whose work deeply addresses and begins to strip bare the reality of the radical change and societal restructuring that is playing out across the domestic landscape today. Much like a seed nestled deep within the earth that gradually sends out shoots struggling to break free in pursuit of the sun, the work presented in Germinators is equally engaged in the germination of a wholly new social landscape that grows in leaps and bounds as it both analyzes that growth and becomes part of it in equal measure.

Visit the gallery’s website for more information.

Hiroe Kobayash photographs visual poetry.

She says:

It is said that photography performed from the heart captures the truth.
My quest is to cast light on the yuragi filtered through the layers of my
experience. The end result is a world of mystery, images that conjure up
the sumi-e ink drawings of Chinese painting.

TOP TO BOTTOM, (from “White in the Dark”)
© Hiroe Kobayashi

It’s a pity that the images on her site are terribly small!

Opening this Saturday at 2902 Gallery, a group exhibition featuring Amanda Poh, Clarence Aw, Jean Loo, Joel Yuen, mintio, Vanessa Ban and Tan Peiling. The show explores the idea of documenting the living as memory and memory as an intrinsic nature of human - to record the passage of time and life.

13th January
© Amanda Poh

Traces
© mintio

My Suburbia
© Vanessa Ban

Exhibition details:
18 June - 8 July
2902 Gallery, OLD SCHOOL
11b Mount Sophia Road, #B2-09

Opening Hours:
Tue - Sat: 11am–8pm
Sun: 1pm-6pm
Mon: By appointment only

psssttt…go support my friends!

I’m a little late in running this. Singapore’s annual photography-based festival, Month of Photography, is back again this year. It is on from 13 June to 20 July and features a range of activities from exhibitions to workshops.

Visit the official website for more details.