Synopsis:

iPRECIATION is pleased to present Undertone, an exhibition featuring the works of three talented emerging artists from Singapore – Yeo Tze Yang, Bess Chan and Goh Jian Hong. Armed with a critical awareness of the rapidly changing world, these artists represent a burgeoning new generation of thinkers, dreamers and image-makers. Akin to the underlying, initial layers of paint on a blank canvas which may seem unassuming on first glance, each of them play an essential and inextricable role in the structure of a bigger picture. As artists just beginning to make their mark in the local arts scene, they signify a multitude of possibilities. Unified by a mutual desire to express their interpretations of the social issues and dysfunctions that arise from the urban environment they are situated in, they employ different tangents of painting practices to create works that are sincere, insightful and thought-provoking.

Yeo Tze Yang (b. 1994, Singapore) is a painter of everyday life. His paintings often depict the unnoticed and by-passed places and objects of his immediate surroundings. Avoiding contemporary conceptual approaches to art, he instead reverts back to a more direct and emotive artistic direction. He believes in the unity of life and art, and envisions his works to speak for themselves to viewers of any background. The result of such a process is an accumulation of images, thoughts, emotions, stories and memories that in turn become allegories of his life. Yeo was awarded the Silver Prize under the Established Artist Category for the UOB Painting of the Year competition in 2016. He has exhibited widely in venues such as Shophouse 5, Goodman Arts Centre, Institute of Contemporary Art, Art Apart Fair and the Affordable Art Fair in Singapore. His works are part of private collections in Singapore, Australia, the UK and the USA. His first solo exhibition, A Place Behind My Eyes, was held at ION Art by Utterly Art in 2015. Yeo is currently pursuing his Bachelor's Degree in Southeast Asian Studies at the National University of Singapore.

Bess Chan (b. 1996, Singapore) is currently pursuing her Bachelor of Fine Arts (Honours) at Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts, London. Being born in Singapore, brought up in Hong Kong, and studying in the UK ever since she was 14, her practice revolves around a continuous documentation of her constant shuffle between these places. Thus, her artistic interest lies in the uncertain nature of the concept of "home" and the ephemerality of contemporary life. Her paintings are drawn from momentary encounters on the streets that are archived and accumulated as photographs over time. Fragmented and distant memories are pieced together on the canvas into scenes constructed from imagination. Portraying the subtle, quiet things and fleeting moments in her immediate surroundings, the paintings essentially become visual reconstructions of the artist's personal experiences, memories and interior states of being.

Goh Jian Hong (b. 1992, Singapore) is a visual artist who works with a range of media including oil and acrylic painting, sculpture, drawing and mixed media. He is currently undergoing training in education at the National Institute of Education (Singapore) and holds a Diploma in Art Teaching from the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (Singapore). Goh has been a member of both the Modern Art Society (Singapore) and the Singapore Watercolor Society since 2016. He has attended various art and academic symposiums and workshops in Asia. His work has been exhibited both locally and internationally, including the "Fleuve De Vie, River of Life – Group Exhibition", Society Kentridge Guild House Gallery, National University Singapore (2016) and "Baum des Lebens: Trajectory of Civilisation, Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, Singapore (2016).

Preview Date: 6th July 2017, Thursday, 6.30pm – 8.30pm
Exhibition Period: 7th July 2017 – 22nd July 2017

Featured Artwork Partial Images (Left to Right): Bess Chan – Five to Ten, 117 x 290 cm (Diptych), Oil on Canvas, 2017 | Yeo Tze Yang – Queue, 91 x 61 cm, Oil on Canvas, 2017 | Goh Jian Hong – Telok Kurau Primary to Telok Kurau Studios, 60 x 80 cm, Oil on Canvas, 2017