Chang Yoong Chia + Teoh Ming Wah - Safe House: Flora & Fauna Series IIIValentine Willie Fine Art and Bombay Sapphire is delighted to present Chang Yoong Chia's new installation entitled, Flora & Fauna Series III - Safe House, as part of this year's Bombay Sapphire Art Projects. In this highly anticipated third installment of his acclaimed Flora & Fauna series, Yoong Chia develops upon a paradox that is progressively made apparent in this body of works, exploring the intersection between his art and the aesthetics of museum display.
The Flora & Fauna series, which began in 2003, are 'largely driven by emotions, subjectivity, and the recollection of stray memories' in the form of surreal non-linear narratives. Yoong Chia notes that, 'It is, in many ways, the complete opposite of what museums represent.' Nevertheless his increasing use of fragile materials, like seashells, eggshells, insect wings, spider's web, human hair and animal bones as a canvas or platform for his paintings require them to be encased in protective custom-made vitrines for display. He adds, 'They start to resemble artifacts found in natural history or ethnological museums.'
The installation not only creates a museum space but also replicates its disciplinary structure - scientific categorization, textual interpretation of material, etc. It represents a rational system of order that reads against Yoong Chia's painted objects which are fragile and emotive, creating an irresolvable tension that underscores the complex spatial negotiations between the rational and the irrational.
No comments:
Post a Comment