The Timeline: like the delayed rays of a star
2021 — 2022
This body of work alludes to Roland Barthes’ postulation of light being an impalpable but carnal medium. As an emanation of the referent, the capture of light on a material surface is an affirmation of the presence of an absent being – one that will eventually touch me like the delayed rays of a star. Contemplating my earlier studies of proximity and distance, the series takes the form of enlarged, dissected cross-sections of the physical photogram prints, stemming from a desire to delve into its very source; to enter into the paper’s depths and to reach its other side, in search of the missing being. Touched and seared by light, the works and the nature of the process is as brief as the original encounter, as fleeting as the moment itself. The original physical prints are intentionally left unfixed, therefore remaining transient as it continues changing and deteriorating for as long as it is exposed to light. With the eventual fading of light and pigments on paper, the digitally scanned works chart the dawn and dissolution of the original encounter and the enigmatic fragments and traces that remain. As the work dissolves into abstraction, its longed-for entirety is glimpsed and almost grasped, always already beyond reach.
The birth/death of a star:
A blink.
A moment of forever.
Blinding.
Goodbye, shining star.
Additional information:
Cuttings, Mizuma Gallery Singapore, 16 August — 11 September 2022.
S.E.A Focus at Keppel Distripark. Sullivan+Strumpf Singapore, 15 — 23 January 2022
Only Losers Left Alive (love songs for the end of the world) Part II, Yeo Workshop Singapore. 7 August — 29 August 2021