Timeless Present 今夕何夕 – Mixed Media Works of Oh Chai Hoo 胡財和錦灰堆展
Venue: iPreciation (誰先覺), 50 Cuscaden Road, HPL House #01-01, Singapore 249724
Private Preview: Thursday, Jan 5, 2023 (By Invitation Only)
Exhibition Opens to Public: Jan 6 – Feb 4, 2023 (*Extended by 1 week!)
In Conversation with Oh Chai Hoo: Jan 28, 2023, 2pm (Conducted in English, Limited Seats Available. Online Live also available @ iPreciation FB Page)
The artist will discuss his explorations in jinhuihui with Dr Hwang Yin, Art Historian and Adjunct Senior Lecturer in the Department of Chinese Studies, NUS. To RSVP, please call +65 6339 0678 or email enquiry@ipreciation.com.
iPreciation is delighted to present Singapore artist Oh Chai Hoo’s recent works in a solo exhibition titled “Timeless Present 今夕何夕” featuring 38 mixed media works dating from 2019 to 2022, comprising two assemblages, 36 paintings and collages. Bringing a contemporaneity to his paintings of jinhuidui, Oh’s explorations in fragmentation, fissuring, rubbing and collage, as well as playful experiments with colours and motifs, have resulted in a highly personal interpretation of the genre. He seeks to bring a fresh eye and a new understanding to this traditional art form. Reflecting the artist’s catholic tastes in reading material, the inscriptions largely address the transient nature of human existence and the immutability of time. For him, jinhuidui does not need to look at the past but can develop as a lens for interpreting global issues and current events.
Jinhuidui, which means ‘a pile of brocade ashes’, is an art form of Chinese scholarly montage painting that might have originated as early as the late Ming Dynasty. The montage usually includes the depiction of ancient objects, paintings, calligraphy, rubbings and fragments of letters. In Oh’s new mixed-media works, the miscellaneous things he uses are torn, burnt, stained, and worn out, giving them a renewed sense of age and elegance. Oh also adopts a realistic painting method for some of the artefacts, and it takes a double take to discern which are painted on, and which are pasted on. The deliberate use of colours and intricate painting technique captivates the eye and encourages it to wander along the different objects to discover something new each time.
Oh Chai Hoo (b. 1960) is a Singapore artist who works extensively with various mediums. Since graduating from Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, Singapore in 1982, Oh has remained an active member of the local arts scene. He was the vice-president (2013 – 2021) of Singapore’s Siaw-Tao Chinese Seal-Carving Calligraphy & Painting Society had held various exhibitions locally and in South Korea and Japan.
He received a Distinction in Visual Art Creation by the NAFA Alumni Association (1992), and Highly Commended in Abstract Medium at the 18th UOB Painting of the Year competition (1999), the Siaw-Tao Achievement Award in 2009 and Siaw-Tao Best Artwork Award in 2013. His works are collected privately and also in the permanent collection of the National Museum of Singapore and The Istana, Singapore.
For more information, please call +65 6339 0678 or email enquiry@ipreciation.com.
