I did a module this semester called, “Arts of SEA”, and was doing research on the Nanyang style and chanced upon your blog.

That aside, I did a piece titled, “Progression to a vanishing point” this semester, inspired by the tourist trade and the identity constructed by the state (in SEA) for this trade. In essence, we give them what tourists expect to see, and we internalize these expectations as representative of our identity.

It’s not definitive though, it’s just a thought that is part of the whole (assuming there is a “whole”). The incomplete version is on my blog, you can click on the tag “Art” greyhoundstation.wordpress.com.
.

Yes, I agree with you about the inconsequentiality of nationality in the various Art movements. I’ve never studied Art movements for real, but have always taken a strong interest in them.

To me, movements, esp the end of it, signifies a change that accompanies a change in thought of that particular society. I like to relate this to a movement of philosophical thought. To me, the emergence of the Nanyang style is reflective of the European fascination of Bali, esp with Artists like Walter Spies and Ralph Bonnet. That explains part of my unease. I’m not saying that it’s bad that the Nanyang style emerged, and it comes to me as no surprise that it did. It existence just allowed us to exist outside of our thoughts for a moment.

Context is impt, yes, but as you mentioned, it’s the idea behind the work that relates to humanity. Then again, a similar piece of Art, when displayed in different countries, provoke different sort of emotions don’t you think? even though the idea behind it remains.

I caught Tan pinpin’s Singapore Gaga some time back. A musician (Singaporean bred in NY) performed john Cage’s 4′33 in a void deck, and had us questioning her intent. In a very different setting, the same work, performed by a different artist (nationality) speaks to us differently. If Cage performed it there and then, it’d have been totally different.

So I guess, in a globalized world, it’s true that some of our thoughts/opinions/experiences are universal, but we can’t detach the context out of the movement. I like to study them as a whole.

ha, I preach too, and i could go on forever.

Anyway, have you found your way of the conundrum?

i’m pretty confused abt using additives. doesn’t painting ‘fat over lean’ mean that you add more and more oil as you paint, so that means that each layer would dry slower and slower? its a surprise to learn that adding linseed oil will speed up the process! is it only for yellow ochre and naples yellow?

my experiment wasn’t very successful, mainly cos the quality of the paints are too poor to have any noticeable differences between them. and the thing is, even after a month, you can still peel back the layer of skin to get fresh paint! so to really know if paints dry completely will take me at least 3 mths.

i’ve heard that mixing acrylics and damar varnish speeds up the process too for many colours?

yes, the sg id thing… the eternal connundrum.
have you found a way out of this in your paintings?

after sitting on it for a few weeks, i realize i’ve posed the ‘problem’ of id quite incorrectly. that is not to discount the unease many pple in sg feel, as we do. reflecting now, it’s more accurate to say that i became confused with style as substance, whereas style should be a vehicle to convey certain ideas/values (i.e. cubism the rethinking of spatial values). the nanyang style is limited, because sg has developed AWAY from its values. this is probably why it’s been labelled a footnote in our art history.

as for what we are and how we should represent sg as artists… perhaps the right question to ask is, do we really need to?

ok, pretty blasphemous idea, but looking at all the great artists, they aren’t really spanish/french/mexican artists. their nationality was always secondary to their art. i think people who love art, whatever their backgrounds can claim kinship or affinity to any kind of artist anywhere. that’s why we can love rock, pop or classical music made by different people too.

yes, the context, the places where each artist sprang from was important, it shaped and influenced them, but fundamentally, most of the great ones managed to transcend their specific culture to speak to our common humanity.

guagain comes to mind. his paintings are so odd, they aren’t french nor taihitian, although those influences are def there. taken in total, esp near the end of his life, his paintings are so spiritually powerful, its shocking. it’s probably that jolt that most pple can recognize. nationality, culture and all those labels that change over time is perhaps just the vehicle, not fundamentally relevant at this level and depth.

oh dear, hope i’m not preaching.

Adding more linseed oil to some paints speeds up the drying process, esp for fast drying colours like yellow orchre and naples yellow.

That aside, I really like that meditation/contemplativee piece you had about the nanyang style and a singaporean id. In a way I’m rather uneasy about our history being grounded by influences by the fusion of western and chinese school of Art, and our nanyang style artists drawing inspiration from Bali and we cherish these works as representative of Singapore Art.

but on the other hand, the fact is that Singapore is a place where this mix of ethnicities and identities influence each other to form a ceaseless concentric circle of influence (of sorts)

I don’t know really, I guess the search for identity, and for the essence of Art is a continuum after all. and we’d have to keep walking.

cheers!