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Prelude of Gaze

27 October - 8 December

Free

EVENT DESCRIPTION

THE SHOPHOUSE is pleased to present Prelude of Gaze, a group exhibition featuring Reuben Beren James, Joseph Jones, Bartosz Kowal, Li Chuangli, and Wu Yumo. With a curated body of works on canvas and photographs, the exhibition explores the varied states of uncertainty that occur in the in-between – it asks: What precedes the moment of seeing and exists prior to the enlightenment? What happens in the transition rather than the resolution?

The works of Reuben Beren James investigate the latter through the idea of the simulacra and the liminality between human and technology. His paintings portray the moment in which an unknown threshold is revealed as it is transgressed. Within this interstitial space, rational and conclusive boundaries are not only blurred but dissolved, as is the differentiation between the real and the simulated.

The contemplation of intermediate states is echoed in works of Wu Yumo, wherein she displaces the finality of traditional perceptions. Her photographic artworks play on viewers’ instinct to see image negatives as positives, a reaction prompted not only by the desire to align with reality, but the cognitive intuition to finish an incomplete process. Using a large-format digital camera, the specific scenes she captures mimic the visual quality of photo negatives, causing confusion in its comprehension.

Li Chuangli disrupts perception in a different manner. His artworks portray ordinary and everyday objects yet are disjointed in their depiction. Closer inspection would reveal that the composition of each painting has been divided into three portions, with the center panel slightly differing in scale. Through this minimal act of manipulation, Li challenges the false sense of security evoked by what is often perceived as familiar or natural.

Also using familiar imagery, specifically flora and fauna, Joseph Jones reflects upon the relationship between the subject and the object. His paintings respectively depict a single flower and a cat whose point of gaze falls beyond the frame. As the viewer enters into the relationship, the roles of subject and object are shifted.

If the intention of Jones’ artworks is to involve the viewer, then the works of Bartosz Kowal pushes them away. Kowal’s paintings depicts close-up inspections of a figure’s face, though always averting their gaze. Merely missing their eyes by either displacing the frame or peering only as the figure’s eyes close, his images are engaged in a to-and-fro between looking and looking away. Successively building suspense with each glance, the artworks are as if a prelude – always almost, but never there.

Details

Start:
27 October
End:
8 December
Admission:
Free
Event Category:

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