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The Evanescent

20 June - 27 September

Free

EVENT DESCRIPTION

Featuring significant works by eight artists, including Jana Benitez (b. 1985, USA), Dale Frank (b. 1959, Australia), Mr Doodle (b. 1994, UK), Michal Korman (b. 1987, Slovakia, based in France), A.A. Murakami (b. 1983, UK & b. 1984, Japan), Thukral and Tagra (b. 1976 & 1979, India), Zhang Jianjun (b. 1955, China) and Zhu Jinshi (b. 1954, China), The Evanescent acknowledges the innate temporal and sensible qualities that are embodied by an artwork. By embracing the ephemeral nature of our visual experience, the grouping of artworks aims to connect with audiences and provoke new meanings to emerge.

The logic of living in an information age dictates the ways in which we recognise different images; increasingly disparate visual bytes are stored instantaneously in our brains with little significance. What is the meaning of art in the age of post-mechanical reproduction? Instead of relying on art for spiritual guidance, contemporary art now functions more as a vehicle for claiming broader inclusivity. Increasingly art immerses the audience in a sea of ideas, but at the expense of focusing our attention towards a single idea for too long.

Absent-mindedness or amnesia has become the order of the day. Apperception takes away the delight of looking at something for the first time. Looking now depends on how we negotiate with the residue of our assumptions based on the imagery inside our subconscious. How to regain a fresh perspective of looking at an artwork remains an elusive pursuit. Running contrary to the Western belief of the binary opposition between light and dark and that the two cannot coexist, Thich Nhat Nanh, the late Zen Buddhist monk, says, “Opposition between good or bad is often compared to light and dark, but if we look at it in a different way, we will see that when light shines, darkness does not disappear. It does not leave; it merges with the light. It becomes the light.” The essence of art does not lie solely with its dialectical nature; art also has the potential to elicit self-discovery and transformation.

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