SAW 2021’s “The orchid; the wasp” Creates Modern Art Through Digital Means

The Orchard; the Wasp main’s art piece uses mechanics to represent lovers in the traditional Malay movie, Miang. PHOTO: Raushana

__________________________________________________________________________________

SINGAPORE - The opening night for “The orchid; the wasp”, a Singapore Art Week (SAW) exhibition, was held on 22 Jan 2021. The main art piece, “Miang”, is a combination of digital and mechanical art created by Singaporean artist, Thesupersystem. Together with his co-artist Liyana Yang, he was challenged to create pieces of art that co-exists and benefit from each other, in which they succeeded in. Other artists of that exhibition include: Liyana Ali, Ivan David Ng, Anthony Chin and Leeroy Sofyan.

To Thesupersystem, “Miang” stands for family, familiarity and tradition. Although it portrays the past, this art piece makes use of digital and mechanical forms of expression. “Miang” is a good example of the modern art that one might be able to appreciate among the Singapore Art Week exhibitions. Even while expressing nostalgia, Thesupersystem was able to use modern technology and machinery to create an interesting piece of art.

Thesupersystem said: “When I was growing up, I used to watch a lot of Malay films and I still do and it is a tradition for my family. This artwork is personal because we sit down and watch these films together, especially on Hari Raya.”

“Miang” includes the screening of a snippet of an old black and white malay film on a modern projector. In addition to that, the characters’ faces were removed and replaced, with what looked like palm trees. Besides copyright infringement, this was done to remove the gender stereotypes that usually came with old malay films. This is another example of adding a modern element to the portrayal of the past. Due to society’s progression, these gender stereotypes are usually less distinguished in this day and age.

Thesupersystem explained: “I didn’t want to emphasise on the genders (of the characters) because I want to make it a very neutral thing where it can be either male, female or whatever you identify as. ”

Besides being the first Singapore Art Week that consists of physical and virtual events, SAW 2021 also portrays modern artworks in its exhibitions. Artwork “Miang” from “The

Artworks communicating with one another: “The orchid; the wasp”

A crowd of people standing outside the venue of the exhibition, looking at the poster with details of the exhibition. PHOTO: Raushana

__________________________________________________________________________________

It is such a sight to see artists coming together, despite Covid-19, to form a mutual dialogue through artworks that build or respond to one another. This form of art-making involves the artworks to have a unique symbiosis relationship with one another.

Normally, artworks uniquely stand alone, however, in The orchid; the wasp, the artworks build on another, giving space for the possibility for diversity, multiplicity and change.

With 6 different unique artworks, from 6 talented artists, the exhibition took place from the 22nd to 30th of January.

Many visitors from all walks of life, had come to the exhibition to express their love for such complex artworks, with friends and family sharing the same interests.

A comic artist, Ms Jay, came with her friends, who studies art together with her. She said: “It is interesting to see the various themes,”. The first thing that caught her eyes was the “variety” of moods and themes each art piece gives off.

Many of the visitors favourited the “two paintings with the acrylic”, also known as local artist, Ivan David Ng’s Honestly and Generously (both 2020). Ms Jay claimed that the multiple layers of acrylic is eye-catching and “interesting to contemplate upon.” Similar to the point of the art piece, Mr Ng described it to be textured and predominantly monochromatic in hopes to compel viewers for a closer inspection.

While all of these artworks are low-tech, the exhibition itself is high tech, as there is an audio feature to accompany the visitors’ viewing of the artwork, giving the visitors a more engaging experience. Due to the pandemic, the exhibition also takes the programmes online on Zoom, having the artists interact with the audience.

It is amazing how the artists did not allow the pandemic to affect their efforts in putting up intricate yet magnificent artworks that communicate to one another. Although we are encouraged not to communicate with one another, there is no better way to do so, through art.