Exhibitors at The Art Gallery since July 2003

Paul Lincoln - Sixteen Degrees Centigrade

Katawán, Satti (Body, Force)*
Fatima Lasay <fats@up.edu.ph>
August 2004
In the western practices of soundwalking and soundscape composition, there is the association with the context of sound; in electroacoustic, acousmatic and musiqueconcréte, recorded sounds are taken out of their context. In "Katawán, Satti", we transcend these sound expressions by investigating the corporeal and incorporeal qualities of sound, the body and force elements of sound. "Katawán, Satti" explores both a sense of physical being and sensed space.
The Filipino word "katawán" translates to "tubuh" in Bahasa, "awak" in Bahasa Melayu, "body" in English. "Katawán" refers to the physical body. There are multiple meanings across semantic ranges of the word "katawán." "Katawanín" means "to represent"; "kinatawán" means "representative"; "katawáng-hayop" means "animal body"; "katawánglupa" means "earthly body"; "katawáng-tao" specifically refers to the human body; and "magkatawáng-tao" means "to assume human form." In the Philippine languages of Hiligaynon, Cebuano and Bisaya, "katawhan" means "people" and the Ilokano "katataó" means "ancestry." In a highly westernized society like the Philippines, the sense and meaning of a physical body cross the post-colonial condition and the experience of inter-subjectivity. The sensuality and the imagination of a physical being cross those perspectives of modernity, globalization and indigeneity. Indeed, as one investigates concepts of self, identity, people
and ancestry, one could very well begin with the body. Filipino artists Tad Ermitaño and Jing Garcia, from the group known as "Children of
Cathode Ray", share their long experience of experimental sound and video art, and how they are thus able to transgress boundaries of abstract sound and what Ermitaño calls a "visual and aural sensuousness underpinned by a rigorous sequential logic." Such transgressions (and transmissions) remind us of our own bodily incursions and incarcerations in the negotiation for personal, biological and cultural territory. The word "satti" means "power" or "force" in Myanmar. The Myanma sound takes inspiration from a seminar on "Perception" by artist U Khin Maung during one of their artist’s meetings in 1979. From U Khin Maung’s discussions on perception and force, we can take sound to the level of force as an abstract. U Khin Maung asks "Force here is power (satti) or advantage (anisamsa); which is power and how is the advantage used?" Another

inspiration for Myanma sound as force is the struggle of artist U Aung Khin (1921-1996) in exploring abstraction as means to show life after death in Brahmaloka and Devaloka."How shall I draw the abode of Man and Deva?" he asks. In "Katawán, Satti", Myanma artists Than Htike Aung and Khin Zaw Latt share the crossing of media forms and practices, the visual and the aural, the image and the sound, and the spaces in between. Here, the artists ask the same question as U Aung Khin and explores answers by investigating the topology of abstraction between image and sound in the representation
of a cosmography. In a closed society like Myanmar, the sense and meaning of space may be found in the internal; the universe may be found in a single grain of rice that one visits not only in the physical body, but in the mind-made body as well. Thus, the Myanma sounds are not only meditations on the cityscape of Yangon, but are also meditations on a cosmography or a "Picture of the Universe" — projecting a sense of place remembered in a city whose name
means "End of Strife." Projected digital images by Filipino social realist Alfredo Manrique serve as visual invaginations in the dynamic "Katawán, Satti" language of sound. Although the image projections are a direct representation of flesh, the symbolism is an internalized abstract fact – the desire for fertility. Manrique’s images recall the prehistoric incisions of pudenda on boulders near the village of Alab in the Mountain province. As sympathetic magic, visual forms become removed from artifactual realities to a language of symbols associated
with behavioral activity. The projected images and sounds in "Katawán, Satti” are presented in the space as“suspensions” – like bodies floating in space. The light images envelope the sounds like skin and the sounds escape through the cracks of shadows. And because the sounds come from different sound spots and overlap each other at different times, the sound experience is never repeated. In its entirety, "Katawán, Satti” is an evolving phase space and an
abstract construction of body and presence. Bringing the Myanma universe and the Philippine body sonifications together in Singapore, we step into a shared ground of separate, similar, dissimilar and altogether intriguing notions of sensuality. In "Katawán, Satti", our experience of sound is opened into a new possibility, a new situation, a new sense of place and physical being. The
challenge is how we respond to this shift in physicality, sense and situation. How do we respond to expressions, adulterations and the confluence of body and force? How do we learn to hear and understand each other across the differences of the spaces and the forces that we have built within and without our bodies? And when does the body ever really begin to feel comfort in foreign space?

References:
"The Body Book, The Geography of the Filipino Body" edited by Gilda Cordero Fernandez,
Fe Maria C. Arriola, et al, illustrated by Onib Olmedo. GCF Books 1993.
"Reminiscences of Myanmar Art" by artist U Aung Khin, translated by Dr. Than Tun. 1996.
“The Tinge of Red, Prehistory of Art in the Philippines” by Jesus T. Peralta. National
Commission for Culture and the Arts. 2000.

Artists:
Than Htike Aung (b. 1979)
Than Htike Aung holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Philosophy. His art and music experiences in Myanmar traditional cultural performing arts include awards in nationwidecompetitions in piano performance (Third Prize in 1994 and Second Prize in 1995). In 2002, Than Htike Aung attended the International Symposium “Collaboration, Networking and Resource Sharing: Myanmar” organized by the Ayeyarwaddy Art Assembly (AAA) and the International Forum for the Inter-Media Arts (IFIMA).

Tad Ermitaño (b. 1964)
Tad Ermitaño holds a Bachelor’s degree in Philosophy from the University of the
Philippines and studied film/video making at the Mowelfund Film Institute. He currently produces video for projection in a variety of stage/concert contexts, including several productions of Ballet-Philippines. His single-channel works have been screened at the Yamagata International Film Festival and the Hamburg Short Film Festival. The focus of his work has since expanded to the use of computers and other technologies in
performance and installation contexts.
(Photo: Tad Ermitaño and Jing Garcia as “Children
of Cathode Ray”, live video/electronica performance
at the Music Museum in Manila.)

Jing Garcia (b. 1965)
Jing Garcia trained as a journalist and
started early in his career by writing
reviews of vinyl records released by a
variety of local and international music
artists in the early-80’s. With his exposure
to the underground music circle of Manila,
he went into music production and earned a
number of Gold and Platinum awards
as well as several citations including three nominations from Awit Awards as Producer back in the mid-90’s. Today, Jing Garcia is a weekly I.T. Columnist for the Manila Standard, PULP, a popular music and lifestyle magazine, and a regular contributor for"Speed: High-performance Technology Magazine". Jing Garcia also runs his own experimental project studio effort under the name Dominguez-Shimata.Colony.

Khin Zaw Latt (b. 1980)
Khin Zaw Latt holds a degree in Painting from the University of Culture in Myanmar, and has exhibited in Yangon, Myanmar and in Hong Kong. Khin Zaw Latt’s recognition in art include winning Second Prize at Myanmar Youth Drawing Contest in 2001, and Honourary Mention at Myanmar Contemporary Art Awards in 2004. Khin Zaw Latt is now also part-time student with the Networking and Initiatives for Culture and the Arts, Yangon (NICA).
Alfredo Manrique (b. 1949) Alfredo Manrique was among the first social realists in the Philippines to consider art as social and political commentary in response to severe economic and social inequality particularly after the imposition of Martial Law in 1972. As painter and printmaker,
Manrique uses the human body as landscape for the expression of historical struggle. In the late 80’s he shifted to the digital medium. Manrique has served as director of Cyberspace, Inc., and MIS and system integration consultant for both the Manila Standard and the UNDP-PSDN (Philippine Sustainable Development Network).

Curator:
Fatima Lasay (b. 1969)
Fatima Lasay is an artist, independent curator and educator of digital media. Her work
emphasizes a cultural definition for, and concepts of knowledge communalism,
sovereignty and autonomy in the practice and theory of, art and technologies. Fatima
Lasay obtained her degrees in Industrial Design and Master of Fine Arts from the
University of the Philippines where she also developed its first digital media art elective
courses.
* Catalogue essay for exhibition "Katawán, Satti” at the Art Gallery of the National Institute of Education,
Singapore, for the Multimedia Art Asia Pacific (MAAP) festival 2004, October 27-31.

LABYRINTH

An Installation Artwork by Chiang Jing Ying

The Art Gallery @ National Institute of Education

Nanyang Technological University

4 - 28 March 2004

Labyrinth, a work of installation art by Chiang Jing Ying, explores the human perception of the 'path of life' and questions the reality of a linear existence. This artwork is a labyrinth constructed in a large room, encompassing the entire viewing area. The viewer is incorporated into the work, a living part of the work itself. Indeed, the viewer is an intrinsic part of the work, experiencing the "life path" while simultaneously experiencing the piece.

The labyrinth is constructed of strings stretching across the viewing area at multiple angles and at varying heights and intervals. This sets an uneven path that the viewer has to follow to go through the piece. All areas, however, are visible, which allows a glimpse into the reality of life and its cycle, while maintaining the facade (perception) of life as a paradigm of straight lines.

The entrance to and exit from the life path are the same portal, suggesting that life is cyclical, that despite our linear thinking, the experience of life and death may be more circular, following the natural progressions of nature, as opposed to the more predictable corners of geometric lines.

In essence, Labyrinth is a work that challenges our perception of our own life path. This perception of life and self is directed and measurable, mirroring the functionality of modern life, a path marked with lines like highways, map grids, and architectural boxes. This may be in opposition to natural, more circular form, which is evidenced in the return to the place in life where one enters.

Chiang Jing Ying is an artist and art educator living in Singapore. She was born in Sabah, East Malaysia, and received her BFA and MFA degrees from RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia. She works in various 2-D, 3-D and new media and has exhibited widely in Singapore and overseas. Jing Ying's works are in public and private collections in Singapore, Malaysia, Australia, Germany, USA and UK. In recognition of the quality of her artworks, Jing Ying has received many awards including Juror's Choice in the Philip Morris Group of Companies Singapore Art Awards.

Dates: 4 - 28 March, 2004. As the installation will be shown as a work in progress viewers are encouraged to visit the show several times to witness the evolution of the installation.

part of the article on the art work is written by Sean Lacey

Chiang Jing Ying. Email: jing_s95@yahoo.com .

visit Jings website for updates

http://jingchiang.topcities.com/

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SIXTEEN DEGREES CENTIGRADE

A solo exhibition of curious mixed-media works by Paul Lincoln

This exhibition explores the social seduction of conditioning in Singapore . Air-conditioners and abstractions of air-conditioners are deconstructed to it's attributes of sound, material and motion in order to investigate the machinations of living in Singapore and the politics of comfort.

12 February 2004

Exhibition preview and ExxonMobil-NTU Explorations in the Arts series cheque presentation ceremony - 12.30pm

Exhibition - 6.30pm

Exhibition runs 12 Feb - 29 Feb 2004

Mon-Fri: 10.00am-5.00pm

Sat: 10.00am-1.00pm

The Art Gallery
National Institute of Education
Nanyang Technological University
1 Nanyang Walk
Singapore 637616

Tel : 67903557
Fax: 68969143

vpa@nie.edu.sg
www.vpa.nie.edu.sg

SIXTEEN DEGREES CENTIGRADE

by Cecily Cheo

Recently Paul Lincoln sent me a most wonderful jpeg image. It was of his dog sitting by the edge of a swimming pool, trailing the tip of her paw gently over the surface of the water. This action set light ripples in motion. Apparently, the dog becomes totally absorbed watching the ripple patterns. When the ripples eventually subside, the dog begins the ritual over again and then over and over again. The dog seems to have no intention of creating big waves or plunging into the swimming pool. She is content to gaze at the ripples.

When I think about Paul Lincoln's work, especially the titles he selects for his work, the above image comes to mind. These titles suggest an engagement with social and political issues that are currently hot topics in Singapore. Take, for example, Speaker's Corner which could imply that the work is commenting on the government's efforts to neutralize the perception that there is no free speech in Singapore; We the Citizens, taken from the opening lines of the pledge that school students make each morning in assembly, could suggest a reading of the idea of citizenry in today's Singapore; Building your home, feeding your children, could allude to the pressures of everyday life on the 'heartlanders' in Singapore. These titles seem intended to provoke critical thought, especially in the context of the current Remaking Singapore Campaign. Yet when I put this to Paul Lincoln, he replied:

I haven't put a finger on whether my work is social or political and I don't really want it to be political. I don't know whether I can control whether it's political or not. But I think that any thing that has to deal with the social gets into a politics anyway." Later, he added: "You know, I don't think I'm an activist. My comfort position is too good to be that. Not hungry enough. That's the problem... The thing is here, that you have that comfort.

16 Degrees Centigrade, the title of this show, refers to the thermostat setting at which an air-conditioner can generate an ideal ambient temperature. It's a delicate balance to maintain, as room temperature goes up by as much as 2 degrees centigrade with each person, photocopier or computer that is added to a workplace. In Singapore, an air-conditioned environment is considered essential to ensure the maximum productivity of the workforce. According to www.heatbusters.com , an industrial worker's performance is at its optimum at 18 degrees centigrade. At 24 degrees centigrade, productivity starts to decline. Over 24 degrees centigrade, a worker is 23% more likely to be involved in an industrial accident.

The air-conditioner, as an idea, image and object, reoccurs frequently in Paul Lincoln's work. In We The Citizens, a work currently in progress, an air-conditioner sits on top of a golden flagpole. When the viewer looks up at it, the words of the Singapore pledge come raining down. Sometimes, he uses a small computer fan, another cooling device. For example, in We The People, twenty computer fans are bound together to form a horizontal line. They are left to run until they collect and deposit a line of dust on the wall behind them. In Speaker's Corner, a small microphone is placed in front of a computer fan. The slight sound made by the little computer is then fed into an amplifier, which then transforms the sound into an aggressive cacophony.

In recent years, the air-con unit has gained a certain metaphoric status in Singapore. The Air-Conditioned Nation is the title of a collection of essays by local journalist, Cherian George, that examines "the politics of comfort and control" operating in Singapore. George writes:

Just as the air-conditioner allows control of temperature for optimum comfort, so the long ruling People's Action Party maintains 'total systems control' for the material comfort for citizens.

Both Lincoln and George's reference to the air-conditioner derive from an article published in the Wall Street Journal in November, 1999, in which world leaders were asked to nominate the most influential innovation of the millennium. Senior Minister Lee Kwan Yew chose the air-conditioner. He explained:

The humble air conditioner has changed the lives of people in the tropical regions. Before air-con, mental concentration and with it the quality of work deteriorated as the day got hotter and more humid. After lunch, business in many tropical countries stopped until the cooler hours of the later afternoon. Historically, advanced civilizations have flourished in cooler climates. Now lifestyles have become comparable to those in temperate zones and civilization in tropical zones need no longer lag behind.

SM Lee went on to add: The ideal invention would be a light polyester air-conditioned undergarment, enclosed around the neck, wrists and ankles and battery operated." Everyone can then work at his optimum temperature and civilization can spread across all climates.

In his lenticular work, Air-Conditioned People, Paul Lincoln has created his own bold, streamlined vision of Senior Minister Lee's ideal.

In this exhibition, Paul Lincoln plans to install three LG air-conditioners in the centre of the gallery space. They will be fully operational, blowing hot air onto one side and cold air onto the other, dividing the gallery into two different zones: a comfort zone and a discomfort zone. The concept of these two zones occurred to him while waiting for his hamburger. He explained:

The MacDonald's at Kallang has a drive-through window. When you order things, you have to wait. Then you've got to drive your car a bit further down and there are these hot air vents. And you have your window down, and hot air is blasting in. You look through the window and you see everyone sitting down in serene comfort. That's how the analogy first started.

Like many multi-media artists, Paul Lincoln is interested in the potential of interactivity between the viewer and the work. Take Body Browser as an example. In a dark room, the image of a full-scale naked male body is displayed on an LCD screen. Next to it hangs a pointer which the viewer uses to 'touch' different parts of the body, and this opens a web site corresponding to the particular body part, which appears on a separate screen. In this circumstance, the role of the participant can only be as a receiver of information. The interactivity is non-reciprocal. The nature of the interaction between the participant and the work seems cold, distant and mechanical.
In Building Your Home, Feeding Your Children, a different type of interaction occurred which seems more human, unpredictable and quirky. The interaction occurred during the process of making the work, between the artist and his subjects. The work dealt with the negative perception of foreign contract workers held by a certain sector of the Singapore public. Initially, Paul Lincoln expected this work would challenge the public's perceptions of foreign contract workers. However, he found that it was his own preconceptions that were being challenged by these workers.

He approached three foreign workers and asked if they would each 'sit' for a portrait. He recorded each of them on video, standing, looking straight ahead, as if they were 'addressing' the viewer. The portraits became three video-loops which were projected onto three LCD projection screens. These video-loops played continuously in a darkened room throughout the exhibition. Paul Lincoln explained that:

Portraiture is usually something done by affluent people to capture images of themselves and display their power. I wanted these contract workers to actually 'commission' me to portray them in this new media. I didn't want to capture them vacuuming. I wanted to capture them in a distinguished manner, sort of an elevation of their status kind of thing.

It was during the portrait sittings that the three foreign workers began to 'step out of character'. They had quite definite ideas about how they would like to be portrayed. One woman arrived dressed in a richly decorated sari. She told Paul Lincoln that she would like her image to be superimposed on a flower. Another woman arrived dressed in a trendy blouse, tight jeans and fashionable slippers. She refused to be photographed in this clothing and insisted on changing into her work clothes, an old pair of shorts and a T-shirt. During the shoot Paul Lincoln asked them how they felt about being labeled a foreign contract worker. Each made it clear that working as a foreign contract worker was a means to an end. And they were quite sanguine about the whole thing. They each caused Paul Lincoln to reflect and rethink about his approach to this subject.

When his work is presented in 'Shot in the face' at the Earl Lu Gallery, his role as an artist seems to be that of an on-looker. It was during this face-to-face interaction with these three foreign workers that he became a participant.

The work in this exhibition locates Paul Lincoln's working concerns in the midst of a 'Singapore conversation'. Perhaps his reluctance to become a fully engaged participant in the issues that he raises in his work, is an indication of where that 'Singapore conversation' is, at this point in time. In Paul Lincoln's words:

I guess this series of work does not really change things. But I think it is really for other people who perhaps share my feelings to look at and maybe smile. If I could get a smile or a giggle or a chortle I think that would be quite nice.

References:

Chai Kim Wah Political climate control on high. Review:
Singapore: The Air-conditioned Nation. Cherian George. Landmark Books. Nov 2001, Far from Fart East Economic Review March 22, 2001
Website: http://www.sfdonline.org/Link%20Folders,O/Pf/freer220301.html

The Most Influential Innovations of the Millennium. Wall Street Journal poll in 1999 of world leaders. 1st November 1999. Wall Street Journal. Dow Jones & Co.Inc
Website: http://www.aidsinfobbs.org/articles/wallstj/99/005

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Opening 12 Jan 2004 @ 1900hrs

Exhibition runs 12 Jan - 30 Jan 2004

Guest of Honour Prof Su Guaning - President, Nanyang Technological University

Visual Literacy: A Solo Exhibition by Lutz PresserVisual Literacy can be applied and understood in several different ways and is presently gaining academic legitimacy in terms of “reading” works of art. My usage of the concept is tied to the belief that art objects carry meaning, which is embedded in the object itself and is transferred from the object to the viewer in a purely visual form. The meaning, to be understood, must be interpreted in order to be deciphered by the viewer. This activity does not require the necessity of text or words. Visual Literacy is inseparable from familiarity with the idioms, codes, symbols and conventions of a visual language, which can and does change from culture to culture. In other words, if a viewer is to genuinely appreciate a work of art and see intelligently, he/she must have knowledge and experience of the visual language used, in order to “read” the layers of meaning correctly and not misinterpret the work. However, certainly within Western art history, some layers of meaning are not fully revealed or understood until a passage of time has elapsed from when the work was originally produced.

The present exhibition entitled Visual Literacy “plays” with the above concept as well as what we see and the mechanics of how we see. Traces of cultural displacement, misinterpretation and cultural misconceptions are also present, hence the inclusion of a series of small oil paintings by anonymous Vietnamese artists. The facsimiles, literally copies from magazine reproductions of works by several prominent modernist/postmodernist Euro-American artists including Botero and Andy Warhol, use the traditional method of copying from a master. However, there are a number of variants in the copies which change the reading and understanding of both the originals and the Vietnamese works. Thus it is curious and important to note that when the same work is painted over and over again none are exactly the same, apart from the fact that the scale, colour, tone, texture and other subtleties are at variance from the originals. Perhaps most bizarre is that Warhol’s Marilyns and Maos were photographic silkscreens and not hand painted, so what we are looking at in the Vietnamese works are handmade copies from magazine reproductions of photographic copies mechanically reproduced from magazine reproductions. I would argue that the Vietnamese works are as “original” as Warhol’s, who, no doubt would have approved of these labyrinthine convolutions.

Other works such as Visual Terrorism: The Twin Towers, deal with optical responses, in this case afterimages, coupled with visual suggestion, i.e., a simple, tall, vertical grid can suggest a sky scraper with lights on or off as well as conjure less pleasant recent memories.
MnM is a series of drawings where handmade Chinese paper serves as the site for Eastern and Western cultural icons to merge and become one; Marilyn becomes Mao and vice versa. The MaoSIRDS are a series of digitally produced and printed “paintings” on canvas utilizing the technique of Single Image Random Dots Stereograms, in other words, embedded in the busy decorative pattern is a fully-developed 3D image of Mao Zadong’s head in various positions.
Finally, The Lenticular Last Supper is a 16 foot long version of Andy Warhol’s 1986 reworking of Leonardo Da Vinci’s Last Supper using the lenticular techniques of “flips” and “deep 3D”. The lenticular image has two components; a printed image and a lenticular lens screen through which the image is viewed. Warhol complicated Leonardo’s already loaded Renaissance image by adding camouflage patterning. Through the addition of lenticular layering Warhol’s and Leonardo’s interpretation of an important moment of Jesus Christ’s life, the moment he predicts his own betrayal and death, lends a suitable complexity to a work and story which can simultaneously operate on the most profound human levels as well as pure kitsch.Lutz Presser
2003

Dr Lutz Presser is an art academic, has been teaching in Art Schools and Universities since 1973 and since 1998 has been living and working in Singapore where he is presently the Head of Visual and Performing Arts at the National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University. He is a writer, researcher and practicing artist. Since coming to Singapore his artworks have dealt with aspects of cultural displacement, cultural misreadings and misinterpretations as well as formal aspects of Visual Literacy.

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FRIENDS / PHASES

Artist Statement

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"The human face and body is probably the most familiar subject matter in art. Even in societies without a specific word for art , the human image prevails. the figurative arts are therefore the collective autobiography of humanity.Throughout human history, the human eye and hand have crafted and preserved these records of our aapearance.

My latest show follows nearly two years after my first solo exhibition. My life as an artist in the context of God's will, which showcased a series of abstract oil paintings inspired by my 3 years fo living in New York The time i spent in New York marked the start of my professional art career, and the abstract painting of the same title is a pledge that I will follow Gods diirection.

I have named this second solo show Friends/Phases because God has brought me through 3 phases in my art career. My arrival in New york in 1999 marked a first phase that was an amazing time of personal growth as well as exposure and immersion in art. The second phase in 2002 saw me settling in to live in Singapore and setting up studio here. Since early this year, God openend a door for me to make a career in education and this anticipates the start of my third phase. As an educator, I have the responsibility of guiding young minds through the world using art as a tool to unlock its many secrets.

These three phases in my art career are therefore reflected in the organisation of my exhibition : My "New Yorker" friends, my at home and the friends I have made at National Institute of Education. These people are more than my models - they are my friends too.

This second show exemplifies my own commiitment to neoclassicalfiguration and my facination with the expressive potential of colour - the two stylistic factors i consider most important in my work during this phase of my career. My work was and remains figurative, and is made in the tradition of western figurative art. (I use the term figurative here in the narrow sense of representational art that depicts the human body). There seems to be a recent certain atmosphere of receptivity to fugurative art, which has variously been termed "revival" or "reactionary". However , I think that there is no "revival" of the figure because the figure never fell into obselenscence in art.

As an artist, I have always had an interest in the portrayal of the figure, and in those artist who found their creative voice in the expression of the figure and human condition. The drama of the quiet gesture, the chiaroscuro of light falling on an outstretched arm, the intrigue of a face registaring the slightest expressions - thses are attributes of the artworks by artist i admire such as Diego Velazquez and Rembrant. in Velazquez Portrait of Juan de Pareja (a painting I studied and copied at the Metropolitan Museum of Art), the artist captured the pride and dignity of the model who was only a studio assistant. When the picture was exhibited publicly at the Pantheon in 1650, one connoisseur remarked that while all the rest was art, this alone was truth. I have wanted to paint Truth ever since I first picked up the brush.

My figurative work operates int eh traditional field of the nude. At this point I want to talk about Meri - one of the nude figures whos portrait is in the show - who is a wonderful friend of mine in New York. Meri is a full bodied Argentinian and is therefore very warm and hospitable - but more importantly very real, she is very real. I was greatly inspired by her when she posed for us at the Art Students League and was also blessed by the friendship that developed between us. I see this painting as a turning point in my training. It is this painting which I call my "epiphany painting", which marked a point of realisationfor me in my painting.I became more free and expressive in my brush strokes, cutting across the form more boldly than I had ever dared and practically chiselling the form of the model out of two-dimensional canvas.

I will always go back to the nude. Not only is the human anatomy one of the most baeutiful things God created, but in painting it, there is the liberation of expression without the technical problems that cloth and drapery pose.

Antoine de Saint Exupery asserted that " what is essential is invisible to the eye" I have been challenged by this statement ever since I first came across it. This series of paintings is about my search of the essential, using it as my starting point, de Exupery's pradoxical statement. My task as an artist, educator and human being is to make the invisible qualities of truth and beauty in the human being, visible

www.namikochan.com

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