Prayer to Spring – LOVE by Quek Kiat Sing 郭捷忻

14 August – 18 August 2020

Overview

Visual Arts Centre

10 Penang Road, #01-02 Dhoby Ghaut Green, Singapore 238469

Opening Hours

14 August to 18 August 2020, 11am – 7pm daily

Performance: & Talk: Limited to 50 Pax (Currently Full)

Followed by Performance on 15 August at 2.30pm by Pipa Musican, Huang Ming Xiang &

Talk on soundtrack by Dayn Ng, Huang Ming Xiang, Kelvin Loh and Jazmine Kong

Discussion by the collectors of pets paintings and shelter volunteers will be posted on Facebook.

Exhbition View

Date: 14 – 18 August 2020, Friday to Tuesday

Time: 11am to 7pm daily

Venue: Visual Arts Centre, 10 Penang Road, #01-02 Dhoby Ghaut Green, Singapore 238469

(nearest MRT: Dhoby Ghaut Station, the Gallery is just above the MRT Station)

Special Events:

15 August 2020, Sat, 2:30pm – Opening Ceremony

Check out the media coverage of this exhibition by Lianhezaobao (点击以下链接查看《联合早报》对此展览的采访）

郭捷忻水墨个展 描绘对樱花宠物的爱

Artist

“Prayer to Spring” is a showcase of my latest series of paintings on Sakura.  My interest in this topic started after I visited the Sakura Masuri Exhibition at Garden by the Bay in 2018. Thereafter, I made a trip to experience Hanami in its authentic setting in Japan (at Osaka Castle and Kenroku En at Kanazawa).

Spring is a universal language of rebirth. It is a season with the power to renew life, grants new beginning and the return of Love to Mother Earth.  A Prayer to Spring is the faith in this enormous strength that grants a new leash of life. Spring is found in all corners of the earth, celebrated by all cultures and languages, and depicted and performed in all genres of arts.

The blossoming of Sakura is a signpost to signal the arrival of Spring. I have chosen to create a new series of Sakura to denote Spring.  The paintings are deconstruction of the Sakura trees in their setting against the blue sky and white clouds.  Special seals have been created to accompany these paintings.  A soundtrack and a sound installation on Spring will accompany this exhibition. Soundscape collected in Japan, recital of Haiku in Japanese, poems on Spring in different languages and four pieces of music has been recorded to create the soundtrack. The music pieces include:

春雨 – performed by Huang Ming Xiang (pipa)

Improvisation of Hana – performed by Huang Ming Xiang (pipa) and Jazmine Kong (piano)

Gymnopedie – performed by Jazmine Kong (piano)

Sakura No Hana Variations (2017) – performed by Kevin Loh (guitar) and Huang Ming Xiang (pipa)

Recorded by Sound Engineer – Dayn Ng

Haiku/Poems recital by Tsujimoto Tadashi, Quek Kiat Sing, Honma Kanako, Sergey Kushnarev, Barbara Wlodkowska, Susanne Digel, Hioki Fumiko (in order of appearance).

 

A shorter revised version of this soundtrack is available at:

 https://spinnup.link/296897-prayer-to-spring

A second part of the show, “Love” will be dedicated to a series of pet paintings commissioned by various collectors.   I have not had a chance to showcase these works that have already been created.  Hence, I hope that this will be a platform to allow this body of works to come together.  Animals are pure love.  All pet owners can attest to this. My journey to paint them started with my own pets, Mandy (Chihuahua), and Bear Bear (Holland Lop).  Chinese Ink painting on animals and pets are rare in Singapore. I am glad that I can allow Chinese Ink painting to take on a new life with this subject.

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