hello?

Below are three separate conversations that i had over text messages.

Message 1 (from an unfamiliar number)

A: U know this program called fontographer or anything similar. That is a program that u

can use to create fonts. Have u use something like that before? Because i remember u major

in typo. (i was into typography in college but i didn’t major)

Me: i know this software but haven’t use it b4. May i know who is this?

A: A, your XX schoolmate. Have you use any software that create fonts before?

Me: Oh hi! No, not yet. But will prolly use fontographer if need to

A: Do u know anyone from Sg that knows how to use? i just needed to find out research.

Me: No, sorry

END OF MESSAGE

Message 2 (a stranger that i exchanged business card with at the museum)

B: Hi, nice meeting u at 8Q. free 4 thu dinner with us? My friend is marketing head in XX.

Good food & potential client, maybe :-D

Me: Hi was nice meeting you too. And thanks for asking but i already have dinner appt.

It’s the holiday season, quite a few dinner plans. Prolly another time :)

END OF MESSAGE

Message 3 (An old friend, we usually catch up once or the most twice a year)

C: Free for dinner tonight? We found a Japanese restaurant at XX. Will try there.

Me: I already have appt tonight. U guys go ahead

END OF MESSAGE

All three messages ended abruptly. To me, it’s almost like hanging up the phone without

saying goodbye. Do you think that this is impolite? Or is this the usual way of virtual

communication these days?

something different

Life is becoming stagnent and i’m getting real bored. i wanna do something different this year... be it
work or anything. But before that, wish me luck for good health, i need lots of it. Lots.

enjoy loneliness

“Only those with a free spirit know how to enjoy moment of loneliness.”

So true, isn’t it?

Original text: “寂寞只有自由的靈魂才懂得享受 ” – 大S

art stage in pictures

It took me about 6 hrs to finish walking the three halls, skipping a few galleries here and

there. Very tired at the end of the day but definitely a Sunday well-spent.

Art Stage Singapore

12 – 15 January 2012

Marine Bay Sands

future proof

A contemporary art exhibition showcasing artworks of young artists from Singapore.

Hall of Mirrors by Bruce Quek. Upon exiting, i was given a printed receipt showing the number of different deaths during the time while i was at the exhibition. i stepped out of the room with a heavy heart and i don’t like it at all. Why forced feed me with this death statistic?

The Need of an Alteration, video by Andree Weschler. i guess my stomach was not strong enough, i couldn’t watch the whole thing.

Eccentric City: Rise and Fall by :phunk & Keiichi Tanaam. As you walked round the structures, the colour was reduced to black & white and back to colour again. Eccentric (city) or not, there are always different facets in life that we face.

Ka-Khé, stairwell murals by Speak Cryptic

i missed out the name of this artist. The installation was a long narrow room filled with crumpled printed papers on all walls and ceiling with total darkness seen at the end of the tunnel.

The Human Condition by Joel Yuen. i took this picture because it reminded me of my left hand that still hurts.

Thirty-One Kinds of Wonderful by Dawn Ng. Probably my favourite, simple message so straight to the point.

Missed out on the artist name again. i was contemplating whether to go into this room. It was so dark i felt a bit scare*. i managed to brave myself and stayed inside for probably 30 seconds or less.

If A Tree Falls in the Forest by Robert Zhao

Crystal City by Donna Ong.

Inside Outside by Charles Lim. Love the message behind it. A good reminder that applies to everyone.

“...While the boundaries of a country are often taken to be its shoreline, the truth is that this border is in fact an imaginary line that lies far out at sea; a imaginary line that we materialise with sea markers. The sea markers lie still while the water moves freely beneath it. There the artist suggests that perhaps these borders we have draw for ourselves over the years are not as static and unyielding as we make them out to be.”

The Singapore Show: Future Proof

14 January – 15 April 2012

Singapore Art Museum at 8Q

*It’s embarrassing to admit and very silly but i am afraid of the dark. This is one problem i have when visiting museums on my own... especially at 8Q, it is always so quiet and there’s not a single soul around, sometimes not even the museum attendant.

chimera

Saturday was spent at this great exhibition that housed some really interesting pieces.

V by Li Hui. Fascinating light visuals experience within the chapel space, definitely my favourite piece of the exhibition.

“... V takes its name from the shape of the laser beams that sculpt the space, as they beamed down from a laser board and reflected off an angled mirror, coalescing into pinpoints of red light in a cloud of smoke. The smoke and ethereal cluster of light recall depictions of the Ascension, and as visitors walk into the path of the beams, their bodies dissolve into pinpoints of light...”

Midnight Sea by Tabaimo. This video installation on mirror panels can be quite addictive to view, i can’t help but keep staring at the moving waves.

“The sea has long held many in fascination with what lies benath its mysterious depths. The sea at night is an even more unfathomable mystery, with the darkness of night further cloaking its impenetrable depths, inspiring emotions of wonder, fear, uncertainty and even contemplation...”

Winged Pilgrims: A Chronicle From Asia by Sheba Chhachhi. Eerie but beautiful at the same time.

“... a critical perspective on how rapid modernisation and urbanisation in many developing cities today has been at the expense of the delicate balance between Man and his environment.”

Statue of Venus (Obliterted By Infinity Nets 2/10) by Yayoi Kusama. Covered with patterns all over, this is another piece that is difficult not to stare.

“... In the 1950s, her works were a startling counter-statement to the then-prevalent Minimalist style in America where she lived and worked. Her ‘all-over’ patterned surfaces revisited the ambitious and grandiose gestures of Abstracted Expressionism, but with a hallucinatory quality...”

Just a random photo showing an almost empty space... be it weekdays or weekends, the museum is always so quiet.

Seeing Shadow No. 39 by Lin Tianmiao. Can you see the barely-there stone lion sculptures?

“... composed from photographs of Beijing’s traditional classical courtyards and alleyways (hutong), which in recent years have been demolished to make way for redevelopment. Their ghosts are captured on Lin’s shadowy canvases, on which one can just make out their fading shapes and structures...”

The Sixth Day by Donna Ong. A familiar setting but yet it seems so unreal.

“... everyday objects are transformed into a miseen-scene of otherworldly beauty, an invitation to their audiences to enter, imagine, and create narratives of their own...”

Don’t miss the opportunity to view these private collections from around the world. What i have here is only about a fraction of the exhibition.

The collectors show: Chimera

14 January – 25 March 2012

Singapore Art Museum