artcommune and AC43 Gallery are pleased to present The Story of Two Presses, which delves into the little-known history and collaborative culture of contemporary printmaking in Singapore. Featuring works by Chen Cheng Mei, Chng Seok Tin, Chen Shitong, Chiew Sien Kuan, Chua Chon Hee, Ho E Moi, Nhawfal Juma’at, Nyan Soe, Oh Chai Hoo and Tan Sock Fong, this multi-generational showcase centres on the developments of two specific printmaking workshops helmed by local artists in Singapore - the LASALLE Printing Workshop (in LASALLE College of the Arts) led by Chen Cheng Mei and Chng Seok Tin between the mid-1980s and 1990s, and Pulp Editions founded by Chen Shitong in 2017.
Though operating over 30 years apart, both printers embody the fervent ground-up initiative of local artists whose passion and sacrifices became instrumental in developing the contemporary printmaking scene in Singapore. The Story of Two Presses presents around 30 fine art prints spanning the period of 1980s to 2022, with almost all being produced in these two workshops.
Celebration of Chng Seok Tin’s birthday, circa 1992.
Artists Ho E Moi, Chen Cheng Mei, and Chng Seok Tin (from left to right in the foreground) with students at the LASALLE Printing Workshop in Telok Kurau. Photograph courtesy of Dahlia Osman (2nd from right in the background), student of Chng Seok Tin.
More often than not, a series of small, thoughtful gestures from one or two individuals is all it takes to set forth a course of meaningful developments for an entire community. In 1985, the dedication of Brother Joseph McNally, who founded LASALLE College of the Arts in 1984, was met with an equal measure of selflessness from artist Chen Cheng Mei, who readily helped facilitate the inception of the school’s printmaking department by placing her own newly imported English etching press and print materials in the school’s printing workshop for all students and interested artists to use.
Chen Cheng Mei (b. 1927, Singapore - d. 2020, Singapore) herself was primarily an oil painter who had trained at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (1949-54). While visiting Paris in 1980, she hung out at the renowned Atelier 17 printer owned by Stanley William Hayter and was determined to experiment further with press techniques. This prompted her purchase of an expensive English etching press in 1985 for her personal use. In the early years of the newly-opened LASALLE, Brother McNally had had to contend with limited funds and resources, and Chen Cheng Mei’s generous gestures had allowed the school to run its printmaking department with verve and aptitude. Her informal gifting of the etching press and materials enabled LASALLE to hire Chng Seok Tin (b. 1946, Singapore - d. 2019, Singapore), who had just returned to Singapore after many years of training and experimenting with print techniques in the US, to helm the department in 1985. In the late 80s, Chen Cheng Mei also added an imported German lithograph press to the workshop. Over the years, she continued to donate many print materials including paper, imported plates and acids to the workshop.
As a teacher and mentor, Chng Seok Tin was instrumental in fostering the first of print majors amongst art students in Singapore. For up until the late 80s, printmaking was offered only as an exposure module at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts and the lessons focused more on woodcut and silkscreen printing. LASALLE was effectively the first art school in Singapore to offer a degree majoring in Print, encouraging a more specialised interest in etching and lithography.
Between 1985 and up till the 2000s, Chen Cheng Mei, Chng Seok Tin and Ho E Moi (also Chen’s sister-in-law) worked often at the LASALLE Printing Workshop to produce their own etchings and lithographs. Several students and graduates from LASALLE who were active members of the Contemporary Printmaking Association, Singapore, such as Tan Sock Fong (b. 1966, Singapore, who was amongst LASALLE’s first batch of print majors), also produced many of their works here. In an informal and organic manner, the LASALLE printing workshop functioned as a fecund space where artists of different backgrounds and styles came together to learn and transfer knowledge, bonded by a common interest to pursue contemporary printmaking as an avenue of expression.
The Story of Two Presses aims to celebrate this uniqueness and spirit embodied by the LASALLE printing workshop with a selection of prints completed by Chen Cheng Mei, Chng Seok Tin, Ho E Moi and Tan Sock Fong in this very space.
To Unfold with Time: New Watercolour Works by Tam Kwan Yuen
2 March 2024 – 17 March 2024
AC43 proudly presents To Unfold with Time: New Watercolour Works by Tam Kwan Yuen. This solo showcase of over 30 new watercolour paintings charts the latest development in Kwan Yuen’s decadelong devotion to the medium. The exhibition officially opens on 02 March, Saturday, 3 – 5pm with the artist in attendance. All are welcome!
Amongst the exhibition highlights is Lights of Marina Bay, a large-scale urban night scene measuring 113 x 200 cm, through which he attempts to describe the visual and physical experience of observing the breathtaking skyline along the Singapore River at night. The urban architecture and captivating night lights in Singapore are also explored in contrast to night scenes from Tokyo. The dense urban labyrinths unfolding along the streets of Shibuya and Shinjuku, for instance, reveal distinct modernist architectural designs and an alluring night bustle characterised by lightboxes, neon signboards and seas of pedestrians.
The Haussmann style architecture of Paris and Dutch Baroque buildings of Amsterdam offer another perspective with regards to the variety of landscapes seen throughout the artist’s travel across Europe. The rural scenes he captured of India and Morocco, on the other hand, emphasise on an explosion of colours in a context shaped by warm sunlight, beautiful sandstones, colourful costumes and lively human interactions.
Kwan Yuen’s body of watercolour work captures the spatial-temporal rhythm of modern city life. His composition draws the viewer’s eye to rove with curiosity along ubiquitous neon signs, larger-thanlife billboards, winding city streets and glitzy interiors. At times, he juxtaposes scenes of cosmopolitan city culture with close-up vignettes of the everyday working man, with the latter espousing a more intimate dimension on the human subjects and their surroundings.
As shared by Kwan Yuen in earnestness: “The richness of the different styles of urban landscapes are expounded through the combined use of watercolour, watercolour pencils and gouache, a unique painting style which I’ve invented a few years back. I hope to create lasting memories of the places I’ve visited in the minds of the viewers and myself, through the language of visual art.”
Lights of Marina Bay, 2023, Transparent watercolour, gouache and watercolour pencils on cold-pressed arches paper, 113 x 200 cm
Evening at Jewel, 2022, Transparent watercolour, gouache and watercolour pencils on cold-pressed arches paper, 100 x 100 cm
Shibuya Scramble Crossing, 2023, Transparent watercolour, gouache and watercolour pencils on cold-pressed arches paper, 75 x 100 cm
Evening at ION Orchard, 2023, Transparent watercolour, gouache and watercolour pencils on cold-pressed arches paper, 76 x 101.6 cm
Sunny Day at Fontaine des Mers, 2021, Transparent watercolour, gouache and watercolour pencils on cold-pressed arches paper, 56 x 76 cm
Lost in the Square, 2023, Transparent watercolour and watercolour pencils on cold-pressed arches paper, 76 x 50.4 cm
Camels in Jaipur, 2022, Transparent watercolour and watercolour pencils on cold-pressed arches paper, 76 x 56 cm
Paris Skyline, 2021, Transparent watercolour and watercolour pencils on cold-pressed arches paper, 18.5 x 47 cm
Morning at Montmartre, 2022, Transparent watercolour and watercolour pencils on cold-pressed arches paper, 56 x 76 cm
Colours of Fez, 2023, Transparent watercolour, gouache and watercolour pencils on cold-pressed arches paper, 76 x 50.7 cm
About the Artist
In 2014, Kwan Yuen won ‘Third Place Award’ in the 34th International Exhibition of Pennsylvania Watercolour Society, and the ‘Award of Distinction’ in the Watermedia Showcase of the Missouri Watercolour Society. In April 2016, his painting, "Good Morning, NYC!" has won the JAN GARY and WILLIAM D. GORMAN MEMORIAL AWARD in the prestigious 149th Annual International Exhibition of American Watercolour Society (AWS). His works have been featured in art publications, including the 17th Issue of the Art of Watercolour Magazine, and selected as Winner in North Light Books' Splash 18: Value | Light + Dark Issue edited by Rachel Rubin Wolf. In 2017, he was awarded the Nanyang Outstanding Young Alumni Award by his alma mater, Nanyang Technological University, for his outstanding achievements in art. His watercolour paintings were selected for exhibition in the Annual International Exhibition of the American Watercolour Society (AWS), at Salmagundi Club, New York City, USA, in 2019 and 2020 respectively.
