Artist: Andy Yang (Singapore)

Andy starts his creative process with first composing a different set of colors based on the emotions and feelings of the day along with soundscapes and music playing in his subconscious mind. Totally led by inspirations generated from the emotions, music and color fields all taking place in his subconsciousness, Andy then translated these onto the canvasses via energetic air blown strokes, bold splashes of paints, interspersed with sudden burst of colors, all working together in a rhythmic flow which sometimes seem to carry on indefinitely beyond the confines of the canvasses.

Often times, meditation on the music and feelings will inspire a sudden burst of creative energy and this is evident is some pieces where you see focused areas of 'activities' on the canvasses. As apparent in Andy's works, bright colors are used sporadically with darker colors or vice-versa to depict a dramatic effect on the paintings.

About Andy Yang

Andy has been working as a professional Illustrator/Artist over the last 11 years, supporting advertising and design agencies both locally and internationally and has garnered quite a number of prestigious advertising awards under his wings, from D&AD UK to Communication Arts US and the latest, Cannes Lions. The visual impacts of his works are derived from his expressive techniques of mixing mediums and clashing colours. Sometimes they also escape the formal confines of the canvas and extend onto the frames, highlighting the capriciousness of his thought process. Influenced by the exuberance of everyday life, music (especially) and fascination in nature and its landscapes, it’s his need for exploring his personal style and interest in unexpected juxtapositions that has led Andy to push his craft progressively, a trait he has come to be well-known for.


Always the passionate Artist, Andy is constantly exploring new mediums and pushing boundaries. His latest fascination in human emotions and nature has led him to his latest series of oil/ acrylic paintings interpreting emotions, strongly rooted in abstract expressionism. In his ongoing passion to paint with music using a wide array of musical instruments, Andy composed a piece of music for each of the artwork he has in mind. Each artwork was then created with the music that he has recorded looping in the background. Each brush stroke that he transferred onto the canvasses was a reaction of his emotions to the pieces of music created.

'Inter-Connectivity', A January Exhibition and Opening Reception Featuring Gan KC and Noel De Guzman

Dear friends,

You are cordially invited to the Opening Reception of 'INTER-CONNECTIVITY", a F A T Gallery Sculptures Exhibition by KC Gan (Singapore) and Noel De Guzman. The opening reception of the January exhibition will take place on Tuesday, January 14, 2014, from 6.30 to 9.30pm, while the exhibition will run from 14 January to 10 February 2014.

INTER-CONNECTIVITY feature a series of wall and floor sculptures by two artists, K.C. Gan from Singapore and Noel De Guzman from the Philippines. Inter-Connectivity centres on the theme of connectedness, its place in our life’s journey, and its relevance in modern 21st century. 

Guzman’s work embodies the spirit of connectedness and its healing properties on people. As social beings deeply rooted in the need to find joy and fulfillment, connecting with another in the mind, body and spirit creates a sense of enlightenment. The intersecting natural fibres made of cotton; the centre feature in Noel’s sculptures symbolizes how as individual (fibres) we retain our own identity while yet as a collective race we are connected to one another in the bigger scheme of things. In this universe, everyone understands their role – with personal agendas intertwined into the common agenda – in working towards a common goal. Taking this into perspective, the differences in racial, social, cultural and human belief become a celebration of diversity rather than a source of conflict – all in the spirit of connectivity. 

Collecting domestic objects that have outgrown their primary function, K.C. repurposes these forgotten articles of old, breathing into them new life. A series of assemblage mixed media artworks created by K.C. reconnects the aged with the current; inducing comfort and nostalgia in familiarity in the midst of one’s sojourns. Common items such as telephones, lamps and flowerpots are pieced together and stylized with symbolic motifs; epitomizing the essence of wanderlust while retaining (and reminding one of the) vague memories of their past. A metaphor for many things, these exquisite artworks touch on the connectivity of human experiences in a playful yet different way. The exhibited artworks are the manifestation and connection of all that we ourselves set out to achieve – the seeking of adventure while longing for home. 

Your presence is greatly appreciated!

Artist: Noel De Guzman (Philippines)

Noel’s work embodies the spirit of connectedness and its healing properties on people. As social beings deeply rooted in the need to find joy and fulfilment, connecting with another in the mind, body and spirit creates a sense of enlightenment. The intersecting natural fibres made of cotton; the centre feature in Noel’s sculptures symbolizes how as individual (fibres) we retain our own identity while yet as a collective race we are connected to one another in the bigger scheme of things. In this universe, everyone understands their role – with personal agendas intertwined into the common agenda – in working towards a common goal. Taking this into perspective, the differences in racial, social, cultural and human belief becomes a celebration of diversity rather than a source of conflict – all in the spirit of connectivity.

"Connectedness to oneself brings understanding. Connectedness to family brings joy. Connectedness to community brings belonging. Connectedness to the planet brings awareness."- Noel De Guzman

About Noel De Guzman

An artist living abroad, Noel’s works revolves around the concept of Diasporas and the creation of networks. In his years of travelling to distant countries away from home, Noel was connected with familiar and not-so-familiar faces. This enlightening experience has spurred him to create and bridge those new mental, emotional and creative connections of past, present and future.

Currently based in Hong Kong, Noel is well-travelled and has held exhibitions in Hong Kong, Dubai, Philippines and Singapore. Noel is also the person behind Visual Arts Calendar, an online hub that feature the latest visual arts news and events with a growing presence in Singapore, Manila, Hong Kong, Bangkok, Macau, Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta, Seoul, Osaka, Tokyo, Shanghai, Beijing, Taipei and Hanoi.

Artist: KC Gan (Singapore)

Collecting domestic objects that have outgrown their primary function, KC repurposes these forgotten articles of old, breathing into them new life. A series of assemblage mixed media artworks created by the young, budding Singaporean artist, KC repurposes and reconnect the aged with the current; inducing comfort and nostalgia in familiarity in the midst of one’s sojourns. Common items such as telephones, lamps and flowerpots are pieced together and stylized with symbolic motifs; epitomizing the essence of wanderlust while retaining (and reminding one of the) vague memories of their past. A metaphor for many things, these exquisite artworks touch on the connectivity of human experiences in a playful yet different way. The exhibited artworks are the manifestation and connection of all that we ourselves set out to achieve – the seeking of adventure while longing for home.

About Gan Kwang Chuen (KC)

In his own exploration of life and adventure, KC’s works depict his own narrative diary of the said, his struggles and the chase of romanticized freedom. Often using found objects both collected and scavenged, and further conjuring them into sculptural forms and paintings, KC reintegrates the discarded, the neglected, and the forgotten into poetic visuals that serve a higher purpose.

Each created sculpture is unique and created from the heart; laced with personal memorabilia such as handwritten notes, journal entries and personal gifts from friends, invoking different meanings to different people. KC graduated from LaSalle College of the Arts, Goldsmith University with 2nd Class Honors in Fine Arts and was also a recipient of the prestigious Georgette Chen Arts Scholarship awarded by the National Arts Council.

Artist: Yoo Sun Tai (South Korea)

Yoo Sun Tai depicts an idiosyncratic universe in which objects shrink down and dimensions combine. Many of the canvases include a toy-like bicycle – crossing a carpet into a painted landscape or becoming belittled by potted plants. 

The images are perhaps inspired by a life that has intersected different cultures and an art education that has crossed mediums. “While studying in Germany, and then Paris, I became deeply fascinated with matiere,” recalls the Korean artist. “I tackled both two and three-dimensional art at the same time. I placed wire on paper to explore the disparate qualities of the two materials. I also worked with ink and focused on the black-and-white contrast that is derived from paper and ink.” 

Yoo’s paintings blend East and West and old and new in what he describes as a “forest” that provides a fertile environment for ideas to flow into each other. This convergence forms a window onto different perspectives about objects, the spaces they inhabit, and images even without volume, smell or weight – can mirror and influence the world by connecting with memory and perception; but in Speaking & Writing, Yoo’s visual discourse questions the power of words. “What you say disappears the moment it is said,” says Yoo, “but is also final once you say it. Meanwhile, the texts are erasable and rewritable.” 

Artist: Soegiono (Indonesia)

Soegiono’s paintings, in a glance, show a classic depiction of the human picture. Although created in photographic realism with perfect attention to details, with a well developed colour composition crafted from many layers, his paintings are not portraits merely chasing the precision of form. The human figures and the surrounding scenery is no longer mere reality, but also a metaphor. His clear, succinct, easy on the eye prose also hides a poem. It hides a deep meaning unseen by the naked eye, a meaning that must be captured by the heart.

Artist: Dadi Setiyadi (Indonesia)

Dadi’s art revolve around the concept of the mix cultural influences, playing with the notions of the east and west, modern and traditional, universal and contextual as well as global and local. He has created the most amazing and captivating pieces through playing with famous painting, departing from traditions and old legends. To him, these are the ‘traditions’ he has to further develop in order to survive and keep going.

He creatively introduces changes to meanings, enabling new metaphors to develop. Dadi believes that artworks are a medium that contain or carry cultural values, the live on discussion, experimentation, curiosity, alternative thinking and comparing viewpoints, all of which highly affected by frankness, openness and sincerity.

For him, it is not too important about cultural origins, which are not what determine creativity; instead, the real point is how much we have been able to assimilate the learning points from our sources.

About Dadi:

Born 1977 in Tasikmalaya, West Java, Dadi Setiyadi graduated from Indonesia Institute of Art in 2004, working with paintings, sculptures and installation works. With particular interests in fantasy, science fiction and art culture, Dedi studied the symbols of the Archipelago - Garuda from Java, Lembuswana from Borneo, La Galigo from Sulawesi - through a project on Indonesian folklore called Kisah Nuisantara. This brought him to discover a connection to a fantastical and mythical world, the influences creating a particular syncretism in his art. He combines traditional local elements inspired from the environment, full of living traditions, with modern and contemporary subjects.

Artist: Ron Wong (Singapore)

Ron uses paintings to take a critical view at social and humanity amid expressing them in a caricatured and ironical way. Subjects and faces of the paintings were created from memories of Ron’s past and daily experiences. While the mild distortions were not intentional, Ron painted them as per her memories.

“I did it because they are what I see. I do not try to see the best in people, but I try my best to see the real people in them. I believe a level of aesthetics can be revealed by putting the opposing elements together such as beauty and ugliness, truth and falsity, good and evil, as they can bring out the best qualities of one another. This level of aesthetics can never dilute or diminish life's realities, but only to encourage humanity towards the better.”

In Innocence and I Will Follow You, Ron depicts the theme on love, childhood and its accompanying innocence. Each painting has a story of its own, waiting to be remembered and told through the eyes of a child and the awakened memories of the adult.

Artist: Lee Se-yong (South Korea)

Korean ceramic artist, Lee Se Yong, creates opposites. Embracing tradition, he refines and redefines basics with modern forms of clay-sculpturing, at the same time working freely with both traditional and modern images. The ancient craft of inlay, spinning and firing is his favoured mode of artistic delivery.

Seeking inspiration from nature, Lee emphasizes imperfection and perfection at the same time. His style is purposely minimalist and at times asymmetrical and roughly textured, seemingly unfinished and flawed. Yet he attains perfection through the intricate artistry of the work. Using blue paint on white porcelain, Lee is concerned with depicting light and shade, delicate lines and bold spaces.

Lee also blends the gap between utility and aestheticism seamlessly. While the idea of the everyday object is not new, Lee’s unique contribution lies in the creation rather than the product and creates ceramic works that are conceptual in ideas and form. 

Artist: Kim Kyung Min (South Korea)

Kim Kyung Min, with her sensitive perception and rich sentiment, reproduces scenes taken from our daily lives and turn them into joyful sculpture works. As a mother of three children and a wife to a husband, Kim Kyung Min finds subjects from everyday happenings at home which is a big part of her life and sculpts three-dimensional figures with an add of her fertile imagination. Kim Kyung Min now bases her work and emphasis around the family theme, each family member's role and their harmony as a whole. In her series of 'A Close Relationship' describing bath time, it shows a couple and a mother-children help each other and build intimacy by bathing together and her 'Homeward Bound' of a family cycling to home reminds viewers that a balance between family members is essential for family peace.

In the flood of abstruse contemporary art that often characterized by abstraction and non-objectivity, concept and "ism", Kim Kyung Min's easily understandable sculpture with humor and universality captures the eyes of contemporaries. The artist wishes to convey warmth and healing with her work to modern people who cannot easily open to others due to hurt and pain. Kim does not aim to make a grandiose aesthetic statement like existential philosophy and artistic discourse. Instead she values basic human ethics that have remained unchanged for long in despite of art historical flow and changes of the time thus practices the original function of the arts. Viewers become a part of this story told by Kim Kyung Min's artificial figures and naturally share the artist's intention of pursuing happiness of daily life and little joys.

Artist: Shih Li-Jen (Taiwan)

Shih Li-Jen was born in Changhua County, Taiwan, 1955, a celebrated art curator and art manager in China and Taiwan. In 2004 and 2006, Shih Li-Jen won a major award of the "Art and Business Aware" from the Council for Culture Affairs, Taiwan. As the years working with international master artists such as César, F. Arman, P. Hiquily ... etc, that arouse his creativity. His paintings and sculptures presented family affection between animals. The works of Rhino Family express his views toward life and world, through the roles of a family, it tells Shih Li-Jen's characters of both being strong and tender, on his way of leading the trend, he pays homage to the eternal aesthetics of classics.

Artist: Qin Weihong (China)

With being inspired and illuminated by the Surrealism, Qin Weihong has developed a certain pattern to express his anti-traditional style. His approaches are in between reality and fiction, fragile state and complex relations are presented figuratively. Ultimately, we were fascinated by those works, simultaneously brought into deep reflections of human kind's thoughts. Subsequently it was developed into interrogation of human’s behaviors. 

Qin Weihong graduated from Department of Sculpture at China Central Academy of Fine Arts in 2010. Being China's new rising emerging sculptor, he is reckoned as the representative of his generation. Standing out of large numbers of young artists, his works are distinguishingly characterized with avant-garde style. Spectators are often touched deeply down by the tinges of rich emotions, as well as romantic, poetic and youthful perceptions manifested by Qin’s works. 

Artist: Yura Seo (South Korea)

The process of ‘creating a stack of books’ is similar to ‘slow traveling’. 

While piling up books one by one is rather time consuming, it is associated with the beauty of breathing slowly. As the images and texts hidden in a pile of books that embody distinct individual personality create harmony to produce a work of art, they represent the harsh foundation of our lives full of complexity yet marked with touches of sensibility. 

- Artist's Note

Artist: Yuki Mitsuyasu (Japan)

SHINE Collection

SANTORINI Collection

Raised in Singapore, and later educated at Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design London, Yuki Mitsuyasu designs and constructs jewellery intended to tell a story. Carefully crafted into each piece is a narrative, waiting to be recounted, explored, and shared. 

SHINE

“When you choose your partner, his religion, nationality, or wealth does not matter; be with someone who lets you shine, then he is a man worth being with.”- Toshiyuki Mitsuyasu

Shine is characterised by two hearts. Each symbolizing a person. Each bold and unique from the other. Together though, they realize something brighter than if they were apart. On the Shine necklace, the two hearts come together to complete the clasp (and pendant) as a star.

VARUNA

A drop of water runs down a mountain, joins a river, enters the ocean – and serendipitously, finds its way back to the mountain again.

The Varuna collection, named after the god of sky, water and the celestial oceans, recounts this circle of life. The circle of life also connotes the idea of heaven and earth. Interestingly, for people dwelling in the mountains of Himalaya, heaven is not in the sky, but in the ocean. It is where water, the source of life, flows. This is perhaps why the spiritual river Ganges is often revered as a passage to holiness.

SANTORINI

Whitewashed walls, blue domes, square windows, cubist houses that look like they were drawn with pencils. This collection is inspired by Santorini, a little Greek island sculpted by unique architecture and crowned with numerous churches. 

Using the cross as a main motif, the pieces in this collection are constructed with simple, clean lines. The unpolished brushed effect, square holes and blue topaz in these jewellery pieces, are reminiscent of the idyllic landscape of the island.

GO WITH THE FLOW

There is no one right way of wearing this pendant.

By looping each end of the chain through the pendant differently, a different-looking necklace takes shape each time. It all depends on how you choose to position the ends of the chain.

As you wear the necklace, the pendant might still adjust itself to sit more comfortably on your neck, going with the flow.

Artist: Ren Hui (China)

Ren Hui was born in 1957 in Nanjing, China. From 1977-1989 he made his living as a poet and was published in various Asian literature magazines.

Since 1989, Ren Hui has focused on the visual arts, creating paper cut cuts, wood cuts and subsequently, ink on paper and oil on canvas paintings. Aside from solo exhibitions, his works have been featured in galleries and international art fairs in the US, China, Canada, Germany, Austria, Spain, Portugal, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Indonesia and Singapore. His art has been sold worldwide and can be found in many private collections, including that of Morgan Stanley Investment Bank. Ren Hui maintains a studio in Songzhuang Artists Village in Beijing, China, and in 2011 established a studio in Ottawa, Canada.

Artist: Liu Feng Hua (China)

Since the terracotta warriors were discovered in 1974 by farmers digging for a well in Xian, this life sized and lifelike army has become an icon of China's past, instantly recognizable all over the world. The terracotta warriors were the 8,000 strong underground army buried in Emperor Qin Shi Huang Di's tomb (221 - 207 BC), to protect him in his afterlife.

Liu Feng Hua's sculptures are a wry, witty look at his country's history and future post-Cultural Revolution direction. Two thousand years separate China's first emperor and Mao. But Liu's modern ceramic warriors can be seen as an artistic statement of the morally complicated legacy of these two leaders - both great revolutionary leaders and yet, both great criminals, who have left a lasting legacy on China.

Artist: Tian Mangzi (China)

An apple at first sight, viewers may find this painting of the seemingly ordinary fruit to bear much resemblance to that of the universe upon closer examination. Such is the depiction so portrayed by Chinese artist, Tian Mangzi. Apple was subject matter of choice for Tian Mangzi for through the simple fruit embodies all the dreams and aspirations he has for earth as Utopia. A witness to the Tiananmen Square incident in 1989 and stark extremes between the poor and the rich with their overabundance, Tian Mangzi envisions his dream – an Elysium where war and harmful strife is rid of, and the world could be in harmony and free of pollution.

Colors play an important role in the depiction of the paintings. While purple is often associated as the symbol of power and luxury, purple and lilac (a pale tone of violet) also represented mystery and the unknown; things incomprehensible by men. Bluer shades of purple – with a tinge of sunglow – were used to color the apple-earth to remind viewers to remember the more mystical side of the universe. The color green embodies the design of a new planet through which Tian Mangzi is filled with hope – an ideal planet.

Through his art, Tian Mangzi explains, Chinese attitude is to suggest a shape as a hint of the universe. Chinese philosophy is based on emotion rather than logic or rationality. My art has two functions: firstly, to construct an apple, and secondly to try to encourage the viewer to move into a second stage of realizing that the shape represents the universe.The apples/planets are suspended in space, but “space” has been removed so that the dimensional effect remains.”

Artist: Victor Tan (Singapore)

Although a ceramics major, Victor began experimenting with wire in his first year of studies back in 1995.  In Searching for an alternative to pencil and paper for his life-drawing class, he found wire.  With wire, he could draw a line, feel it, then draw the next line, in relation to the last.  This way, he gets feedback which he can’t get through paper and pencil.  The wire sketches were an in-between of 2D drawings and 3D forms.  To him, space is the paper and wire is the pencil strokes. 

Victor has explored with galvanized steel, copper, brass, and now uses mainly stainless steel, of quality L304 or 316.  There is no fear of tarnish nor losing of its qualities over time.  Although a cold material, the finishing of stainless steel gives an attractively pleasing touch and look.  To Victor, perhaps more than anybody else, sculptures should be touched and felt. 

Victor’s sculptures are weaved from just wire, and hence seem colourless.  On a ironic note, the colour on the stainless steel is never the same, instead they absorb and reflect the environment, hence the colour and mood changes accordingly.  Seeing a same work at different times of the day and at different locations creates different dimensions to his between-2and-3D work.  The shadow casts from the sculpture onto a wall creates yet another dimension to the interesting dynamics of the works.  It begs the viewers now to ask, do we look at the 3D work or the 2D drawings on the wall?  

Artist: Yang Tze Yun (Taiwan)

Yang Tze Yun has become a pioneer of calligraphic body-expressionism, and he renewed the interpretation of Asian calligraphy. He started his career in Europe in 1994, participating in Lineart (International Art Fair in Gent, Belgium) in 1995 till now. 

The evolution of writing characters, as is most commonly known in calligraphy, to this non-character based expressionism has brought Chinese calligraphy to a new domain. The symbols are no longer oriental, and have become universally perceived. Yang breathes a contemporary soul into his calligraphy, releasing his energy into the writing and giving much more power to the symbols. 

Artist: Casey Chen (Singapore)

Casey Chen is a rare design-crusader of the Singapore Identity.

Having graduated from RMIT with a Bachelor of Design, Casey Chen has been inthe design and art field for over a decade and is experienced and versatilewith various aspects of design and art. His works have been recognised regionally and internationally in the fields of corporate branding andcorporate identities, and have won him design awards from New York. He hastaken part in international design exhibitions and was commissioned forpublic sculpture work in Singapore.  He is also one of the seven artists whowere invited to design for the National Day Singapore 2010 - Tote BagDesigns.

In his long body of multi-disciplinary works the last decade spanning Design, Objects and the Arts; Casey Chen has always demonstrated an ability to draw in inspiration from what is unique about and around us.

Casey is like a storyteller, weaving in narratives of memories and nostalgia with his whimsical interpretations of familiar objects. His ability to reinvent and re-appropriate these familiar objects and symbols in a mostbold and uncanny manner makes him stand out amongst the designers of his time.

In his seminal yet possibly his simplest work, Casey Chen created a Singapore heart flag. This is his patriotic tribute to the country he loves dearly. A passionate believer of sharing good design, Casey Chen is also the pioneer Singaporean Designer to have showcased his works in Designboom fairs around the world since 2006.

For being a relentless dream chaser of design, a bold and passionate artist.