Join us in conversation with artist, Ian Tee, on Wednesday, August 3, 7PM!
In this conversation, Ian will share about how painting and conceptual concerns play out in his practice through collage. With Appetite’s current exhibition, “a bird flies into the mirror”, as the backdrop to this talk, Ian’s approach presents an interesting juxtaposition to exhibiting artist Roberto Chabet’s method of collaging.
Ian Tee (b. 1994, Singapore) is an artist working across a variety of media – destroyed metal paintings, bleached and dyed textiles, and collage. His practice is an exploration of youth, in relation to the themes of rebellion, vulnerability and identity. Conflating the history of painting with the energy of subcultures, he is interested in how aesthetic narratives can be reworked and recontextualised. The attitude carried is a statement about power, defiance and possibility.
Exchanging canvas for aluminium composite panels, Tee’s ongoing ‘Target painting’ series sees the artist applying acrylic paints, collage and found objects on his paintings that blur the lines between abstraction and representation, medium and genre. The paintings often feature targets floating and receding into an atmospheric field of colours, a motif which transforms one’s gaze into the aim of a firer on standby. In the final step in the making of these works, deep slashes are carved onto the metal surfaces which cross out the composition; in other instances, they guide the eye towards collage fragments. Acting as screens on which the artist evokes notions of alienation, difference and their implications on the individual and the social body, Tee’s Target paintings reference moments of vulnerability in popular culture and recent history.
Tee graduated with a Bachelor in Fine Arts from LASALLE College of the Arts, Singapore in 2018. His work has been exhibited in exhibitions across Singapore, Sydney, Jakarta and Tianjin, such as at the Institute of Contemporary Arts, Grey Projects, and The Private Museum. He was a recipient of the Ngee Ann Kongsi scholarship and winner of the 2017 Cliftons Art Prize for Singapore.
Tee recently curated a group exhibition, “We’re Young Once”, at Art Agenda S.E.A. and is currently Associate Editor at Art & Market.
He is represented by Yavuz Gallery, Singapore/Sydney.
Image courtesy of the Artist and Yavuz Gallery.