Late sculptor Ng Eng Teng is well known for his most visible works of art, such as the sculpture located at Singapore’s airport or the piece located outside a shopping mall for many years. However, Ng’s fuller body of work is less known than these very famous pieces, which he completed as a part of commission requests for public works.
Nearly 15 years after Ng’s death, a new exhibit turns previous understandings of the sculptor on their heads, offering a unique insight into lesser-known works and tendencies. The exhibition, aptly titled 1+1=1, has many surprises in store, including an almost illogical approach to the expectations placed on the artist based on his more public works.
Hosted at the NUS museum, the exhibit starts of with a sculpture made up of fake orchid flowers arranged in the shape of a pineapple. This nonsensical approach can be a bit shocking for those more accustomed to Ng’s traditional works. However, the fact that the organizers of the exhibit included this piece in a prominent position works to help unmoor the expectations viewers have of Ng based on the pieces they often see. The work, titled “Where Have All the Flowers Gone?” is reflective of meditation techniques. The flowers are all right there, though they form the shape of something different entirely.
This theme is present in the works throughout the rest of the exhibit. The name of the exhibit, 1+1=1, is a strangeness, as well. Many of the works present in the show border on the surreal, many of them never achieving a more palatable symmetry. It is said that Ng didn’t include any instructions on how to display these pieces, leaving the compositions up to the organizers of the exhibit. There doesn’t seem to be any direction or flow to the arrangement of the pieces on the walls of this exhibit, either, only vague similarities present from artwork to artwork.
One of the most notable pieces in the exhibit is one that was completed after Ng’s death. He imparted instructions for the work to his relatives just before dying. The artwork, titled “The Last Masterpiece,” contains a syringe, rubber tube, and pieces of cotton stained with the artist’s own blood. This piece symbolizes the amount of medical care required toward the end of Ng’s life, and the blood in the cotton seems to form some kind of figure.
Do something unexpected by signing up for an art class today via SGArtClass.com. If you and your friends have been bored recently with no idea of what to do, think about enrolling in a group art class. You can work with your art teacher after signing up on where to host the sessions, which can be done in the privacy and convenience of your own home, surrounded by friends and fun.
To learn more about the surprising collection, go to http://www.todayonline.com/entertainment/arts/arts-reviews/art-review-surprises-store-nus-museums-ng-eng-teng-show.