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19 October 2015SingaporeFor Immediate ReleaseLee Wen: Songs Unsung – an exhibition ofdrawings, paintings and fine art photographyfrom 1990 - 2015Preview: Tuesday, 27th October 2015, 6.30pm –8.300pmExhibition period: 28th October – 21st November2015 (open to public)Lee Wen, This Blue Again, 2015, 150 x 123 cmColour pencill on canvasSingapore – iPRECIATION is pleased to present a second solo exhibition of Singapore’s foremostmultidisciplinary artist Lee Wen from 28th October – 21st November 2015. Following on from hissuccessful inaugural solo exhibition at Art Basel Hong Kong 2014, “Songs Unsung” is a selection ofworks and ideas that reveal the hidden, intimate and lesser exposed productions of the artist’s wideranging repertoire. These works reflect the processes related to his famous performances orinstallations and ephemeral works within the post-modern and currency of contemporary art trends.This exhibition will showcase works from 1990 – 2015 that includes drawings, paintings and limitededition fine art photography taken from Lee’s performances in Kyoto (1995) and Chicago (2013). LeeWen’s repertoire of works consists of very few paintings. In this exhibition, there are two rarepaintings titled “Crucifixion” and “Hard Rain” where Lee’s performative gestures are renderedthrough the act of painting that is expressive and fraught with personal commentaries. The paintingswere executed in thick quick brushstrokes, as a means of communication and exercise in manifestingthe metaphysical. When interviewed, Lee Wen shares that each piece is its own creation, he is notbound by a particular style or what has been done before in his artistic practice. Viewing these 1990paintings against his new paintings and drawings of today, one would notice that the artist has notwavered in his distinctive style of hand-crafted work that is characteristically spontaneous, pure andchild-like.“Songs Unsung” is about works and ideas that have been hidden in the recesses of the artist’s mindand unexposed to the world, but now have been taken forward for sharing by the artist. These workswere curated in a deliberate attempt to break against the grain of curatorial trends, theperformances were born out of personal experiences which touched upon his humanity and thispresentation is a humble desire to share and reach out with open sincerity based on inner reflectionas well as external explorations of social repercussions. With this understanding of Lee’s artisticpractice and beliefs, these simple but strong ideas are testament to Lee’s standing in the history ofSingapore’s art development and a true pioneer of contemporary and performance art in Singapore.Born in 1957, Lee Wen is a Singaporean multidisciplinary artist. After leaving a banking career in1989, he enrolled at LASALLE College of the Arts, graduating with a Masters of Fine Art in 2006. LeeWen is a member of The Artists Village and the Black Market performance collective. He was coorganizer of Future of Imagination, an international performance art event in 2003, and also1
initiated R.I.T.E.S.-Rooted in the Ephemeral Speak, a platform to develop and promote performanceart, discourse, and discussion in Singapore in 2009. He has held numerous solo exhibitions andparticipated in various international group shows, biennales and festival. He was the recipient ofSingapore’s Cultural Medallion in 2005. Lee Wen has exhibited widely, with his most recent at“START Art Fair 2015” at Saatchi Gallery, London, “The Roving Eye” at ARTER Foundation, Istanbul,Turkey, “Prudential Singapore Eye” at Art Science Museum, Singapore, “Lee Wen: Solo Exhibition” atArt Basel Hong Kong in 2014, “The Breath of a Blade” at the Jendela Visual Arts Space Esplanade,Singapore in 2013 and “Lee Wen: Lucid Dreams in the Reverie of the Real” a dedicated retrospectiveat the Singapore Art Museum in 2012.For more information on “Lee Wen: Songs Unsung”, please refer to Annex A attached.This Blue AgainThis Blue againTell me what it’s about?We got Mother Nature on the runWe took the silver seed to the sunSail away on the milky wayMake it with the stars aboveThat’s another road to the sourceThis Blue AgainThis Blue AgainThis Blue AgainThis Blue AgainTell me what it’s about?Looking for a home of the braveNo ghosts and shadows in a caveLooking for nothing yet finding somethingInside this side of your mind on timeBack out of them old left and rightThis Blue AgainThis Blue AgainTell me what its about?This Blue AgainThis Blue Again Original poem by Lee Wen, 20152
About iPreciationEstablished in Singapore since 1999, iPreciation is a fine art company that embodies an exquisiteshowcase of Modern and Contemporary Asian Art with an exhibition space of 5,300 square feet.Heralded as an ardent supporter of the Arts, iPreciation constantly propels the best of Modern andContemporary Asian Art to the forefront. Since its inception, iPreciation has successfully created alegion of avenues for artistic exposure. The gallery provides a well-recognised platform for promisingartists, meticulously cultivating and introducing them and their works to the most discerning artenthusiasts and collectors. Many artists represented by iPreciation have been widely exhibited andcollected by public institutions, private and international corporations both in Singapore andinternationally.Equipped with significant, in-depth knowledge and specialty expertise in giving prominence toContemporary Chinese, Singapore and South-East Asian art, iPreciation is a provider of professionalart consultancy services to both individual and corporate entities. A few notable permanent public artacquisitions include Azia Centre in Pudong Shanghai, The Exchange in Tienjing, Gandaria City inSouth Jakarta, Menara Standard Chartered in Kuala Lumpur and The Exchange Square in HongKong. In Singapore, iPreciation has successfully installed public art works for United Square, TheMetropolis, Keppel Harbour Front, One-North and CapitaGreen.iPreciation also organizes large scale public art projects in Singapore and internationally. In 2015, JuMing’s monumental sculptures enjoyed a four-month exhibition at Singapore Botanic Gardens and arecurrently on a travelling exhibition across China’s four cities: Chengdu, Chongqing, Dalian andShanghai. Managing Director of iPreciation, Helina Chan, was the recipient of the coveted NewTourism Entrepreneur of 2005 by the Singapore Tourism Board, acknowledging the entrepreneurwhose company has made major contributions to the tourism industry in Singapore.For more information please visit www.ipreciation.comFor more information, please contact:iPRECIATIONNing ChongT: 6339 0678E: [email protected]: [email protected] Opening Hours:Mon – Fri: 10am - 7pmSat: 11am - 6pmSundays and Public Holidayby appointment only3
Annex AHighlights from “Lee Wen: Songs Unsung”DrawingsA core part of this exhibition focuses on the artist’s recent drawings created in 2014-2015. Theseworks on paper are abstract in nature, delicate and brilliantly-coloured, exposing a very intimate sideof Lee’s practice and his obvious love for the medium. In this large body of brightly-coloureddrawings, the artist revisits the simplicity of form and colour. The strong colours suggest subjects,ideas and moods that are otherwise not distinctive in their abstract forms. Viewed together, theylook like an aggregate of thoughts extracted from the artist’s sub-conscious mind and slices of hisvisual memories.In the dark-coloured Pralaya series (2002), the artist says, “The series of drawings were done withrandom scratches, scrawls and whorls, which find their own distinct form in the midst of chaos. Eachmark is an echo of the previous one; each stroke makes a decomposition of the precedingcomposition. Style is generally equated with eccentricity, individuality and originality. Thesedrawings are intended to move in the opposite direction, toward generality, anonymity.”Flowers of Evil – Karachi2014-2015109.5 x 79 cmColour pencil on paperPrayala Series No.2200229.8 x 42 cm (48 x 60.5cm framed)Graphite on paperPaintings 1990 - 2015These paintings are early works by Lee before he began his performance art practice. Thesepaintings were executed in thick and quickly executed brushstrokes, as a means of communicationand exercise in manifesting the metaphysical.Lee Wen’s new paintings will officially premier at the exhibition opening itself.CrucifixionHard Rain1990199088 x 61 cm87 x 60 cmAcrylic on canvasAcrylic on canvas4
Blue DrawingsThis Blue Again is a series of 13 new drawings were rendered during the artist’s residency at CCA in2014 - 2015. Accompanied with a poem, these abstract works seem like extensions of the artist’sdreams or sub-consciousness. The distinct blue colour tones conjure dreamlike-scapes in thedrawings, evoking a sense of freedom and fluidity, morphing into and around unrecognizable shapesand elements.This Blue Again No.1This Blue Again No.72014201533 x 23 cm33 x 23 cmColor pencil on paperColor pencil on paperFine Art PhotographyThese photographic prints are a means of documentation; to record and archive the creativeexperience of an ephemeral medium that is performance art. The ability to translate the live workinto a material form that endures these images visually startling and rich with social, historical andcultural nuances. The impacts of these performances are carried forward in present time andrepresent significance in itself as part of Lee’s oeuvre.In his 2013 performance, Call of the Red, the artist observed and expounded on the poignancy oflove’s separation and longing, referencing the ancient Japanese celebration of “Tanabata” (a folkloreof the cow-herder and the maiden), to the modern culture of globalization and urban migrationseparating lovers of every race. The performance took place in Chicago, USA, Lee was dressed in redand in long hair, and the performance work was a warm tribute to the artist’s mother: “The song Ising is the voice of the widow who lost her husband while young and nubile. After having singlehandedly bringing up her children, she suddenly realized age catching up with her. Her song is one ofanxiety.” This beautiful image from the performance has been turned into a life-size fine artphotography print that captures the tension of both the aesthetic and agony of emotional moments.The Call of the Red2013, Edition 1/5112 x 216 cm (without framing)Giclee print on cotton rag paperFine Art PhotographyIn 1995, Lee Wen participated in a workshop in Kyoto with artists Katsura Kan and Paradix K. Duringthis stint in Japan, Lee did a performance of “Yellow Man” in the gardens which was attended bymembers of the public.5
Harvesting Beauty in the Fields1995, Edition 1/586 x 124 cm (without framing)Giclee print on cotton rag paper6
Art asel Hong Kong in 2014, “The reath of a lade” at the Jendela Visual Arts Space Esplanade, Singapore in 2013 and “Lee Wen: Lucid Dreams in the Reverie of the Real” a dedicated retrospective at the Singapore Art Museum in 2012. For more information on “Lee Wen: Songs U
