By John Clang
20 to 21 Dec 2023
Objectifs Chapel Gallery
Free admission, please register here.
“Objectifs is currently raising funds to for their expansion, it will be wonderful if you can join me to support them by donating via https://give.asia/campaign/objectifs-print-fundraiser#/”
— John Clang
Reading by an Artist is akin to a metaphysical portrait captured in long exposure, without the usual photographic apparatus of a camera and the end product of a photograph. In each session, a ‘likeness’ of the sitter, reminiscent to a print being developed in the darkroom, gradually comes into sharper focus as one obtains clarity of the intrinsic qualities in one’s life and the constellation of choices which shapes them.
Amidst the terse relay between eye, mind, body and machine, the vagaries of human fate and destiny seem to be the last-standing frontier that have eluded the effacing grasp of digital decoding and artificial intelligence. Nonetheless, countless ancient systems of knowledge have drawn upon philosophy, astronomy and metaphysics in an attempt to distill the fundamental nature of reality and principles of being. The artist, for one, views human destiny as an epic codex not just simply to be perused, but to be interpreted and translated into tangible action to empower one’s life.
In this performance artwork, the artist embodies his search for meaning, purpose and identity by adopting the technique of zi wei dou shu (紫微斗数), a metaphysical philosophy dating back to imperial China, to forecast events in the life of invited participants and illuminate insights to challenges. Integrating knowledge from geomancy to Chinese medicine and elements, the approach involves computing charts based on one’s birth timing to intuit interrelationships between various core “palaces” of life such as health, kinship and career.
The readings, conducted in hour-long durations, welcome anyone and everyone seeking advice. Reflecting on dual roles of an artist and visionary in triangulating causality, necessity and possibility, the artwork contemplates on critical junctures where art ceases and life begins. It questions how knowledge gathering through seemingly unconventional routes reconciles with an increasingly contrived reality which is exceedingly scripted and post-produced.
Beyond the simplistic outcome of donning a pair of glasses and watching the world come into focus, literacy in this context for participants extends beyond the textual and visual world, into the realm of the self, in discerning and navigating the path forward for one’s betterment.
– Text by Kong Yen Lin
About John Clang
The practice of Singaporean visual artist John Clang (b. 1973) often straddles dual realities of global cities, unfettered by confines of time and geography.
A double-sight navigator of a world in constant flux, he absorbs seemingly mundane and banal external stimuli and conveys his internal observations and ruminations through the mediums of photography and film. His approach, reminiscent to a barometer, accords his works a unique position at the confluences of the open-ended and definitive, surreal and factual, personal and universal.
Clang’s first exhibition, at age 20, was a duo-show at the controversial (and now defunct) Singapore art group 5th Passage Artists. He has went to on to stage solo exhibitions at Jendela Gallery, Singapore (2004), The Substation, Singapore (2007), 2902 Gallery, Singapore (2010), Pekin Fine Arts, Beijing (2012), National Museum of Singapore (2013) and FOST Gallery (2016).
He has also participated in numerous group exhibitions including Singapore Art Museum (2009), National Museum of Singapore (2010), LACE, Los Angeles (2011), KSU Art Museum, Kennesaw (2012), CCC Strozzina, Florence (2014), Sundaram Tagore Gallery, New York (2014), 1X1 Art Gallery, Dubai (2017), Pera Müzesi, Turkey (2018), ArtScience Museum, Singapore (2020), Deichtorhallen Hamburg, Germany (2021) and Gajah Gallery, Singapore (2021).
His works have entered the permanent collections of Singapore Art Museum and National Museum of Singapore. In 2010, he became the first photographer to garner the Designer of the Year award at the President’s Design Award, one of the nation’s most prestigious design accolade in Singapore. In 2013, a showcase of over 90 works by Clang was exhibited at the National Museum of Singapore.
In 2015, Clang earned his Master of Arts Fine Arts from LASALLE College of the Arts in partnership with Goldsmiths, University of London. In 2017, he made his first foray into film with Their Remaining Journey, which premiered at the 2018 International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) and garnered a nomination for the festival’s Bright Future Award. It’s also the opening film for National Gallery Singapore’s Painting with Light: Festival of International Films on Art. In 2020, he returned to the International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) with his second feature, A Love Unknown.
Clang lives and works in New York and Singapore.