Friday, November 14, 2008

Meeting Jogen Chowdhury

This year has been rather eventful for me. I wont go into the description of it all but I have had my fair share of ups and downs. On the upside I have had a very successful exhibition and an equally successful open house more recently. I have also had the pleasure of making some interesting associations this year.
One of the most interesting of course was my meeting with the reknowed artist Jogen Chowdhury. I was representing a magazine in the Art Singapore 2008 and he was one of the main artists whose works were being exhibited. A Japanese collector has created a museum out of his private collection of all Jogen's works. I had a four hour long chat with Jogen and it was so nice to undrestand him and where his art was springing from. Much like his art his thoughts are also abstract and it was fun to sew all the ideas together for an article in interview style. The article has been published recently in India Se. I leave it at that as this space is not an advertorial for any product or person.

Thursday, November 13, 2008

Turmoil and Art

This has been that phaze in life where I have needed to start over on many things fresh. Fresh ideas, feelings emotions and of course experiences. Having said that I still think it was one of the best times to understand even the most necessary of relations.
Trying as these past five months have been they have also seen me throughsome great experinces of bonding with family and especially my children. Life teaches us not to take things for granted. I have also learnt to face upto my fears or else they will come back another day to haunt me.
During this entire phaze I have done some different paintings. The figures in the last few works have been blurred and the elements in the back drop seem to emerge more prominently.

Thursday, July 31, 2008

Beijing Goes West

Beijing Goes West
Between December 2007 and June 2008 Justin Lee made four trips to Beijing in the People’s Republic of China. This enabled Justin to create a subject matter out of the East and West Juxtaposition namely due to gearing up of the Olympics and how China is groping to adjust being in the spotlight amidst all this growing tension and attention.

He uses wit in his subject matter to bring about the subtle nuances in the tiresome procedure of gearing up for the Olympics and creates beautiful images through the ancient Chinese art of paper cut motifs . Using iconic signs as a silhouetted Mickey Mouse and the famous M sign that is normally understood as Mc. Donald’s he brings about the subtle hint of it also standing for Mao. This interlacing of how the influences of the West have been adopted and yet have been mixed in the mainstream culture as their very own iconic symbols if what Justin seems to emphasize.

Works such as the Olympic Treats brings about the twist in the children’s fate. He uses the Olympic signs as dollops of ice cream creating an excellent pop art image. However when one strips the layers you do see what Justin wants us to which is the hardship that the children have been facing for the rigorous training and hence losing out on what should normally be their childhood. In works such as the Torch Bearer he brings about the commercial aspect of the Sponsors being in the spotlight instead of the sportsmen and hence the old man as being the torch bearer hinting his wealth as the reason he gets the key role.

Justine Lee born in Singapore and has done his diploma from Laselle-SIACollege of Arts in1999. He then went on to do his BA in painting from NAFA in 2006. Justin does not restrict himself to the canvas alone but is also known for his public installations and décor concepts for shopping centers (Gaysorn Plaza, Bangkok, 2006; Centrepoint, Singapore 2007) and product promotional art (Absolut Vodka, Loewe TV). He has won diverse awards such as the Singapore Motorola Style Awards 2005 (Visual Arts) and is one of the international winners of the Montblanc Young Artist World Patronage Project 2006. Beijing Goes West is his Sixth Solo exhibition and is on now at the Utterly Art until the 10th of August 2008.

Beijing Goes West
Justin Lee
Utterly Art
229A South Bridge Road, Level 2
Tel: 6226 2605
Email: utterlyart@pacific.net.sg
Mon –Sat 12 p.m. -8 p.m., sun 12 p.m. 5:30 p.m.

Friday, July 11, 2008

Shakti Is Speaking for itself

Shakti: the only word to describe the experience is Awesome, as is the response to it. It was a fabulous opening night...thanx to all of you art lovers and great friends! I can only promise that this is just the beginning and there will be more such fabulous evenings to come in the future!

I have already given a thought to my next exhbition. I have begun reflecting on the theme....stay tuned for more..............

Friday, June 20, 2008

Shakti: Powerful / or Not

Its a few more days to the exhbition. Shakti is breathing down my nape. I can feel it......its a unique feeling.
Anticipation, excitement, expectations.....so many feelings all bundled together creating that light headed feel.
Prior to that the competition for UOB awards. I am entering this year after years. How will that go? My daughter advised me "think positive"....knowledge from a seven year old is like the divine speaking to me......I think the same applies for Shakti as well......think positive is what it is all about.

Saturday, May 24, 2008

Opening Nights

I have been attending a few opening nights....its a little tiring. You have to pretend very often to like and discuss works that you would have ordinarily just ignored. I hate pretending.

Have been meeting few interesting people and I like that. My art is about people and I like meeting different people from different walks of life.

I think an artist has to be cynical to get good art extracted and portrayed on a canvas. These opening nights do bring out the cynicism to the best. Its all about who knows who.

On a lighter note however I am looking forward to my own opening night as thats the time the artist chills has fun and lets others do the work of pulling out their cheque books. My last one was chilled out to the extent that I knew I had not done homework before planning the exhibtion. This time I hope I am doing it right.

More importantly if people appreciate the work genuinely you will know with the red dots by the end of the exhibition. So lets says CHEERS to a lot of red dots this time round!

Thursday, May 15, 2008

Anticipation

The exhibition is in July and I have more or less completed the paintings. Its all this other stuff of preperation that is bogging me down....I am just waiting to see how people recieve this exhibition. This one is important to me being taken seriously in the Singapore art world.........lets see how it goes!!

Friday, April 11, 2008

My Inspiration

I often get inspired by the silliest things around me. Its funny but I seem to feel like the urge to get on a canvas and bring it all out when I am depressed or angry. Or so I thought. Lately however I am happy with the goings on in my life or atleast know how to deal with the problems that crop up and yet I am able to find that inspiration to paint. I used to think it impossible to paint without a negative emotion. I stand corrected!!

Happiness brings along with a postive frame of mind which helps me to tackle my canvas more confidentally. I love the fact that what I had in my minds eye is what I bring out on the canvas now!!

Ofcourse like any other human being I have my downs as well...but I find myself doing other mundane work and not approaching a canvas. To sum up I think currently my inspiration comes from the fact that I know that positive is healthy and good for all. Breath is life, but understanding the breath is knowledge....and I hope slowly but surely I am making it there.

Wednesday, April 9, 2008

Shakti

Name: Joyotee
Comment: I have a show comming up in July. I am very excited as this is my second solo show and I am looking forward to seeing what the arts community and collectors in general will have to say about this collection. I know I have grown in my work and I feel the difference compared to my last show. Techinically my knowledge has become more sound and my style is more devloped. My last show "Impressions" was an attempt to feel what I aspire to be doing creatively as an artist. I have found that ground and "Shakti" hence is more mature.