Veteran artist collaborates with new- media advocate to launch first book ever to commemorate three decades of surrealist art in Singapore.
Titled ‘One Mind One Theory’, this book is also the name of Rosihan Dahim’s latest art exhibition held in Fullerton Hotel’s East Garden Gallery – the fifth solo exhibition of RD marking more than three decades of surrealist art with a retrospective of works made since the late 70s. This book will consist a thorough mix of narratives, statement on RD’s art and a five-part thesis defining the style of the surrealist’s works in context of Asia for the first time in a book. It is a combination of candid approaches with the serious frame of art critique and often suggest the matchstick which is an icon of the art of RD in a form of human mind.
Several themes featured in the book are namely a short story of Pilgrimage- a narrative of how ‘matchsticks’ found enlightenment in life, two versions of Da Vinci Code Pasquinade as parody to the book Da Vinci Code of Dan Brown and the legend of the horse, in which the ‘matchstick’ speaks of his encounters with the animal in different art forms.
The writings are done by Yu Benedict Tan who has an authorship in visual literature of 16 years and whose written works are published in several art catalogues, magazines and art books. Benedict has also a record of his involvement in the making of more than 90 art exhibitions and the creation of Painting Findings Asia and The Arts Portal* mobile applications.
Published by Danish Books. Publicly available in MPH bookstores, Singapore public libraries and related institutions after April 2014.
Round Table event and Book Launch at The Arts House on 8 April 2014.
Participants of Round Table talk:
Tan Yen Peng (Moderator)
Yen Peng obtained her Diploma in Fine Art (Oil Painting) in 1993 from the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (NAFA) and two Master’s degrees in Fine Art Practice from Birmingham Institute of Art & Design, University of Central England, UK (1998). After which, she pursued Contemporary Art & Art Theory from Edinburgh College of Art, Herriot-Watt University, Scotland, UK (2004).
Yen Peng has more than 10 years of experience in children art education and prior to joining NAFA as a fulltime staff, she has taught with NAFA on a part-time basis since 1998. As a practicing artist, Yen Peng actively engages in the arts as a freelance curator, writer and adjudicates in Children Art Competitions. She has also put up Solo and Group Exhibitions as well as received commendations in the UOB Painting of the Year 1999 & 1996, Singapore Urbanart Competition in 1998 as well as Philip Morris Asean Art Award in 1996.
WY Choy (Speaker)
WY Choy is a Singaporean artist, curator and arts writer and a proponent of the art fraternity in post-independent Singapore. His literary contributions on post-modern arts in Singapore, had helped shaped the contemporary art scene in Singapore.
Born 12 July 1930 in Singapore, Choy graduated with a National Diploma of Art UK from Hornsey College of Art in 1962 and received the Art Teachers’ Certificate (UK) from the University of London Institute of Education in 1963. In his years as a student in London, he had many opportunities to study the works of great modern artists like Picasso and Mondrian, through visits to other European cities. These opportunities to travel, shaped his knowledge of art and his aesthetic development for his art in the years to come.
Rosihan Dahim (Artist)
Rosihan Dahim was born in Singapore from an Indonesian family. After Singapore’s independence in 1965, Rosihan was captivated by stories of World War I and II from his father who fought alongside the British Navy during the Japanese occupation in Singapore.
After his academic studies in Singapore, Rosihan generated his art influences and later learnt about Dadaism and the Surrealist art movement in early 1970’s. In 1977 through 1978 he explored in physchoanalysis and metaphysical paintings while attending the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts in Singapore. After leaving the academy in 1979, he introduced his first Matchstick painting series in his first solo show at the National Museum Art Gallery in 1980. He indulged himself in Surrealism art and was soon compared by his peers with the likes of Spanish surreal painter Salvador Dali and the Belgian artist René Magritte.
Rosihan expands his perception to present to the public that art is cultivated and co-exist in his personal upbringing, influences and in his daily observations. It is undeniably a conversion of life in humanity regardless of race, language or religion. He soon took his direction and transport himself into a dream world of reality.
Yu Benedict Tan (Author)
Yu Benedict Tan conceptualised and organised art programmes such as the PASSIONOVA360 Arts Market in 2004 in the aim to showcase the arts and crafts of art students and the France + Singapore New Generation Artists competition and exhibition which ran for consecutively five years from 2009 – 2013. He is an advocate for new media arts and new media platforms to promote arts and he made an invention of Arts Portal* that launched in 2013 as the world’s first mobile app based virtual artists and spaces portfolio platform. Benedict begun his career in the arts by working on handling logistics such as setting up exhibitions and coordinating transportation of art works from 2002 to 2004. After which he pursued his career in the arts through The Substation, Esplanade Theatres on the Bay, Art-Management.com and Alliance française de Singapour. He continues to write intensively as a passion for literature as well as knowledge based on his involvement in the arts and his written works have been published in catalogues, magazines as well as art books. Benedict has till date played a key role in the making of more than 90 visual arts exhibitions.
*Arts Portal is currently owned and developed by Web Media, a subsidiary of Web Structures Intl.
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RECENT AND PAST EVENTS OF ONE MIND ONE THEORY
Rosihan Speaks of the mysterious matchstick and his standpoint on Surrealism.
Rosihan Dahim and Yu Benedict Tan speaks about their collaboration in Q&A session held at The Arts House.
One Mind One Theory a solo exhibition by Rosihan Dahim in Singapore 2014
Venue: East Garden Gallery THE FULLERTON HOTEL
Dates: 28 February till 27 March 2014
An award winning artist, surrealist Rosihan Dahim applies a philosophy which transform his perception that seemingly enters into a threshold of a dream. The elements of play within his mind characterise a metaphysical and visual dramatisation of the subject. His paintings depict a state of awareness while observing beyond his subconscious that lead to an exploration through historical avenues. As a surrealist, Dahim’s ideology is an extension of a legacy and influences instilled by the surrealists of the past which was founded by André Bretón in his manifesto in 1924. One Mind One Theory the exhibition questions our existence while it scales a balance in its theory grown from our heritage towards a new chapter in our mind and in our destiny.
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