Urban Hysteria

The exhibition introduces ten local artists’ works and their observations on our urban culture and environment.

The urban landscape that we live in as well as the values shape our existence. As it is constantly shifting, the very traits that make the urban experience exciting can also turn into moments of hysteria and anxiety when our coping mechanisms give way. It is this tension in our urban condition that shapes Urban Hysteria, an exhibition featuring local artists whose works respond to our urban culture and environment today.

There are two sections to this exhibition: The self in a state of excess draws on issues of consumption, economy and individuality that emerge as part of the urban ecology; the second section, White noise explores urban development and the visceral responses to them. The artworks presented in the exhibition reflect the diverse contemporary art practices of local young artists, ranging from painting, photography, drawings to sculptures made of found objects.

Stellah Lim explores decadence in her enamel coated sculptures, which comments on the prevalence of materialism in our consumerist culture today.The work reminds us that sometimes in trying to safeguard our vanity, we can end up destroying it.

The fierce competition for wealth is a topic explored by Lim Wan Ying and Justin Lin. Wan Ying’s Chinese ink and acrylic on paper series references the Chinese metaphor, 金山, or Gold Mountain, highlighting the enormity of man’s desire for affluence. We Breached the Surface, Only to Find Ourselves Being Measured and Weighed Before a Crew of Hungry Sailors, a sculpture by Justin, modelled after a weighing balance addresses the relationship of self-worth vis-à-vis monetary value.

Some works position the individual as the main subject and present the ways the unique self responds to the urban experience. The spectrum of bright colours, lines and brushstrokes in 心境 (the inner landscape), a series of paintings by Vincent Chow, attempts to create form out of sensory experiences.

Ben Puah‘s childlike illustrations are a response to his immediate surroundings trying to make sense and humour out of the irregularity found in the ordinary.

Liu Wen Chao‘s series of oil paintings depicts the Geylang district in Singapore, a place well-known for being Singapore’s red-light district. Depicting his figures mostly as solitary beings, the work also highlights an undercurrent of loneliness beneath these streets marked out for pleasure-seekers.

Sufian Samsiyar‘s “dystopian urbanity” is a series of photographs that questions the connection between the urban city and noise. The photographs were manipulated to show a worn and dilapidated Singapore.
By hollowing out the city, the work leaves the viewer confronting a barren and silent metropolis.

Yeo Tze Yang, on the other hand, uses noise as an indicator of change. His paintings document the place he lives in and the changes it undergoes where construction sites are nearly ubiquitous.

Temple by Ruyi Wong reveals human figures curled into a fetal position, set in handmade soap. The work is visually remindful that personal, protective spaces can be easily worn off, exposing the vulnerability of man.

Ezekiel Wong’s illustrations encapsulate the heightened hysteria living and being among people. They contain elements of satire that mainly highlight conflicts, worldly issues and confrontations he faces in life.

The works in Urban Hysteria explore the cleavages of our contemporary culture. In doing so, this show brings to light facets of the urban condition that seethe beneath our contemporary lifestyle.