Warren Khong: Whitewash

Whitewash is a new installation by MA Fine Arts graduate (2015 cohort) Warren Khong, which interacts with the unusual, light-filled architecture of Praxis Space. In the work, Khong transforms the gallery into a seamless white space.

The installation highlights overlooked aspects of the gallery’s architecture: its materials, and particularly its white walls. These walls are prominent, their height and width dominating visitors’ sightlines. The walls are painted with whitewash, a form of paint made from emulsion and concrete that forms the undercoat for top layers of paint. In the work, Khong challenges the status of whitewash as a ‘base layer’ by emphasising it as an important physical element. Khong figuratively and literally whitewashes the gallery, displacing its surface with white material. A new structure replicates an existing element in the gallery, and invites visitors to focus on the aesthetic characteristics of the space itself.

The installation is accompanied by an interactive publication with a text by curator and art historian June Yap.