Past Solo Exhibition
Jane Lee: Freely, Freely 17.01.2016 — 05.03.2016
Information
Event has ended
17 January - 5 March 2016
About The Exhibition
Fly.
Caged Bird
A free bird leaps on the back of the wind
And floats downstream till the current ends
And dips his wing in the orange sun rays
And dares to claim the sky.
But a bird that stalks down his narrow cage
Can seldom see through his bars of rage
His wings are clipped and his feet are tied
So he opens his throat to sing.
The caged bird sings with a fearful trill
Of things unknown but longed for still
And his tune is heard on the distant hill
For the caged bird sings of freedom.
The free bird thinks of another breeze
And the trade winds soft through the sighing trees
And the fat worms waiting on a dawn bright lawn
And he names the sky his own
But a caged bird stands on the grave of dreams
His shadow shouts on a nightmare scream
His wings are clipped and his feet are tied
So he opens his throat to sing.
The caged bird sings with a fearful trill
Of things unknown but longed for still
And his tune is heard on the distant hill
For the caged bird sings of freedom.
Maya Angelou
Everybody’s a bird, locked up in a pretty cage. Sometimes you fly into a slightly bigger one, but you never quite have the
courage to abandon captivity completely.
Dave McKean
Known for her visually stunning tactile works that challenge the notion of a painting, Singaporean artist Jane Lee often pushes the limits of materials and techniques used, examining painting’s processes, significance and relevance in contemporary art practice. At STPI however, Lee moves away from abstraction and formal explorations to discover print and paper, combining unconventional materials to produce dynamic installations that fully immerse the viewer in a sensorial experience.
Working around a narrative for the first time, Lee invites viewers to meander through a fantastical yet familiar world of birds and nature – universal metaphors for freedom. Although she has adopted figuration in her material-oriented practice, this body of work, according to curator June Yap, considers “not only the surface that is familiar of printmaking, but also the corners, how different edges come together and even the paper itself, basically that which constitutes the materiality of print and papermaking.”
As she plays with paper’s texture and effects, Lee addresses the condition of freedom and entrapment in the daily lives of individuals. Additionally, as writer Tony Godfrey highlights, “light, like birds, is something we associate with freedom, with life, escaping the prison walls. Much of Lee’s recent work has been about exploring colour, but this exhibition is more about light than colour – the translucency of the tracing paper she used, the way colours are refracted in the acrylic works… It is an exhibition of play, a dance of the hands, of fingertip agility, of little whirlpools, shapes and light dancing. The result is festive – a shared, communal pleasure in the world.”
About the artist
Jane Lee
Residencies in 2015, 2018, 2020, 2022
Jane Lee (1963, born and based in Singapore) explores how the medium of painting can challenge classical Western art historical traditions, while embracing emotional states and uncovering traces of personal identity. Rising to prominence in the 2000s, Lee’s enduring experimentation with paint—underpinned by a play between spontaneity and precision—has resulted in a highly tactile body of work that blurs the line between painting and sculpture.
In being located between two and three dimensions, Lee’s artistic process involves a deconstruction of the material constituents of painting—stretcher, canvas, paint—and the use of miscellaneous items such as baking tools and syringes to apply paint across surfaces, often in rigorous and expressive gestures. This imbues her paintings with a visceral, spatial presence, liberating them from a purely representational function. Early works such as Raw Canvas and Status (2008) demonstrate how this textural accumulation of paint reveals unexpected colours and a sense of movement, as the canvases and layers appear to bulge, crawl, melt and droop across walls to interact with surrounding architecture. In her recent Where Is Painting (2022) series, Lee explored notions of reduction and emptiness that characterise East Asian landscape painting, opting for the spontaneous use of her bare hands to create impasto works that evoke abstract, monochromatic naturescapes.
The artist obtained her BA in Fine Arts and a Diploma in Fashion from LASALLE College of the Arts, Singapore. Notable exhibitions include Lila (2023), Singapore Art Museum; (2019), National Gallery Singapore; (2018), Hong Kong Arts Centre; (2015), 56th Venice Biennale; (2011), Museum of Contemporary Art and Design, Manila; (2011), Singapore Art Museum; and (2009), The Contemporary Art Centre, Vilnius. The artist has also participated in major international festivals including (2008), 2nd Singapore Biennale.