Art is More than Just a Painting

Published 28 Jul 2016 by Rachael Quek
When we talk about Art, the first thing that comes to mind is “paintings”.

Art which includes sculpture, printmaking, photography and other forms of visual art creation can even take on the broader sense of performing arts, film and music. Yet, we are primed to think of Art as “paintings”, overshadowing other forms of art which we commonly know as sculptures and those less thought-of ones such as new media art which leverages on technology.

Sculptures

Like paintings, the history of sculptures is ubiquitous and extends all the way back till the stone age era, rendering it a widely-known form of art. Past sculptures were normally sculpted by carving on stones or wood, casting metal pieces or plastering. Over the years, the medium of sculptures has vastly increased, with many of our sculptors making use of bronze, resin, fiber glass, stainless steel and ceramic.

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Fernando Botero’s “Dancers Dressed”
More works here

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Nadim Karam’s sculpture installation - view more here
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L: The Winner by Adi Gunawan (more works here)
R: Dear Children - I See by Xiang Jing (more works here)

Wall installations

Combining the concept of a painting and a sculpture, wall installations, in layman terms are sculptures that can be installed on walls. Some artists, like David Kracov and Shay Peled, laser cuts each layer of metal and combine a few to create the three dimensional effect. Another example would be Rainer Lagemann, a US-based German artist who welds tiny square metals together to form various human poses that are evocative and sublime. The process of each wall installation is usually an effortful work - from conceptualizing and visualizing to cutting and finally the creation of the wall art.

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Wall installations by Rainer Lagemann
Watch his video here
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Wall installations by David Kracov
View more of his works here

Wire mesh

Largely unconventional is the creative use of wire mesh, as exemplified by one of our artists, Park Seung Mo. Known for creating large portraitures, cityscapes and still life through multiple layers of wire meshes, his works often require the meticulous and precise techniques of snipping away areas of mesh and netting, hence deriving both the three-dimensionality of sculptures, as well as the details that could be found in two-dimensional photographs alike.
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Watch a video of him in the process of creating a wire mesh portrait
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More of Park Seung Mo’s works here

Video installations

Using monitors to replace canvases, Lee Lee Nam’s works are a traditionally-modern mix of technology and a re-interpretation of 15th century works through his own perspective. In recent years, his works include elements found in traditional eastern works, those of trees and mountains done by ink on paper.

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Image credits: YouTube (video of Lee Lee Nam’s interview and installations)


Chinese calligraphy

Similar to the idea of paintings, Chinese calligraphies are mostly done on a 宣纸 xuanzhi, better known as rice paper, and traditionally uses black ink instead of paint. Like its name, works are of Chinese characters, usually of a poem or phrase that doubles up as a meaningful form of art. The fundamental of Chinese calligraphy was more a practice of writing than of artistic creation - past calligraphers place more emphasis and focus on the methods of writing, but in recent years, practitioners are becoming mindful of its aesthetic qualities, without forgetting the former. More extensively, some calligraphers have been exploring and revolutionizing the art movement, by incorporating modern art techniques into their works.

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More of Lim Tze Peng’s works here
Watch his interview video of his exhibition here

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More of Huang Yao’s works here
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Wang Tiande combines landscapes with calligraphy
More of his works here  
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More of Hong Zhu An’s works here