Honesty Printed on Modesty
October 23 – November 24, 2013
Singapore Tyler Print Institute, Singapore
Installation view of Honesty Printed on Modesty, Singapore Tyler Print Institute, Singapore, 2013
Photos: Courtesy of Singapore Tyler Print Institute.
Press release
Haegue Yang a leading artist of her generation kicks off the first series of PlatformSTPI Projects (PSP) with Honesty Printed on Modesty - an exhibition of close to 100 new selected works utilizing the colors and textures of spices and vegetables with print and paper works, produced in collaboration with STPI’s workshop. A new artistic trajectory for Yang and STPI, these works draw attention to the power of spices and everyday food items from its domestic function to its impact on civilizations.
Yang’s surprise discovery and usage of spices and vegetables found in markets of Singapore sourced from around the world, chart the earliest drivers of globalization where the quest for spices established a vast economic network throughout human history. Followed by revolutionary, modern methods of how food is harvested, processed and distributed to meet immense, consumption demands today.
Yang experiments with new materials by integrating the physical and sensorial characteristics of spices and vegetables with handmade paper, exemplifying Rabindranath Tagore’s notion of domesticity, where the less representational and ordinary is significant and necessary for life (otherwise known as the ‘passive quality’ of women). These humble works bring viewers closer to the sensorial, tactile experiences with basic food items, tracing the origins and development of trade in South East Asia, particularly Singapore’s progress from a colonial hub to a modern, global city.
STPI Director Emi Eu comments, “Haegue Yang is an exciting artist to watch against the backdrop of globalization, where her works provoke and encourage greater self awareness of changing identities, values and beliefs.”
Exhibited works
Printing Civilization: Locality and Contemporaneity
Spice Sheets, 2012
Seasoning Papers, 2013
Spice Moons, 2013
Triptych Moon, 2013
Embossed Prints, Juice Dyes
Vegetable Prints, 2012
Spice Prints, 2012
Herb Prints, 2012
Intergrating Side Products: The Mirroring and Tattooing Performance
Vegetable Prints – Décalcomanie, 2012
Cutting Board Prints, 2012
From Printing and Flattening Polygonal Objects to Tracing Their Movements
Non-Foldings – Cosmic Explosion, 2012
Non-Foldings – Geometries, 2012
Non-Foldings – Geometric Tipping, 2013
Non-Foldings – Scenarios of Non-Geometric Folding, 2013
Fetishizing Modesty
Golden Singulars, 2013
Synthesis
Color-Blown Craters and Dunes, 2012
Catalog
Honesty Printed on Modesty, 2013