Graphic Art: Works by Sonny Liew, Koh Hong Teng and Joseph Chiang

Mulan Gallery presents works by Singapore-based artists SONNY LIEW, KOH HONG TENG and JOSEPH CHIANG. The exhibition will run from 8 Sep to 7 Oct 2017.

This exhibition showcases a sampling of original inked pages and prints from Sonny Liew’s award winning The Art of Charlie Chan Hock Chye, one of the most successful and critically acclaimed book in Singapore since its launch. It was the first graphic novel to be awarded the Singapore Literature Prize (English Fiction) and Book of the Year in the Singapore Book Awards in 2016, and is the winner of the Danish Pingprisen 2017 for Best International Comic Book, and most recently, three Eisner awards for Best Writer/Artist, Best US Edition of International Material – Asia, and Best Publication Design.

Koh Hong Teng’s current series of works depict biomorphic forms suspended in dreamlike landscapes. Miró meets yōkai manga meets the mythical in these phantasmagorias as contradictory impulses contort and merge, tending towards both the figurative and the abstract in surroundings at once both familiar and strange, evocative of the ambivalence within these forms and with the world they inhabit.

The latest conceptual silkscreen printmaking works by Joseph Chiang are constituted by a vocabulary of the comic-style, Pointillist-like Ben-Day dots used by pop art mavens Lichtenstein and Warhol who had, in turn, been inspired by the use of these dots to create colour gradations and tonal shading in popular comic strips and mass print media. Digital pixels get their day in these experimental, chromatic architectural pieces, which are centred around the self-taught artist’s continued exploration of the nuances of difference and repetition and the relationship between art and commerce through the idea of the unique multiple. Taking a cue from the waste-minimizing idea in lean manufacturing or production, a basic production element for silk-screening is created, and thereafter variously utilised and layered to make unique works of art.

Sonny Liew is a Singapore-based comics artist, painter and illustrator whose work includes the New York Times bestseller The Shadow Hero with Gene Luen Yang (First Second Books), My Faith in Frankie with Mike Carey (DC Vertigo), Sense & Sensibility (Marvel Comics), and Dr. Fate with Paul Levitz (DC Comics). Before the critically acclaimed The Art of Charlie Chan Hock Chye (Pantheon Books), Liew received Eisner nominations for his art on Wonderland (Disney Press), as well as for spearheading Liquid City (Image Comics), a multi-volume comics anthology featuring creators from Southeast Asia. His Malinky Robot series is a 2004 Xeric grant recipient and winner of the Best Science Fiction Comic Album Award at the 2009 Utopiales SF Festival in Nantes. He is a recipient of the National Arts Council’s Young Artist Award.

Koh Hong Teng is a Singapore-based comics artist, illustrator and painter. He holds a diploma in Graphic Design from the Nanyang Academy of Fine and an honours degree in Graphic Design (Illustration) from the London College of Printing. After a short stint as a graphic journalist with The New Paper, Koh’s first graphic novel 01321 (1996) is a winner of the gold award in the Digital Art category at the inaugural Siggraph Asia Pacific Animation and Digital Art Competition in 2001. Co-created with writer Oh Yong Hwee, Ten Sticks and One Rice (Epigram Books, 2012) was the first Singapore graphic novel to win a Bronze award at the 7th International Manga Award held in Japan. Most recently, the interactive art book Building Memories: People • Architecture • Independence (Achates 360, 2016), created with Lai Chee Kien and Yeo Yeok Chuan, won both Best Illustrated Non-Fiction as well as Book of the Year awards at the 2017 Singapore Book Awards, as well as multiple graphic design awards internationally.

Joseph Chiang is a Singapore-based artist and printmaker. He is the founder of Monster Gallery, a creative print studio that produces original fine art prints and conducts printmaking workshops, as well as the Young Printmakers League, a mentorship program that aims to nurture the next generation of creative printmakers in Singapore. Known for their retro pop culture inspired art and prints, Chiang’s works have been shown in solo and group exhibitions in Singapore and abroad.

Soh Ee Shaun has created artworks and illustrations for Adidas, Nike, The Discovery Channel, onedotzero(UK), FARM, Nicholas, The Singapore Fashion Festival 2006, Play Imaginative, Zouk, IdN, Pictoplasma and the San Diego Comic Conference. His works were featured in 20/20 BASE, an exhibition celebrating 20 of Singapore’s most creative talents, under the Singapore Design Festival 2007. He was commissioned with FARMWORK, Designact and RE:act by Design Council Singapore as curatorial leads to design the Singapore Pavilion; and Singapore Supergarden for the prestigious 11th Venice Architectural Biennale. His largest public art installation Move! comprises three murals at the Bishan Circle Line was commissioned by the Land Transport Authority of Singapore and unveiled in 2009. His works are his experiments in abstraction, humorand improvisation resulting in the creation of non-linear, open-ended narratives.