Clayrene Chan

Artist Statement:
Chan Clayrene was born in Kluang, Malaysia. She has lived in Kluang for the past twenty years. She received Lee Foundation Scholarship to study Diploma in Fine Art, major in Western Painting from Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts Singapore and a Bachelor (HONS) of Fine Arts from Loughborough University, United Kingdom. The artist began practicing art since she was a child. She loves painting but also explore her arts in various media.

Cotton Candy Fantasy.
Most of her work explores the notion of self and deducted her personal needs for the desired facade and fantasies of being a different personality, i.e. A princess. Her work comprises of installation, photography and wearable art From “ The Princess fantasy “ to her most recent photography “ Que Sera Sera’’, She intends to explore the context of her alter ego and different stages of her life through art.

From the process of making paper costume, a medium that she used to explore vulnerability, it has become significant to her work to pursue her impossible princess dream.

“ Dreams are on Cotton Candy, sweet yet fragile.”

As one of her photography and installation art [Cotton Candy Fantasy] was inspired by the quote above, She had tried to depict the fragility of her dream and fantasy but was killed by reality. Like what cotton candy taste, it seemingly flawless melts as soon as it reaches your mouth, and shrinks by the touch of air. The fragility forms an analogy with her impossible dream of becoming a princess since young. Her works are portraying the imperfections that revealed the gradual realization of realities and the concept of emptiness in fantasy.

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Que Sera, Sera (Whatever Will Be, Will Be)
This is a collaborative artwork by three visual artists who graduated from NAFA at different time periods – Boo Sze Yang, Arron Teo and Clayrene Chan. Every year there are many talented individuals who would graduate from art schools, but many would not have the opportunity to further pursue an artistic career after leaving art school. The old adage that ‘art is useless’, and the immediate pragmatic issue of earning a livelihood, force many to abandon their dreams for a realistic living. Art schools are dream factories. Artists are dreamers. Shot in a small factory in Kluang owned by Clayrene’s father, the artwork questions the future of the artist, if she can continue living the dream of being an artist or will she start to sing Que Sera Sera as she is required to take over her father’s business? The work draws attention to the dilemmas and conflicts between our emotions, desires and beliefs.

Princess Fantasy
She explores the concept of photography as an artistic form. In the body of her works, she used photography to shows her narcissistic behaviors of her personality. For this particular series, she has researched on iconic blond figures with antique costume and the fantasy value of selected royal princess icons.

She used to dream of being a beautiful blue-eyed, blond lady. This Western fantasy was destroyed by reality.

The work is the result of the artist’s light-hearted expression of the crash between the Eastern and Western Culture. Through this series of works, she experiments in fashion, performances, and installation.

www.chanclayrene.com