Good Things Come To Those Who Wait: Intersection Review
Patience today is a virtue that seems oddly out of place with modern times, where poor craftsmanship, low quality and disposability seem the norm. So, imagine my surprise and utter delight to come across an exhibition that doesn’t have any of these flaws. To better understand this exhibition, I must clarify that.
Intersections is more than just an exhibition, it is the combined journey of two artists, Marc Nair and Nicola Anthony that has taken over 3 years to accomplish.
Born in Singapore, Marc Nair is the recipient of the 2016 Young Artist Award. Many may already know Marc Nair for his contributions to poetry in Singapore, having already published six books of poetry and contributed to numerous other publications. A man of many talents, Marc is also an accomplished musician, poetry slammer and photographer, having also founded the cultural magazine, Mackerel.
Born in the U.K, Nicola Anthony is the artist in residence at the NPE Residency Programme. Nicola’s work has been showcased at the Affordable Art Fair Singapore and Singapore Art Week in which her sculpture Nest was commissioned by the National Art Council. Back in her home town, her work was exhibited at the Tate, in the Tate Modern’s ‘No Soul for Sale’s exhibition.’
Both artists met three years ago and decided to collaborate after sharing their mutual admiration they had for each other’s work. As Nicola prefers to use the words and stories of others, the project seemed like the perfect arrangement.
With similar views about the world, both artists merged their talents to create one body of work titled: Intersection which is coincidentally very similar to the name of the gallery where this exhibition is currently being hosted.
The project took three years to complete, in order to permit both artists to travel separately, so as to draw inspiration, from 3 different locations. The inspirational locations were selected by the artists for their historical and personal significance. Kampung Gelam in Singapore, selected by Marc, celebrated the past and present with some nostalgia and focused around the areas of Arab street, Bugis and Little India.
The City Wall, London was selected by Nicola and was set within the ancient city walls of London where the ancient past of the Romans gives way to futuristic gleaming buildings.
The last location was Kyauktada, Yangon, which is also known as the 'downtown' area near the port. Ports are where new people, commodities, goods and ideologies arrive to from abroad. They are places of exchanges and constant movement, even today in their current decrepit state.
From these three years of research, travel and collaboration a hypothetical and imagined, universal space, has been created by these two artists, with an intersecting centre, that only requires ones presence.
The fusion between Marc’s poetry and Nicola’s artwork complement each other as if they were both created by one artist and the exhibition is definitely worth a visit!
Part 1: 10 January 2017 - 11 February 2017
Part 2: 21 February - 5 March 2017
@Intersections
34 Kandahar Street, Singapore, 198892
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