Six artists will be holding an exhibition at an industrial building in Ubi to mark the end of their lease there.
Artist Ezekiel Wong, 27, had doubts about two recent monochrome paintings he made. He was exploring a new direction in his art and felt dissatisfied with the pieces. In a moment of desperation, he considered filling the works with colour.
Then he asked fellow artist Hilmi Johandi, 29, for his opinion. The part-time lecturer at Lasalle College of the Arts took a close look at the works and, to Wong's relief, said the paintings look good.
The two artists are studio mates. For the past two years, they have been sharing a space in an industrial building in Ubi with four other arts practitioners - Betty Susiarjo, Fyerool Darma, Simon Ng and Soh Choi Yin.
Making art can be an isolating process, but having people around in the same workspace can be comforting.
Wong, who is also a teacher's assistant and art technician at an international school, says: "It makes the journey less lonely. A lot of times, we have a lot of thoughts in our head and it's good to have someone to talk to."
It is with full hearts that the six artists are holding an exhibition at the 1,023 sq ft space to bid a bittersweet farewell to the place before their lease ends this month.
The show is part of Singapore Art Week, which runs from Jan 11 to 22. The annual round-up of visual arts offerings is a joint initiative by the National Arts Council, Singapore Tourism Board and Singapore Economic Development Board.
Hilmi says: "The exhibition is to mark our time together in the past two years and to show the different kinds and styles of art that we worked on while here. It is not the end. It's just the closing of a chapter."
There will be paintings and drawings, as well as installation and sculptural works on show.
The group of six came together when Wong and Hilmi rounded up artists they knew to jointly rent a studio.
The two had been unsuccessful in their application to the National Arts Council's arts housing scheme, which provides affordable spaces to arts groups and artists.
Not willing to give up on their art practice, they decided to look for a space of their own.
Eventually, they settled on the unit in Ubi because it is easily accessible. Several other artists had also set up studios in industrial buildings and warehouses in the area.
Hilmi says: "We thought it was as easy as securing a space, but we had to install lights, the air-con and set up partitions."
After they moved in, however, they settled easily and quickly into a rhythm of working together. There was no need to set house rules, Wong says, because everyone was considerate and respected one another's private space and work. "I always think I shouldn't take for granted the harmony that we have," he says.
For him and Hilmi, who regularly see into each other at the studio, sharing a creative space also deepened their friendship. He says: "We will talk about art, discuss art shows we saw and even give each other advice on life in general."
When their lease ends, four of the artists will move into a unit in an industrial building nearby, while the remaining two will focus on other commitments.
Hilmi says: "We hope this exhibition will make people aware of art studios in this area and, who knows, in the next decade, we may have clusters of art studios here."
Ubi, Ubi! is a visual art exhibition presented by artists Betty Suiarjo, Fyerool Darma, Hilmi Johandi, Simon Ng, Soh Choi Yin and Ezekiel Wong Kel Win. These six artists came together in 2015 to co-share a studio space in the Kampong Ubi estate, to work and pursue a common goal – to practise art. The studio provides a much needed incubation space for these artists; as each of them holds either a day or part-time job. It also serves as a form of peer motivation and morale support from each other’s company in order to reinforce the commitment to their own artistic practice.
This exhibition will be the first collaborative effort by these artists. It is a presentation of how artists have come together to share common resources to make art, in the attempt to exercise a sustainable way of making a living. It is also a showcase to mark the diverse artistic style that each artist is currently working since the beginning of the venture. Thus, the show can be seen as an artist-initiative project to promote the idea on how artists share studio spaces in Singapore, in order to work together to achieve something common (that is, to make art), resulting in an exhibition curated by the artists themselves. As the exhibition will happen in the studio, it gives the audience a glimpse into the situation and condition of production itself.
Much like Bushwick Open Studios in Brooklyn, New York, EAST SIDE OPEN STUDIOS introduces a variety of artistic spaces from the east side of Singapore, ranging from more personal working environments to some with more communal elements, with a whole schema of practices ranging from painting, design, sculpture, installation, pottery-making, performance, printmaking, video, text, and curation.
The EAST SIDE OPEN STUDIOS give an opportunity to experience the conditions under which work is produced, as well as the range of activities and forms these spaces accomodate. These are the participating studios 1. soft/WALL/studs: Level 8 Lam thong Corporation Building, 11 Lor 21A Geylang, Singapore 388429 (Luca Lum, Kenneth Loe, Stephanie J Burt, Weixin Chong)
2. School of Clay Arts: 10 Ubi Cres, Ubi Techpark, Lobby B, #07-33, Singapore 408564 (Elizabeth Gan)
3. STUDIO UBI: 81 Ubi Avenue 4, UB. One building #07-28, Singapore 408830 (Betty Susiarjo, Choi Yin, Hilmi Johandi, Fyerool Darma, Ezekiel Wong Kel Win and Simon Ng)
4. Peninsular: 80 Playfair Road, Kapo Factory, #2-10A, Singapore 367998 (Guo Liang Tan and Kah Kit
5. Tricia Lim Studio / Liang-Gek Cheng Painting Studio / Oddyssey Vintage store: Pei Fu industrial Building, 24 New Industrial Road, #02-07, Singapore 536210
6. 71 Lengkong Empat Studios, 71 Lengkong Empat, Singapore 417652 (Mike Chang, Dinu Bodiciu, Hilmi Johandi, Anca Rujoiu, Tomoko Kasai and invited guests NOTA)