Cheo Chai-Hiang
Cheo Chai-Hiang | Singapore b.1946 | Fei Chang Ku 2007 | Stainless steel, perspex, neon / 3 parts: 53 x 55 x 13cm (each) | Image courtesy: The artist and NAFA, Singapore
b.1946 Singapore
Lives and works in Singapore
Cheo Chai-Hiang is one of Singapore’s pioneering contemporary artists. His instruction pieces from the early 1970s are generally regarded as the first conceptual art works in the country, and his practice since then has consistently sought to question the forms and processes of art-making. A fundamental interest in Cheo’s work is the relationship between language and meaning; text, both Chinese and English, has been a recurrent motif in his art over the past four decades. Cheo’s work for APT6, entitled Cash Converter 2009, comprises a series of text-based sculptures in a range of materials, from stainless steel to neon. The installation will visually reference signage found on the streets of Singapore, and will draw upon Chinese-language slogans, poetry and wordplay. The work toys with slogans and phrases that connect with cultural, social and financial changes in Singapore today, using language’s facility to capture the shifting nature of meaning and information.
Exhibitions (solo): Sculpture Square, Singapore, 2005; Casula Powerhouse, Sydney, Australia, 2000. Exhibitions (group): Singapore Biennale, Singapore, 2008; ‘Telah Terbit’ (‘Out Now’), Singapore Art Museum, Singapore, 2006.
