Submissions to Beauty @ Amelia Johnson Contemporary

Malaysian-born artist Eric Chan is one of Singapore’s leading artists.  Already fast-gaining recognition within Asia, Chan is regarded as one of the finest painters of his generation.  Precociously accomplished yet harbouring a distinctive sensibility, Chan’s vision and confidence surpass his years. 

The last three years has seen a significant shift in subject matter for Chan who moved on to depict large scale, reverse negative portraits in somber monochromes.  

The most recent phase of his oeuvre, presented here in Submissions to Beauty, sees the combination of these floral and faunal motifs with the human motifs, occasionally placed over random tracts of text. There is a precision and deliberateness to Chan’s work.  The introduction of text, rather than for its literal meanings or codes of meanings, is for its beautiful manuscript letters and its calligraphic forms.  The placing of vibrantly coloured birds and flowers that appear exotic and tropical at first glance possess echoes of nineteenth century botanical and anatomical studies.  All this, combined with his sublime monochromatic portraits pulled from the canon of 13th to 18th century western masterpieces, serves to create a canvas loaded with hidden meaning.  The narrative twists and turns bursting to and beyond the confines of the pictorial plane. 

The works in Submissions to Beauty reveal the artist’s growing maturity, exposing a tinge of vulnerability while conveying deeper emotional resonance.  The paintings are more haunting, more contemplative than ever before, the sense of absence versus presence is even more powerful. Through these paintings, Eric Chan lures the eye into the private world of his images, slowing down time, captivating us and inviting us to linger a little longer. 

Location: G/f 6-10 Shin Hing Street, NoHo, Central, Hong Kong