Theme 2 >> Society

SOCIAL COMMENTARY

Social commentary may be found in many mediums of expression from literature to music.  Art uses visual communication to illustrate the diverse facets of different ways to life.  People, places and pursuits evolve over time and alter to suit changing circumstances.  Social class, economic welfare, health concerns and political beliefs are some of the many issues that can be explored in social commentary paintings.

By studying these artworks, we can understand the various ways that daily experiences may be used as subjects and interpreted by the artists.  Art is able to access an audience beyond linguistic barriers and the use of direct visual language and metaphors encourage the viewer to re-explore social issues and elicit different responses because we view the subject from a changed perspective, in a different context removed from reality.

Questions

1. Summarize the themes or issues presented or discussed in the artwork.

2. Discuss how the subject of this artwork may or may not be relevant to you.

3. How does the artist’s choice and use of medium or technique affect the presentation of themes in the artwork?

Liu Kang (China 1911 – Singapore 2004)
Life by the River

Oil on Canvas  126 x 203 cm   1975

Collection of SAM

The Artist
Born in China and having lived in Malaysia during his youth, Liu Kang settled in Singapore during the Japanese Occupation.  He is considered one of Singapore’s pioneer artists and he received his artistic training at the Xinhua Academy of Fine Arts in China and L’Ecole national superieure des Beaux –Arts in Paris.  One of the key creators of the Nanyang style, Liu was a founding member of the Singapore Art Society and an influential lecturer at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts.  

The Artwork

The picturesque scene depicts a glimpse of eary Singapore.  In place of today’s urban city of sky scrapers and highways, there are kampong houses on stilts and wooden bridges.  The subjects go about their daily lives – washing, feeding poultry and playing with family and friends.  The bright palette conveys the convivial coummnity spirit of a nation in progress and the simple drawing style with defined outlines and bold strokes evokes feelings of openness and sincerity.  These aesthetic practices are characteristic of Liu Kang’s style.  Another technical skill that the artist is adept at is the creation of depth using composition rather than tonal play or perspective.  Here, a bridge acts as a horizon line that spans across the painting whilst the houses serve as a background border so tha tour attention is drawn towards the figures in the foreground.  It is interesting to look at the artist’s use of colour for his figures, the ones in the immediate foreground are dressed in bright shades of green, blue, red and yellow whereas the people in the background are depicted in muted shades of colour.

Question

Notice that all the people gathered are working together at their various tasks.  Even this is a lively community scene from the past, how can we relate it to the Singapore of the present?  Does Singapore continue to forge this sense of shared community?  How?  What campaigns and programmes encourage this sense of community and what is this important to a country like Singapore?

Tan Tee Chie (China 1928 – present)

Brobak Birds Competition

Woodcut   48 x 63 cm   1966

Collection of SAM

The Artist

A graduate of the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, Tan Tee Chie is presently a senior lecturer at his old alma mater.  He was previously head of school affairs and a school registrar.  He was also presented an award in recognition of his forty years of service to this established institution.  This is one of many that he has received for his contributions to Singaporean art.  Tan has also been the recipient of medals from the Society of Chinese Artists and the Singaporean Art Society.  An academic and an artist, Tan is also an art critic who contributes to Yuan Publications and China News.  An artist who works in many mediums, Tan’s Chinese paintings and seal carvings have been exhibited abroad in China, Japan, Italy, the United States, Malaysia and Hong Kong

The Artwork

Relief printing is one of the oldest forms of printing.  Woodcuts are made by gouging or cutting away into the surface of the wood so that the raised areas can be used to stamp ink impressions onto paper.  Areas that do not stand out in relief remain blank on the printed paper so tha the image becomes sharp and intense.  In the Brobak Birds Competition, this social realistic scene captures one of the popular hobbies from the past where owners would get together to compare the beautiful plumage of the birds and the harmony of their voices.  Tan captures the spirit of the even perfectly, with crowds of people gathered enthusiastically around the padang with their birdcages hoisted high above onto poles.  Technical devices are used such as the positioning of poles to act as perspective tools and the manipulation of composition so that the crowds of people in the foreground and the birds in the background, provide a frame to the scene.  The different kinds of strokes from the fine cuts to the deeper gouges convey a sense of vibrant immediacy to the work ,we can easily imagine the artist scooping out and carving into the woodcut to create texture, ouline and form.

Question

Describe the woodblock style.  How does it endow the subject of the painting with further resonance?  How would different mediums such as pencil and ink or watercolour affect the viewer’s response to the subject? 

Antonio ‘Tony’ Leano (Philippines 1963 – present)

Urban Cosmetics

Oil on Canvas  213 x 451.5 cm  1993

Collection of SAM

The Artist

A graduate from the College of Fine Arts at the University of the Philippines, Leano is an artist that also gives voice to his creative talent in interior design and landscaping.  Linking these interests to notions of containment and physical space, his art is often a commentary on the destruction of the environment wrought by urban development.  Leano has exhibited internationally and in 1994, he won the prestigious 13 Artist Award in the Philippines.

The Artwork

In this 3 panel painting, the viewer gazes upwards, as if from the depths of a gutter.  The scene about appears as if seen through a convex mirror and our vantage point is skewed by our position.  Overhead, crowds of people rush about in no particular direction and skyscrapers loom ahead in the ominously dark sky.  Leano’s wavering brushstrokes twist line upon line of colour onto the canvas.  There is no use of soft tonal graduation, instead there is an intense build-up of colour and a strong expressive palette of scarlet, deep blue, bottle green, black and white.  The limited but vivid colour schematics convey the wearisome turmoil of city life.  A common feature of Leano’s paintings during this period is the use of text.  This painting is no exception and it quotes the poem below.  The make-up of sleek buildings and tailored suits conceal a city that is soulless.

‘While men carried

Their dead with a stretcher,

They left a dead cat on the road;

But even if they would bury the cat

They would do it

Not because it has a soul

But because it stinks.’

Question

Observe Leano’s use of perspective and vantage point.  How does it create atmosphere?

Compare Leano’s work to Edvard Munch’s The Scream (1893) and consider how the two artist’s feature similar characteristics such as plays on perspective, use of colour and brushwork.

Cheong Soo Pieng (China 1917 – SG 1983)

Drying Salted Fish

Chinese ink and watercolour  55 x 88 cm  1960s

Collection of SAM

The Artist

Cheong Soo Pieng received his academic training in China at the Xiamen Academy of Art and the Xin Hua Academy in Shanghai.  In 1946, he moved to Singapore and became a teacher at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts until 1961.  Considered one of the pioneer masters of Singaporean art, Cheong was a bold experimental painter who constantly sought for ways to expand and improve his artistic skills. 

The Artwork

Cheong believed in the resonance of realism in art, feeling that it was necessary to adopt a universalist approach.  In Drying Salted Fish, he brings elegance to this disappearing home industry of salting fish through his elegant brushstrokes, delicate beige and creamy colours.  Pairing graceful strokes of Chinese ink with soft washes, the artist captures perfectly the quiet tranquillity of pastoral life – goats grazing, contented men and women working alongside and fields of foliage.  In this scene, he does not focus on the human expression but instead on their activity and their surroundings.  There are layers of subject matter from the bushes in the foreground, the hanging fish, and people in the middle ground and finally, the trees in the background.  The schematics of composition is carefully set out to create perspective rather that use the shadows of tonal depth.

Question

This can be considered a pastoral scene. What other facets of Singaporean pastoral life could the artist have chosen to represent?  From a simple depiction of a house on stilts of one of bustling activity such as fishing, rice farming or crop harvesting how could it be depicted to be charming and idyllic or debilitated and shabby.

In this work, how does the artist impart an impression of gracefulness and gentleness?  Look at his brushstrokes and warm-toned colours

  

I Wayan Bendi (Bali 1950 – present)

Kebakaran (The Firefighters)

Acrylic and ink on paper   50.3 x 70.3 cm   1999

Collection of SAM

The Artist

The son of a traditional Balinese painter I Wayan Taweng, I Wayan bendi paints in the traditional Batuan style that depicts intensely intricate scenes filled with detailed vignettes of Balinese life.  His approach takes on a twist by his choice of subject matter – pairing the usual mythical themes of the Batuan sytle with contemporary subject matter.  These modern interventions make statements about current issues in Balinese life from the influx of voyeuristic tourists to commercialism of traditional customs. 

The Artwork

The batuan style is often described as wayang-based and this painting exemplifies the theatrical expressiveness of body language and facial expression.  This large scene of elaborate detail is a visual extravaganza – a fire truck is rushing desperately towards a traditional-style building that is burning, those nearby are trying desperately to run away whilst around people are seemingly oblivious as they are stuck within their own forms of chaos.  Tourists with their cameras, surfers and sunbathers, locals hawking their wares and women balancing produce atop their heads are just some of the melee.  The artist crams every nook and cranny with the chaos of human actions.  Amidst the confusion, I Wayan introduces mythical and real-life animals such as serpents, lizards, winged dragons, buffalo, giant bugs and frogs.  The atmosphere of a world of fantasy is reinforced by the adoption of Balinese imagery such as stone-carved guardian demons, cloud curlicues and candi bentar (split gate entrance for Balinese temples).  Elements of familiar everyday Balinese visuals of batik sarongs, mosques and streetcar vendors root this scene in reality.  The comic aesthetic becomes ironic when the viewer regards the painting with an understanding of the increasing commercialism of Balinese society and the corrupting effect of materialism on traditional values and practices.

Question

Look closely at the painting.  List all the activities and subjects that you see that are intrinsically Balinese.  What does this painting say about Balinese culture?  What does our responses say about Singaporean culture?

Chua Mia Tee (China 1932 – present)

Workers in a Canteen

Oil on canvas  89 x 126 cm  1974

Collection of SAM

The Artist

Born in Guangdong province in China, Chua arrived in Singapore when he was seven.  He was a student of the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts from 1950 to 1952.

Growing up by the banks of the Singapore River, he became fascinated by the lives to the working people as they went about their jobs and daily routines.  This curiosity and the desire to capture the hive of activity that contributes to Singapore’s development has inspired many of the social realism paintings that Chua has become renowned for.  Urban scenes from locations such as the Singapore River and Chinatown have become emblematic of the country’s history and progress.  A member of the Equator Art Society, Chua believed that art should be derived from reality and easily accessible to the viewer. 

The Artwork

Workers in a Canteen is one of Chua’s more subtle paintings that convey his popular theme of nation building.  The scene of tired and hungry workers getting a well-deserved meal after some hard work communicates to viewers the sweat and tears that are shed to build the foundation of a country.  Using almost photographic realism to capture the clothes and expressions on the men’s faces, the artist employs a neutral unassuming palette of beige, cream, khaki and green to underline the earnest endeavours of the conscientious men.  In the foreground, we have a clear view of the dining table with its empty bowls, chopsticks placed askew and brown wax paper wrappings.  Their simple meal, clean by plain uniforms and expressions of unassuming compliance reveal their humble dignity.

Question

What do you think there is no focus on a particular individual in this painting?  What effect is the artist trying to achieve by this? 

  

Fernando Cueto Amorsolo (Philippines 1892 – 1972)

Marketplace during the Occupation

Oil on Canvas 57 x 82 cm 1942

Collection of SAM

The Artist

Trained at the University of the Philippines and the Escuela Superior de Pintura in Madrid, Amorsolo is well-known for his graceful portraits of Filipino beauty and rustic scenes.  An expert draftsman and painter, he is lauded for his technical finesse and was the first traditional classicist painter to have been bestowed the National Artist award.  Proficient in Western Classical teachings, Amorosolo deliberately sought to establish a visual type of beauty and grace more attuned with the Filipino people.  This nationalistic approach initiated an entire genre in local art history.

The Artwork

Poignant pastoral scenes, wholesome country folk and charming woman dominate the subject matter of Amorsolo’s almost photographic paintings.  A master in capturing the play of light and wielding technical virtuosity such as hint of flesh peeking beneath translucent material or light dancing on ripples of clear water, careful attention is paid to compositional and technical details that invest his paintings with incredible picturesque qualities.  1920 to 1945 is considered as the Golden Period of Amorsolo and this particular painting from 1942 evinces many of the artist’s aesthetic strengths.  Rays of sunlight bathe a scene of contented and hardworking peasants busy at the market shopping for fresh produce.  In the right hand corner of the painting, a white Japanese banner gleams in the light and a soldier surveys the scene in front of him.  Aside from this neutral depiction, there are no signs of the impact of the Second World War, plentiful baskets of fresh produce show that the people do not want for anything and the serene smiling expressions of the Filipino subjects show little unhappiness.  This is only known example by the artist showing some elements of hard reality and yet, he continues with his articulation of serenity and charm.  Even though he chooses to depict the subject of war and foreign occupation, he remains constant to his perpetuation of idealised notions of Filipino rustic life.

Question

Art can use subtle metaphor and imagery to convey ideas to the viewer.   It gives the viewer a chance to consider how negative and positive elements may co-exist side by side to present an alternative view to the negatively-perceived situation of the Occupation. What hints do you see of the Japanese Occupation?