A Collapsible Time: A solo exhibition by Mark Tan
29 September — 8 November 2020; zlgdesign @ d7 Sentul East
In light of the reimplementation of the Conditional Movement Control Order (CMCO), this exhibition was extended until 8 November 2020.
About the project
A Collapsible Time presents over 60 works on paper and various small sculptural assemblages by young experimental printmaker Mark Tan, in a unique collaboration with award-winning architectural firm, zlgdesign.
The works are integrated within the firm’s operative premises while their daily activities continue undisturbed, thus providing a better synthesis of art and architecture — the ideal entry point for understanding Tan’s own inspirations and practice. The exhibition has been conceptualised not to disrupt, but rather to resonate with the ethos and philosophies of zlgdesign to encourage spatial dialogue and forge a deeper sense of respect between the two disciplines.
A student of Drawing and Applied Arts from the University of the West of England, Bristol, Tan finally returned to Kuala Lumpur in 2014, whereupon he submerged himself into the modern architectural cultures of the city. For years now, he has been observing the progress of Malaysia’s modernising mission, as executed through continuous building and redevelopments, whilst studying the conflict of desires between the spectators (i.e., the rakyat) and the designers of spectacles.
Tan’s studio is located in the bustling town of Ampang, where the crisscrossing highways and the monotonous drone of constant construction serve as a backdrop and provocation for his daily practice. Just as his city is obsessed with building, breaking, and building again, Tan’s work is preoccupied with constructions and deconstructions. His practice is an equally rigorous albeit quieter form of industriousness: one that rises and falls, and shifts and fluctuates, just like the tireless city around him. His lines and forms are dynamic and diverse, at times rigidly geometric and, at others, intuitively fluid. His practice is his private metronome, keeping a steady time alongside the rapid modernisation right outside his window.
The works in A Collapsible Time span a five-year period between 2014—19, during which Tan’s disciplined practice has undergone various evolutions, starting with a reliance on the etching press, snaking through experimentations with other printing methods, and finally resulting in an emancipation from the press. His relationship to paper and printing has become natural and compulsive, as if he himself were the machine. While he still creates works with the press, it is no longer the only method for creation, and some of his old etching plates have been transformed into sculptural assemblages like relics of a past time. A newfound confidence in freehand arrangements is exemplified by the series of eight charcoal pieces on show, coupled with the gestural loops and scrawls in the works that do engage the press. This artistic coming-of-age perhaps mirrors Tan’s own growing familiarity with the fluctuating urban landscape around him as he matures into post-graduate adulthood.
There is a certain resolute magic in the act of tracing and image transference, in erasing something from recognisability by creating layered copies of its own form. In Tan’s artful arrangements, abstracted from the oppressiveness of their real-world counterparts, one is finally able to appreciate the beauty of construction, monochrome, and geometry; an antidepressant for the schizophrenia of the modern city.
Artist bio
Mark Tan (b. 1991, Kuala Lumpur) obtained his Bachelor of Arts degree in Drawing and Applied Arts from the University of the West of England, Bristol. In his investigations and experimentations with the methodologies of mark-making, he practices across a diverse range of digital and traditional media, including photography, oil, charcoal, and various printmaking techniques. Working from his centrally-located studio amidst the sights and sounds of modern urban development projects in Kuala Lumpur, Tan translates his daily observations into inspiration and subjects to be explored in his practice.
Tan has exhibited both locally and internationally in Singapore, Indonesia, France, and the U.K.; in 2017, he had his debut solo exhibition, Arrangements, at OUR ArtProjects, Malaysia. His most recent exhibitions include The Echo Boomers, Richard Koh Fine Art, Malaysia (2020); Printmakers’ Assembly, STPI Gallery, Singapore (2020); Rethinking Editions, OUR ArtProjects, Malaysia (2019); Heartbreak Hotel, OUR ArtProjects, Malaysia (2018); Bi-Lateral Bonds, Taksu Gallery, Singapore (2016); 17th Biennale internationale de la gravure de Sarcelles, France (2015); and Synecdoche, Embassy Tea Gallery, United Kingdom (2014).
In conjunction with the exhibition, an online (Google Meet) dialogue session titled Building Bollocks was held on Friday, 23 October 2020. Building Bollocks was a conversation between Mark Tan zlgdesign’s co-founder, Huat Lim, in which they dissected the meaning of art and navigated through the thought processes and strategies involved in contemporary artmaking. See below for further details.
MARK TAN × HUAT LIM = BUILDING BOLLOCKS
Date: Friday, 23 October 2020
Time: 6:00 — 7:00 pm
Platform: Google Meet
NOTE: The workshop accompanying this dialogue has been postponed until further notice.