“Art is the perfect medium to inject layers of meaning without being too obvious and making our reminiscences immortal.”

Tan Suz Chiang

Y2ARTS is proud to showcase a rare collection of Tan Suz Chiang’s acrylic and charcoal artworks. Born 1974 in Malaysia,he graduated from the Central Academy of Art, Malaysia.He was awarded the Signature Member of National Watercolour Society (NWS) and American Watercolour Society (AWS), USA. Suz Chiang has garnered top awards around the world in important exhibitions such as the Diamond Award (1^stPrize) at the prestigious 75^thAnnual International Open Exhibition, Northwest Watercolour Society, Washington (USA); the Winsor & Newton Award at the Royal Watercolour Society Contemporary Watercolour Competition held in London (UK), etc. Besides having exhibited in a host of solo and group exhibitions around the world, this internationally known and multi-awarded artist has been featured in such publications as “The Art of Watercolour”, “Watercolour Artist”, “Asian Art News”, etc. In 2015, Ian Findlay (Editor of Asian Art News) wrote an article about Suz Chiang claiming, “One of the most attractive aspects of Tan Suz Chiang’s art is its internal narratives. There is something quite magical about this as they reside just beyond the surface of the work, tantalizing close, past the edges of the frame, suggesting another world that requires a different kind of engagement from the viewer.”Suz Chiang is also a strong supporter and active member of the Singapore Watercolour Society, promoting the development of the Arts in Singapore.

In Suz Chiang’s latest creation, No Limits, he has invested much of himself in his works. His new works are personal to him; it is a “hommage” to his childhood memories. Although much of the childhood visuals in his mind are vague, he has found an effective way to present it – the use of Black and White shades. These colours have a lasting impression on his life, from his memory of his first “black and white” television to learning the art of sketching in his student years; and metaphorically he uses these shades to represent the fading memories of his childhood. When viewers first laid eyes on his new works, they could sense a strong intensity in his strokes and an uncanny aura of force. There is a transformation in his style and it evokes much maturity from the artist. His new works is contrasting to the mild mannered person that I have known him to be, it seems to convey to us that there is much more to him than what he is portraying to us. He carefully leaves us with much space in his works for us to fill in the gaps with our own understanding and meaning. He is inviting us to co-create his masterpieces.

As viewers analyse Suz Chiang’s new collection, they are fascinated as much by his works as by the thinking behind them, each new work demonstrates a willingness to depart from what he has already tried and each is a distinct progression to a new artistic development. They could sense his “thought-chapters” which gives rise to these creative masterpieces and can be summarized as boundless transformation, intensity and space.

Chapter 1: BOUNDLESS TRANSFORMATION

“No Limits” is an adept title for Suz Chiang’s latest works. Certainty, it is different and a bold departure from his former creations. Yet it is somehow, at a more detail viewing, familiar and preserves the brilliant and stylistically trademark of the artist. Suz Chiang views his world and subjects from a multitude of perspectives and fragments them from its original context. While constantly challenging the traditional art theories, sometimes even using contrasting art techniques, he re-defines and re-constructs these fragments, into a completed “cubist” form that is different and exciting.  

Chapter 2: INTENSITY

There is much depth in Suz Chiang’s new works. His two-dimensional works is a laboratory for the artistic study of deep intensity and inspiration. People can view it as a “Principle of Accretion”. It is the accretion of elements in terms of form such as the overlaying and intertwining of lines and shapes, or the forceful brushstrokes that define the intricate structures. It is also the accretion of colours and composition that defines the mood of the work in the way that they are blended harmoniously together, or sometimes in conflict with each other. Finally it is the accumulation the artist’s expression, knowledge and personal experiences that brings everything together into a perfect harmony and breathes new life and intensity into the completed works. 

Chapter 3: SPACE

The true brilliance in Suz Chiang’s creations is his ability to leave thoughtful spaces in his works. He never completes his works. His brushwork interwoven with empty spaces creates images that move and breathe with flowing energy. His “incomplete” works not only breathes life and energy, but also allows his viewers to interact and fills the spaces in his works with their own meaning and imagination, allowing them to co-create the artworks with the artist, empowering them to dream and personalise the works. It is through this “incompleteness” that paradoxically gives birth to a truly finished artwork.