artcommune and AC43 Gallery are pleased to present The Story of Two Presses, which delves into the little-known history and collaborative culture of contemporary printmaking in Singapore. Featuring works by Chen Cheng Mei, Chng Seok Tin, Chen Shitong, Chiew Sien Kuan, Chua Chon Hee, Ho E Moi, Nhawfal Juma’at, Nyan Soe, Oh Chai Hoo and Tan Sock Fong, this multi-generational showcase centres on the developments of two specific printmaking workshops helmed by local artists in Singapore - the LASALLE Printing Workshop (in LASALLE College of the Arts) led by Chen Cheng Mei and Chng Seok Tin between the mid-1980s and 1990s, and Pulp Editions founded by Chen Shitong in 2017.
Though operating over 30 years apart, both printers embody the fervent ground-up initiative of local artists whose passion and sacrifices became instrumental in developing the contemporary printmaking scene in Singapore. The Story of Two Presses presents around 30 fine art prints spanning the period of 1980s to 2022, with almost all being produced in these two workshops.
Celebration of Chng Seok Tin’s birthday, circa 1992.
Artists Ho E Moi, Chen Cheng Mei, and Chng Seok Tin (from left to right in the foreground) with students at the LASALLE Printing Workshop in Telok Kurau. Photograph courtesy of Dahlia Osman (2nd from right in the background), student of Chng Seok Tin.
More often than not, a series of small, thoughtful gestures from one or two individuals is all it takes to set forth a course of meaningful developments for an entire community. In 1985, the dedication of Brother Joseph McNally, who founded LASALLE College of the Arts in 1984, was met with an equal measure of selflessness from artist Chen Cheng Mei, who readily helped facilitate the inception of the school’s printmaking department by placing her own newly imported English etching press and print materials in the school’s printing workshop for all students and interested artists to use.
Chen Cheng Mei (b. 1927, Singapore - d. 2020, Singapore) herself was primarily an oil painter who had trained at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (1949-54). While visiting Paris in 1980, she hung out at the renowned Atelier 17 printer owned by Stanley William Hayter and was determined to experiment further with press techniques. This prompted her purchase of an expensive English etching press in 1985 for her personal use. In the early years of the newly-opened LASALLE, Brother McNally had had to contend with limited funds and resources, and Chen Cheng Mei’s generous gestures had allowed the school to run its printmaking department with verve and aptitude. Her informal gifting of the etching press and materials enabled LASALLE to hire Chng Seok Tin (b. 1946, Singapore - d. 2019, Singapore), who had just returned to Singapore after many years of training and experimenting with print techniques in the US, to helm the department in 1985. In the late 80s, Chen Cheng Mei also added an imported German lithograph press to the workshop. Over the years, she continued to donate many print materials including paper, imported plates and acids to the workshop.
As a teacher and mentor, Chng Seok Tin was instrumental in fostering the first of print majors amongst art students in Singapore. For up until the late 80s, printmaking was offered only as an exposure module at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts and the lessons focused more on woodcut and silkscreen printing. LASALLE was effectively the first art school in Singapore to offer a degree majoring in Print, encouraging a more specialised interest in etching and lithography.
Between 1985 and up till the 2000s, Chen Cheng Mei, Chng Seok Tin and Ho E Moi (also Chen’s sister-in-law) worked often at the LASALLE Printing Workshop to produce their own etchings and lithographs. Several students and graduates from LASALLE who were active members of the Contemporary Printmaking Association, Singapore, such as Tan Sock Fong (b. 1966, Singapore, who was amongst LASALLE’s first batch of print majors), also produced many of their works here. In an informal and organic manner, the LASALLE printing workshop functioned as a fecund space where artists of different backgrounds and styles came together to learn and transfer knowledge, bonded by a common interest to pursue contemporary printmaking as an avenue of expression.
The Story of Two Presses aims to celebrate this uniqueness and spirit embodied by the LASALLE printing workshop with a selection of prints completed by Chen Cheng Mei, Chng Seok Tin, Ho E Moi and Tan Sock Fong in this very space.
April Ng Kiow Ngor
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Born 1963 in Singapore
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Graduated with Diploma in Fine Art (Western Painting), Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (NAFA), Singapore, 1989
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Graduated with Master of Fine Art (Printmaking), The Slade School of Fine Art (UCL), U.K., 1993
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Received Higher Diploma in Printmaking (Equivalent status and standard to MFA), The Slade School of Fine Art (UCL), U.K.
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Part-time lecturer in National Institute of Education, LASALLE SIA College of the Arts, and NAFA
April Ng Kiow Ngor specialises in monotype and intaglio printing, though her focus in recent years is almost entirely on the latter. Her imagery explores the concept of infusion with a sense of space and spatiality, contemplating the process through which humans and other organisms become more aware of the relative positions of their own bodies and the objects around them that are important for movement and orientation within the environment. Through her work, April draws attention to the overloading and numbing of the modern city dweller, and how living within a fast-paced urban ecosystem has deprived us of things we once believed to be permanently ours.
Since pursuing her Master’s Degree in Fine Art (Printmaking) in the UK, April has come to appreciate the richness and transformative potential of printmaking. The distillation of abstracted landscapes into movements and forms captured in the layering of chromatic textures made possible through a combination of printmaking techniques is at the forefront of her creative practice. They demonstrate a mastery of the print medium at investigating the wonders of natural phenomena and an understanding of the intricate relationship between dots, lines, colours and space.
Awards
2016 Third Prize - 2nd ASEAN Graphic Art Competition and Exhibition, Vietnam
2001 Honourable Mention Award, Philip Morris Group of Companies Singapore Art Award 2001/2002, Singapore
1997 Honourable Mention Award, Philip Morris Group of Companies Singapore Art Award, Singapore
1996 Distinction Award in The UOB 15th Painting of The Year Exhibition, Singapore
1993 Distinction Award in The Painting Category, Philippe Charriol Foundation Contemporary Art Competition, Singapore
1994 Distinction Award in the Painting Category, Philippe Charriol Foundation Contemporary Art Competition, Singapore
1994 Merit Award in Singapore Urban-art Competition, Singapore
1994 Winner’s Award in Tokyo Urban-art Competition, Japan
Solo Exhibitions & Commissioned Projects
2019 April Ng Kiow Ngor: Salient Traces, AC43 Gallery, Singapore
2016 Release of No Trace, Merlin Gallery, Singapore
2012 dot line plane, Art 2 Gallery, Singapore
2003 Art in Transit - North East Line MRT (Woodleigh Station), Land Transport Authority, Singapore Wall Mural for RSAF Museum, Singapore
1998 TWO, Substation Art Gallery, Singapore
1997 Member’s Wall, Edinburgh Printmaker Workshop, U.K
1994 Stiftelsen 3.14, Bergen, Norway
Selected Exhibitions
2018 BON á TIRER: Original Prints by Chen Shitong, April Ng, Tan Seow Wei & Zhang Fuming, AC43 Gallery, Singapore
2018 Motionless Boundary 静界, Daxin Museum of Art, Tainan, Taiwan
2018 9th International Printmaking Biennial, Douro 2018, Portugal
2018 Painters, Nakata Museum, Onomichi, Japan
2018 International Biennial Print Exhibit: 2018 ROC, National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, Taiwan
2018 16 times ART. WeiBenthurm, Germany
2016 Asian Graphic Art Competition and Exhibition, Vietnam
2015 The 15th International Print Exhibition cum Workshop, WooJaegil Art Museum, Korea
2015 The 9th International Contemporary Printmaking Biennale, Trois-Rivières, Canada
2012 1st Macau Printmaking Triennial, Old Court Building, Avenida da Praia Grande, Macau
2007 Limited/Unlimited: The 27th Anniversary Exhibition of Printmaking Society, Singapore Tyler Print Institute, Singapore
2002 NAFA Art Showcase @ Women Inspire Expo 2002, Singapore
1996 The 5th Scottish print Open, Touring Exhibition, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Dundee, Inverness, Aberdeen, Scotland, U.K.
1992 The 224th Summer Exhibition, Royal Academy of Arts, London, U.K.
1989 The Artists Village 2nd Open Studio Show, Singapore
