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.
Chua Chon Hee
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Born 1960 in Singapore
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Graduated with Advanced Diploma, Western Art, Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, 1982
Chua Chon Hee is a multidisciplinary local artist, who works extensively with ceramic, ink, and printmaking. Her art possesses the characteristic of a humble organicism as she strives to relate her artistic practice to traditions, while simultaneously making her explorations on art significant in a contemporary manner. Chon Hee continually plants herself amidst lush greenery and nature, which stimulates and enthuses her art. In addition, her works are rooted in the Zen thinking of "being in the moment", and Chon Hee chooses to portray these inspirations using physical objects like leaves or clay in their raw form. Thus, her works are entrenched in the traditional, yet shifts easily back to modernism if needed.
Having been heavily involved in fine arts education for the most parts of her professional life, Chon Hee is now dedicated to art-making and exploring new boundaries with her art.
Selected Solo & Group Exhibitions
2022 A Scroll Through Selat: Siaw-Tao Chinese Seal-Carving, Calligraphy & Painting Society 51st Anniversary Special Exhibition, Singapore Chinese Cultural Centre, Singapore
2021 Ancient Future Myths: Works by Chua Chon Hee and Ben Loong, AC43 Gallery, Singapore
2020 Siaw-Tao Chinese Seal-Carving, Calligraphy & Painting Society Annual Group Exhibition
2018 Double Happiness - Group exhibition on print, seal carvings, couplets, Chinese calligraphy, Artsembly, Esplanade, Singapore
2018 Every Flower That Ever Bloomed - Special Themed Exhibition in conjunction with Esplanade's Huai Yi Festival, Artsembly, Esplanade, Singapore
2017 Insight - 2017 Singapore International Miniature Sculpture Exhibition
2017 "When Space Dissolves into Luminosity, Where Flowers Bloom Amidst Rocks" group show, iPreciation, Singapore
2016 Singapore Sculpture Society Woodcarving Symposium, Singapore
2016 A Thousand Cups and Maybe More, Singapore
2015 5th Guanlan International Print Biennial Guanlan Print Art Museum, China
2015 Macau Printmaking Triennial, Macau Museum of Art, Macau Nanyang Clay Group Annual Show 2015, Singapore
