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.
Hong Sek Chern
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Born 1967 in Singapore
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Graduated with Bachelor of Science from National University of Singapore, under PSC Teaching Bursary, 1989
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Graduated from National Institute of Education, Singapore, 1990
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Graduated from Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, Singapore, 1995
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Graduated with a M.A. in Fine Art from Goldsmiths College, University of London, under the Chen Chong Swee Overseas Art Scholarship, 1998.
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Graduated with a M.A. in Southeast Asian Studies, National University of Singapore, 2004
Hong Sek Chern is a highly acclaimed third-generation artist who has established a unique pictorial style. A multi-award winning painter, she is most well known for her unconventional depictions of landscapes and urbanscapes in traditional Chinese ink. Her paintings usually reflect a masterful interplay of architectural blocks and lines, and are infused with multi-point perspectives that sometimes collapse into one another.
In 2002, Hong was selected to represent Singapore to exhibit at the 25th Sao Paulo Biennale, held in Brazil. From 2004-06, she was also the Head of Programme for Diploma in Fine Art at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, Singapore. Her works are collected by the Singapore Art Museum, Taipei Fine Art Museum, the National Arts Council Singapore, and several other institutions and private collectors.
Notable Awards
2014 Gold Award: UOB Painting of the Year (Singapore)
2007 26th UOB Painting of the Year Award: UOB Painting of the Year (Singapore)
2006 1st Prize, Representational Category: UOB Painting of the Year (Singapore)
2000 Young Artist Award by the National Arts Council Singapore
1999 Honourable Mention (2 awards) “1999 Singapore Turf Club Art Competition”
1999 Juror’s Choice: Singapore Art Awards 99 by the Philip Morris Group of Companies
1998 Juror’s Prize: Singapore Art Awards 98 by the Philip Morris Group of Companies
1996 Top Prize, Philippe Charriol Foundation Contemporary Art Competition
1996 Juror’s Choice Award, Philippe Morris Singapore Art Awards
1995 Chen Chong Swee Overseas Art Scholarship by Chen Chong Swee Foundation and NAC
1995 1st Prize, Representational Category: Expression in Art by Singapore Telecomms
Selected Solo & Group Exhibitions
2016 Urbanscape Duet: A Joint Exhibition of Anthony Chua and Hong Sek Chern’s New Ink Works, AC43 Gallery, Singapore
2015 Lost City 3, Chan Hampe Galleries, Singapore
2015 Scholars and Ink, NUS Museum, Singapore
2015 City Landscape: Joint Exhibition by Chua Say Hua and Hong Sek Chern, UOB Art Gallery, Singapore
2015 Urban Rambles, Ernst and Young Art Space, Singapore, organised by EY ASEAN Art Outreach
2014 2+2, artspace@222, Singapore, organised by Chryse Gallery of Fine Art
2013 Squaring the Circle: Contemporary Art from Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines, One East Asia, Gallery 8, London, U.K.
2013 Sleepless in the City, Art-2 Gallery, Singapore
2011 Globalisation of Asian Culture: 26th Asian International Art Exhibition, Hangaram Art Museum, Seoul Art Center, South Korea
2011 Raised Tumpal, Art-2 Gallery, Singapore
2010 Constructed Interiors, Utterly Art, Singapore
2009 NUS Alumni Art Exhibition, NUS Cultural Centre, Singapore
2009 Artist Feature, Art-2 Gallery, Singapore
2008 On Borrowed Skies, Jendela Visual Arts Space, Singapore, by Cristal Caritas Trust
2007 Singapore Art Exhibition, Singapore Art Museum, Singapore
2006 5th International Ink Painting Biennial of Shenzhen, Shenzhen, China
2006 12th International Biennial Print and Drawing Exhibit 2006, Taipei Fine Art Museum, Taipei, Taiwan
2004 Heartland Karuizawa Drawing Biennale 2005, Wakita Museum of Art, Tokyo, Japan
2003 11th International Biennial Print and Drawing Exhibit 2003, Taipei Fine Art Museum, Taipei, Taiwan
2002 25th Sao Paolo Biennial, Sao Paolo, Brazil
2001 President Young Talent Show, Singapore Art Museum, Singapore
2000 Portrait Sayang , Utterly Art, Singapore
1999 Modern Monuments, Telok Kurau Studios Gallery, Singapore
