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.
Tan Seow Wei
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Born 1979 in Singapore
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Graduated with Bachelor's degree in Arts & Social Science. National University of Singapore, 2001
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Received Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Painting, LASALLE College of the Arts, 2008
Tan Seow Wei enjoys experimentations in printmaking, ink painting, and drawing. The human body in particular is an object of intense study for her. Not unlike the fortune teller who interprets one’s fate by reading lines of the palm or the detective who deciphers the identity of a person through the lines of the finger print, the artist sees the body as a fascinating network of lines and marks, not just as mere outlines but also contours, creases and folds. Though often curvaceous, the line quality of a human body presents itself in ways much more than that; strong or frail, thick or thin, continuous or broken. More importantly, whatever the lines are, they provide alternatives to reading the human body and also subtle hints to understanding the person.
Recommended Reads: La Kopi with Tan Seow Wei, 7 Minutes with the Printmakers
Awards
2022 Siaw-Tao Outstanding Art Award
2014 Siaw-Tao Outstanding Art Award
2007 Winston Oh Travel Award, LASALLE College of the Arts
2005/06 Awarded Georgette Chen Scholarship
2003 Tan Tsze Chor Art Award (Distinction)
Selected 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 Flower, Not, iPRECIATION, Singapore
2018 BON á TIRER: Original Prints by Chen Shitong, April Ng, Tan Seow Wei & Zhang Fuming, AC43 Gallery, Singapore
2018 48th Anniversary Exhibition, Siaw-Tao Chinese Seal-Carving Calligraphy & Painting Society, Singapore
2018 《我们做版画》, Grassroots Book Room, Singapore
2018 Dark Moments Naked Dog, Artsembly, Singapore
2018 The Diasporic Brush – Modern Singaporean Art, Wolfson College (University of Cambridge), EnglandSpring Edition I, Artsembly, Singapore
2017 Clay/Print, Artsembly, Singapore
2017 Singapore-Japan Chinese Ink Painting Exchange Exhibition, Visual Arts Centre, Singapore
2017 Impressions, Oriental Art and Cultural Centre, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
2016-17 Ini mini mini mo, Visual Arts Centre, Singapore
2013-17 Siaw-Tao Chinese Seal-Carving Calligraphy & Painting Society Annual Exhibition, Ngee Ann Cultural Centre, Singapore
2015 Run. Ran. Run. Instinc Gallery, Singapore
2011 inFORMATION, Substation Gallery, Singapore
2010 1xSuitcase’, Meta House, Cambodia
2010 1xSuitcase’, Xi’an Textile City Art District Exhibition Center, China
2009 1xSuitcase’, Annexe Gallery, Kuala Lumpur
2009 1xSuitcase’, Chiang Mai University Art Centre, Thailand
2009 1x Suitcase, Alliance Francaise, Singapore