Small things (IV)

STPI – Creative Workshop & Gallery

About Artwork

Small things is a manifestation of the mobius strip motif in the three dimensional realm. As with And in the middle, we dance, the shape is an attempt to formalise time. These mobius strips are mended together with gold leaf, with a phrase screenprinted and flocked in gold on the inner wall. Because of the shape, the full phrases (“The weight of love”, “And the rest
is rust and stardust”, “A thousand half-loves…”) can only be seen at certain angles. They are evocative in bringing out the texture of love and its interplay with memory, of which is not only teased out by the mobius strip, but further suggested through the phrase’s positioning
and thus readability/accessibility.

Artist Profile

Adeline Kueh makes installations, photography and embodied works that reconsider the relationship we have with things and rituals around us. Her works are imbued with a sense of desire and longing, and act as modern-day totems that explore personal histories and overlooked moments. Using drawing as a conceptual tool, Adeline tries to map out the historical trajectories across time and space through her use of found objects and new production.

The works produced during Kueh’s residency focused on the transformative acts against forgetting, and ideas around intimate/invisible labour within the home are used as departure
points. Producing significant bodies of work during her three-week residency—all of which circles back to her central focus—, her artworks are imbued with candid, raw emotions where she enquired if love has texture. In the later part of her residency where various persons and communities were engaged as crafters, the artist also took care to mediate between the flows of capital and labour.

Adeline has exhibited in the United Kingdom, USA, South Korea, The Netherlands, Turkey, Indonesia, Serbia, Australia and Singapore. Rooted in critical studies, Adeline has also chaired and presented at a number of cultural studies conferences in the UK, Germany, Australia, Finland, Hungary, Singapore and Malaysia. Currently a Senior Lecturer with the MA Fine Arts programme (with the McNally School of Fine Arts, LASALLE College of the Arts), Adeline’s research interests include notions of hauntings and monstrosity within Southeast Asian contexts, architecture, and adaptive design. Adeline was also involved in the Word of Mouth exhibition in the 2019 Venice Biennale, and was a consultant/designer for projects including the Passion Made Possible Culture Shaper Tribe Films (Singapore Tourism Board) in 2019 and Hermes Singapore in 2016.

Artist:

Adeline Kueh

Medium:

Screenprint and gold leaf on STPI handmade paper, mounted on paper

Size:

Framed: 37.5 x 37.5 x 8 cm

Year:

2021