UNLOST

STPI – Creative Workshop & Gallery

About Artwork

Coming to STPI, White saw an opportunity to play with the technique of flocking once again, a method that she had used for a large installation previously but never got the chance to use it again in her artwork production till now. In the way that flocking transfers fabric onto paper, the technique was also a reminder of very early works by the artist, where she collected spider webs, painted on them and eventually transferred them onto paper.

Taking reference from her large-scale three-dimensional thread installations spelling out words, White’s flocked alphabet and numeral works are an exercise in exploring space in the two-dimensional realm. In an optical illusion-like manner, the dazzling prism effect created by the multicoloured flocking technique suggests a certain volume that seemingly jumps out from the paper. The fibre from the flocking itself creates a real solidity and depth by a microscopic amount—measurable by the millimetre—to complicate the idea of occupying space.

In all her flocked works, there are two that are especially put together to spell out words. The first, UNLOST (2018), speaks to her time spent wandering all around Singapore. Though it being her first time here, there was hardly any sense of being lost but rather a feeling right at home. The other is GHOST FACE (2018), which is the name that White gave to the typeface she often uses in her works, created by herself. In giving it a name, it enacts a suggestion of the typeface being commercially available, yet there is a tension from the idea of the text still existing in a certain spectral form through the use of the word “ghost”.

Artist Profile

Pae White’s diverse practice is marked by her uses of unconventional materials such as glass, marble,
fabric, marzipan, marshmallows, and vinyl. Merging art, design, craft and architecture, White responds
to materials and the site to create captivating works that challenge our perception and expectation
of mediums and techniques. By collaborating with different artisans and industrial fabricators, the
artist realises her ideas through playful explorations, reflecting a desire to create work beyond her
personal skillset.

At STPI, the artist allowed for chance and collaboration to guide her artistic production. This resulted in
a wide series of works that combines recurring motifs in her oeuvre, such as the use of alphabets and
threads, with the opportunities presented to her at STPI’s workshop and in Singapore; for example, the
use of lettuce as material and heavily exploring the flocking technique on two-dimensional surfaces.
All in all, explorations were made into ideas such as space, colours, material, rhythm and movement,
and change and transformation.

Recent solo exhibitions and public commissions include Friendship is Magic, STPI, Singapore (2021);
~ ~ ~ ~~~~~~~v2, neugerriemschneider, Berlin (2021); Noisy Blushes, San Jose Museum of Art, San
Jose (2020), Beta Space: Pae White, San Jose Museum of Art, San Jose (2019); Presumptive Close,
greengrassi, London (2018); Demondaine, Kaufmann Repetto Gallery, Milan (2017); Qwalala, Le Stanze
del Vetro, Venice (2017); Command- Shift-4, Henry Art Gallery, University of Washington, Seattle
(2015); Special No. 127, neugerriemschneider, Berlin (2014); Genau or Never, greengrassi, London
(2014); O R L L E G R O, MAK, Vienna (2013); Too much night, again, South London Gallery, London
(2013) and S U M M E R X X, The Fabric Workshop and Museum, Philadelphia (2012); among many
others.

Her works are part of prominent public collections such as the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA),
New York; Tate Modern, London; Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles; Museum of
Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; The Art Institute of Chicago; and the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles

Artist:

Pae White

Medium:

Screenprint, multi-colour flocking 6 part installation

Size:

63 x 63 x 3.8cm each

Year:

2018