Heman Chong!

'Labyrinths (Libraries)' (2022-ongoing) is a set of images resembling maps of spaces produced out of tight #grids. These are are spaces that are highly organised, with very little room for any form of #improvisation. Horizontal and vertical lines dominate the surfaces of these paintings, forming #pathways that are navigated in one's mind but not break out of. Within every #library, we can locate books which contain many opposing ideas. These #paintings think about multiplicity and the relations between these books and the spaces between them as a landscape of our contemporary time. The visual language within each painting found in 'Labyrinths (Libraries)' is a constant oscillation between positive and negative spaces; sparking an interest in thinking about how ideas can be easily veiled and hidden behind other ideas. 'Cover (Versions)' (2009-ongoing) is an on-going series of #bookcovers imagined as paintings. The selected titles are taken from an extensive and #idiosyncratic list that is constantly expanding via #recommendations sent to him by his friends. Most of these books have never been #read at the time the painting is produced, but is to be read at some point in his life. Each painting is improvised; there has never been an assumption of how the painting might look. Chong discursively exhausts two sets of parallel vocabularies found in painting and graphic design. The abstracted book covers are not intended as reflections on or interpretations of their literary titles, but rather as a way to highlight relationships between textual and non-textual forms. #HemanChong #ROHProjects #STPIGallery #Indonesia #Jakarta #CoverVersions #LabyrinthsLibraries #Bookstagram #Booksofig #booksofinstagram #books #book #libraries #library (at ROH) https://www.instagram.com/p/CmD0TFTrXoO/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

'(Free) Trade' (2022) is a new work that appropriates the #architecture of an #artfair booth and transposes it as a large scale, #temporary situation that is located in the middle of the #gallery. It is a minimalist #sculpture that surfaces out of a set of #instructions, constructed whenever it is #exhibited. After the show, it is #dismantled and #recycled, only to #reappear at the next show. Born out of Chong's interest in the #infrastructures found in everyday life, '(Free) Trade' #transposes the #ubiquitous art fair #booth straight into the #gallery, producing a space of #contemplation, not unlike structures like #pavilions in #gardens or #jetties at #lakes. It is via this #emptiness and #nothingness that we can collectively think about the #possibilities of these spaces as sites of #meanings that can arise out of our own #imagining. #FreeTrade #HemanChong #ROHProjects #Jakarta #Indonesia (at ROH) https://www.instagram.com/p/Cl_NkgvLtfL/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

Not Today Maybe Tomorrow My new tote bag I made for @rohprojects, appropriated from a sentence once said to me and a bunch of friends in Berlin by a bouncer to a club who deemed us too drunk to enter. #NotTodayMaybeTomorrow #Totebag #ROHProjects #Jakarta #Indonesia (at ROH) https://www.instagram.com/p/Cl8V1chLjY3/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

Thank you @helmiseestuff for writing about our show for @businesstimessg! - I made this work 22 years ago, and I spent 5 years making it. This work was made before the arrival of social media and the sharing of images wasn't so prolific as it is today. I shot every photo with a Minolta 35 mm compact camera. It was the only camera I could afford. At the heart of God Bless Diana is a journey across the world and the remains of that journey is imprinted onto postcards that could be shared between individuals who would make up the audience of the work. In total, I think I shot about 6000 images, and have selected 550 as a representation of this journey. This idea of having the possibility to hold an image and to share it with someone else is very important to me as it is a gesture of intimacy and generosity. It is a way to communicate with someone who means something to you. It is a dialogue that happens between two people that fosters care. The images on the postcards are mostly things that I find funny, or strange or sad; mostly a combination of all the above. Dry humour plays a big role in my work. You don't know whether to laugh or cry when you encounter some of the images. I don't see myself as a photographer, but rather an artist who uses photography as a way of making notes about the world. All of the work that involves photography in my work doesn't come in the form of precious fine museum quality archival art prints but are projected onto everyday things like postcards, curtains, t-shirts, magazine covers and etc. Being allowed to touch an artwork returns the photograph back into everyday life, creating an experience moves beyond the visual. Edition 1 of this work is in the collection of @singaporeartmuseum Special thanks to the curators @charmaine.toh @hadouken32 who included my work in this wonderful show #HemanChong #GodBlessDiana #LivingPictures #NationalGallery #Photography #SouthEastAsia #Postcards #Photography #DailyLife (at National Gallery Singapore) https://www.instagram.com/p/Cl8JgW8rykg/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

Repost @devilintraining_ This photo makes me so happy! 😃😃😃 #PreciousOkoyomon #HansUlrichObrist #Totebag #BooksAreUrgent #SerpentineGallery (at The Library of Unread Books) https://www.instagram.com/p/Cl6SPjppF9W/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

This space is fast becoming one of my top favourites to work with. There’s so much empathy. So much detritus from the previous occupants woven into our shared present. #ROHProjects #Jakarta #Indonesia (at ROH Projects) https://www.instagram.com/p/Cl27saIr5-s/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

A big shout out to all the art handlers who help move our work around the world! Thank you @helutrans_artmove! #HemanChong #ROHProjects #STPIGallery #arthandlers #arthandler #helutrans (at ROH Projects) https://www.instagram.com/p/Clx7ojprOak/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

On pages 9 and 10 of his book #BagomboSnuffBox: Uncollected Short #Fiction, Kurt Vonnegut listed eight rules for writing a short story: 1. Use the time of a total stranger in such a way that he or she or they will not feel the #time was #wasted. 2. Give the reader at least one character he or she can root for. 3. Every character should #want something, even if it is only a glass of #water. 4. Every #sentence must do one of two things — #reveal character or advance the action. 5. Start as close to #theend as #possible. 6. Be a #sadist. No matter how sweet and innocent your #leading characters, make #awful things happen to them — in order that the reader may see what they are made of. 7. #Write to please just one person. If you open a #window and make #love to the world, so to speak, your story will get #pneumonia. 8. Give your readers as much #information as possible as soon as possible. To heck with #suspense. #Readers should have such #complete #understanding of what is going on, where and why, that they could #finish the #story themselves, should #cockroaches eat the last few pages. #KurtVonnegut #kurtvonnegutquote #kurtvonnegutjr #FictionWritingAdvice #WritingAdvice (at The Library of Unread Books) https://www.instagram.com/p/ClvWwitLbjU/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

Hanging out with @jalewin27 @charmaine.toh @kviswanathan at Charmaine’s photography masterpiece show @nationalgallerysingapore #HemanChong #LivingPictures #GodBlessDiana #NationalGallerySingapore #NationalGallery #Singapore #ArchivingSg (at National Gallery Singapore) https://www.instagram.com/p/ClssDbvrhPm/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

Here are 10 of my favourite postcards from my postcard shop ‘God Bless Diana’. This work is part of Living Pictures at @nationalgallerysingapore from now till next year. Go and buy some postcards! I made this work 22 years ago, and I spent 5 years making it. This work was made before the arrival of social media and the sharing of images wasn't so prolific as it is today. I shot every photo with a Minolta 35 mm compact camera. It was the only camera I could afford. At the heart of God Bless Diana is a journey across the world and the remains of that journey is imprinted onto postcards that could be shared between individuals who would make up the audience of the work. In total, I think I shot about 6000 images, and have selected 550 as a representation of this journey. This idea of having the possibility to hold an image and to share it with someone else is very important to me as it is a gesture of intimacy and generosity. It is a way to communicate with someone who means something to you. It is a dialogue that happens between two people that fosters care. The images on the postcards are mostly things that I find funny, or strange or sad; mostly a combination of all the above. Dry humour plays a big role in my work. You don't know whether to laugh or cry when you encounter some of the images. I don't see myself as a photographer, but rather an artist who uses photography as a way of making notes about the world. All of the work that involves photography in my work doesn't come in the form of precious fine museum quality archival art prints but are projected onto everyday things like postcards, curtains, t-shirts, magazine covers and etc. Being allowed to touch an artwork returns the photograph back into everyday life, creating an experience moves beyond the visual. Edition 1 of this work is in the collection of @singaporeartmuseum Special thanks to the curators @charmaine.toh @hadouken32 who included my work in this wonderful show #HemanChong #GodBlessDiana #LivingPictures #NationalGallery #Photography #SouthEastAsia (at National Gallery Singapore) https://www.instagram.com/p/Clp7a0crv9O/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

Omg! Really miss the both of you!!! @amycgould @kevingould13 (at Art Basel Miami Beach) https://www.instagram.com/p/ClnCNHbrxEO/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

I’m also showing this work at @artbasel Miami Beach with @stpi_gallery at Booth G26 - In 2020, the #UnitedKingdom government released the Brexit #50pence #coin to commemorate UK leaving the European Union on 31 January 2020. It has become a #historical marker for a sea change brought on by #populist #democracy, #ultranationalism and a turn away from #multilateral #internationalism. To some, #Brexit is the real end of the #BritishEmpire. The Brexit coin is ironically inscribed with a quote from American founding father #ThomasJefferson who worked successfully to break #America out of the British Empire: “Peace, prosperity and friendship with all nations”. Brexit, the result of a national referendum in 2016, was not wholly motivated by a popular hatred for the #foreigner. Rather, the arguments around the UK’s separation from #Europe are ironically similar to those for #American #independence. They were based on a #spectre of #colonialism, of resisting the overreach of regional and international governance on the #sovereignty of the nation and of a populist hope that Britain might reclaim itself as an impressive global power on its own terms. Pointing to the conceits of international worlds riding the historical waves of colonialism and neo-colonialism and from which the invader and the foreigner emerge to be pointed out, resisted or assimilated, Peace Prosperity And Friendship With All Nations turns the complexity of the world we live in into a slogan, a font, an object that literally can be seen and spoken to. Text by Kathleen Ditzig #HemanChong #peaceprosperityandfriendshipwithallnations #artbaselmiamibeach2022 #artbaselmiamibeach #artbasel #miamibeach #usa #brexit #slogan #slogans (at Art Basel Miami Beach) https://www.instagram.com/p/CljZF9Tvalx/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

This is what I’m showing with @stpi_gallery at @artbasel Miami Beach this year. The booth is G26. Please go see it. This is the backdoor I located in Tokyo. I remember the excitement and fascination that I was wrapped up in, having stumbled upon a new series I can work on. I remember I was pretty dry that year, and was desperate for something new to sink my teeth into. Anything. This was back in 2018. I remember almost instantly deciding on the title for the work. I lifted off the name of a government ministry from Singapore. Foreign Affairs. I’ve always been interested in the realm of secrets and lies and how these things seem to perpetuate the way infrastructural systems function. Transparency isn’t always transparent. These backdoors represent these liminal spaces where things move in the shadows. Unrecorded messages passed from one nation to another. What are the politics of intimacy? There’s nothing more intimate than having things slip through backdoors. #HemanChong #ForeignAffairs #ArtBaselMiamiBeach2022 #ArtBasel #ArtBaselMiamiBeach #Stpi #StpiGallery #Singapore #Tokyo #Hiroo #Embassy #Backdoors #Backdoor #Secrets #Lies #AppearanceVsReality #Appearances #Doors #OpenSesame (at Art Basel Miami Beach) https://www.instagram.com/p/Clh5F-0LwP_/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

at 上海乌鲁木齐中路 https://www.instagram.com/p/ClfN-eBJ6gg/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

My postcard shop God Bless Diana is installed in ‘Living Pictures’ a new large scale survey of photography made in Southeast Asia at the @nationalgallerysingapore I made this work 22 years ago, and I spent 5 years making it. This work was made before the arrival of social media and the sharing of images wasn't so prolific as it is today. I shot every photo with a Minolta 35 mm compact camera. It was the only camera I could afford. At the heart of God Bless Diana is a journey across the world and the remains of that #journey is imprinted onto postcards that could be shared between individuals who would make up the audience of the work. In total, I think I shot about 6000 images, and have selected 550 as a representation of this journey. This idea of having the possibility to hold an #image and to share it with someone else is very important to me as it is a gesture of intimacy and generosity. It is a way to communicate with someone who means something to you. It is a dialogue that happens between two people that fosters care. The images on the #postcards are mostly things that I find #funny, or #strange or #sad; mostly a combination of all the above. Dry humour plays a big role in my work. You don't know whether to #laugh or #cry when you encounter some of the images. I don't see myself as a #photographer, but rather an artist who uses #photography as a way of making notes about the world. All of the work that involves photography in my work doesn't come in the form of precious fine #museum quality #archival art prints but are projected onto everyday things like postcards, curtains, t-shirts, magazine covers and etc. Being allowed to touch an artwork returns the photograph back into #everyday #life, creating an #experience moves #beyond the #visual. Thanks to @charmaine.toh and @hadouken32 for including my work in this show!! I really appreciate it!!! #HemanChong #GodBlessDiana #NationalGallerySingapore #PostcardShop #SoutheastAsianArt #SoutheastAsia #Singapore #ArchivingSg (at National Gallery Singapore) https://www.instagram.com/p/ClXvyN8rZRr/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

The Library of Unread Books is open every day from 10 am to 7 pm and is now currently located on the ground floor of International Plaza, a building next to Tanjong Pagar. If you have any books that you’ve bought but have not read (and don’t wish to read), please bring them to us and someone else will read them for you. It’s a wonderful way to absolve your guilt. A contemporary public confessional booth approved by the Vatican. Come and take part in this socialist project of transforming private property into a public commons. #TheLibraryOfUnreadBooks #Bookstagram #HemanChong #ReneeStaal #SingaporeBiennale2022 #SingaporeBiennale #Singapore #LibrariesOfInstagram #TheGirlWhoKickedTheHornetsNest #StiegLarsson #10000YearsOfArt #bookstagram #book #books #booksbooksbooks #ilovebooks #bookstagrammer #readmorebooks #allthebooks #booksofig #booksofthemonth #bookstack #booksonbooks #library #libraries #librariestransform #librariesoftheworld (at The Library of Unread Books) https://www.instagram.com/p/ClVWczQLDm7/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

#Backdoors (at Singapore Art Museum) https://www.instagram.com/p/ClVAurXr05n/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=