Singapore street artist Yip Yew Chong’s first series of nostalgic paintings sells out in a flash
Cats may be the Net's favourite animal, but that is not why artist Yip Yew Chong paints them into his hugely popular murals that draw his nostalgic memories of Singapore.
The 52-yr-old, whose oft-photographed life-sized murals can be constitute on the walls of buildings all around Singapore, including Chinatown, Tiong Bahru and fifty-fifty Woodlands, says he began painting moggies for historical accurateness.
"In the old days, cats roamed the streets and were everywhere. My family even kept cats – not as pets but for catching rats," said the youthful-looking Yip, who also depicts other ordinarily found domestic animals of early on Singapore, such as dogs, chickens and ducks in his murals.
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"But afterwards a while, I noticed that the people who enjoyed the murals specifically looked out for cats, then sometimes I fifty-fifty hide them in my paintings," the self-taught artist added with a express mirth.
This popular demand is one of the reasons why these cute felines tin can be spotted in 5 paintings in Yip's first solo gallery show Something Somewhere Somewhen at Art Porters Gallery.
The ongoing exhibition, which opened on Jan 12 and runs till Mar 14, features vignettes inspired by his street art such as a sleeping cat painted directly onto a vintage wooden chair, a "flatlay" of a Chinese reunion dinner on a laminated table summit as well as canvas paintings of traditional masks and lanterns.
All of these images – spanning 27 canvases and 15 sets of old-school objects like enamel plates and wooden washing boards – will certainly strike a chord amid those who are familiar with Yip's work. The paintings, which ranged in price from Southward$600 to S$11,000, have since sold out as collectors snapped upwardly the opportunity to own a slice of nostalgia.
"Yew Chong is a pop artist whose work has touched almost everyone, fifty-fifty in a city as diverse every bit Singapore, from locals and expats to the tourists who visit. You tin enjoy the murals for free just they may disappear from the buildings some twenty-four hours and may eventually get very rare," said Guillaume Levy-Lambert, co-founder of Art Porters Gallery.
"Yew Chong is a popular artist whose piece of work has touched most everyone… You can savour the murals for free merely they may disappear from the buildings some day and may somewhen become very rare." – Guillaume Levy-Lambert
The duo struck upward a friendship afterwards Yip began painting in the Spottiswoode and Everton Park neighbourhoods, where the gallery is likewise located. During Singapore's circuit billow menstruation terminal year, Levy-Lambert approached Yip with the idea to hold a solo bear witness – something that the latter had ever dreamt of doing.
"Because of the absence of tourists, we decided to focus on a theme that would resonate with locals. Plus, I wanted my beginning solo exhibition to be associated with how I became an artist – which is through my murals," said Yip, who took virtually four months to paint the serial.
A sometime auditor, Yip began painting murals in 2022 as a hobby before leaving his job in 2022 to become a total-fourth dimension artist. With his time freed upwardly equally he could non go out to paint murals during the circuit breaker, he jumped at the run a risk to take his work from the slap-up outdoors to the comforts of a studio, he added with a laugh.
Interestingly, while his works accept a sense of familiarity nigh them – Yip says he ofttimes meets people who tell him that he has captured scenes straight out of their childhoods – they are all a product of his memories and imagination.
"Most of the time, I draw inspiration from my memories, childhood and travels. To prepare for a painting, I sometimes look at Google for images to become the details of a specific item. But what I retrieve conspicuously and try to convey are the ambiance and mood of the scenes that I paint, such every bit evoking the sound of dripping water or the scent of the textile that my grandmother used to sew," he said.
This elusive "nostalgic spirit" is precisely why Levy-Lambert believes Yip's work is worth investing in.
"What I find exceptional about his work is that it is pop. I immensely respect the fact that everybody likes his art. Some may think it is simple but simplicity is a quality – it talks near the everyday in an accurate mode and this exhibition also showcases the depth of his practise," he said.
The title of the exhibition draws attention to this sense of capturing a moment in time. Yip added, "I would like people to come and view the paintings and ponder how and why they expect familiar. Have you seen them somewhere and somehow from your grandmother's stories? With Singapore developing so rapidly, I wanted to bring back that kind of poignant feeling that people take when thinking about the past."
There is more up this painter'due south sleeve. "Yew Chong wanted to offer a slice of what people know about him, merely this is non the terminate bespeak, it is his starting point and there is much more to expect forward to," said Levy-Lambert.
Yip is slated to launch some other exhibition in February which will feature larger panoramic scenes of people.
"I am an explorer and I like to travel, detour and go off course. It is the same with my fine art," he said. Already a sought after mural artist – in pre-pandemic times, he travelled to countries like Malaysia, Kingdom of cambodia and India to paint – he hopes to take part in more art exhibitions overseas in the futurity.
"I would similar to devote more time to painting canvases and installations and I may consider making videos. But the aim of my art is to relate to people and to explore local life. So I won't go more abstruse anytime before long only I'll never say never!"
"I would like people to come and view the paintings and ponder how and why they expect familiar. Have you seen them somewhere and somehow from your grandmother's stories?" – Yip Yew Chong
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Source: https://cnalifestyle.channelnewsasia.com/people/singapore-street-artist-yip-yew-chong-paintings-246701
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