Inspired by Kim’s last post on “Like this is Art, meh?”, the V takes a stab at looking at art through her untrained eye, as she attempts a write-up on the President’s Young Talents exhibition over at the Singapore Art Museum’s 8Q arm. Short of exclaiming, “This is art, meh?”, the V was pretty impressed with what she saw that sunny afternoon:

Four artists, new works, four classrooms – it takes this simple combination to experience the works of Singapore Art Museum’s (8Q) newest contemporary art exhibition, the President’s Young Talents 2009 (PYT) exhibition.

Till 27 December 2009, one can take a quick breather on his way to town by ducking into the 8Q extension of the Singapore Art Museum (SAM). Four local promising young artists have been identified and shortlisted to create and present their new artworks, illustrating standards of contemporary art in Singapore and its position in the international art community.

PYT inaugurated in 2001 and the series has since been jointly organised by the Istana and SAM, providing a platform to showcase upcoming Singaporean artists whose works are of top quality to represent Singapore in international art fairs and platforms. Yet on another level, they have the incredible knack of appealing to the masses like us, the group of us (myself included) who claim not to know art nor understand it.

The second and fourth storey of 8Q now houses creations by Donna Ong, Felicia Low, Twardzik Ching Chor Leng, and collective Vertical Submarine, each unique exhibit set to challenge your thoughts, perceptions and viewpoints of everyday issues that pulse through our lives. A recent trip to the exhibition with friends inked the apparent beauty of art – how each work brings out so many different interpretations and reactions from different individuals, and how our experiences in our lives shaped how we saw art through our own eyes.

Take pleasure from viewing the multiple layers of Donna Ong’s Dissolution, three installations of Eastern landscape combined with Western artistic styles. The lush Chinese-centric scenery landscape inked in glass was an intrinsic blend of layers of trees, mountains, bushes stacked behind one another, adopting the Western style of two-dimensional imaging. To the naked eye, one sees a beautiful landscape etched in glass. A projection through a closed-circuit television dissects the artwork, forcing viewers to reconsider their perspectives and views of what they deemed a complete piece of art.

Contemplate Lifeblood by Chor Leng as you step into a darkened room with only a tank of untreated river water and a flight of stairs illuminated. Her work involves cooperation from the Urban Redevelopment Authority to transport water from the Singapore River into SAM’s gallery, circulating through a structure outside the museum, and finally pumped into a glass container in that gallery you stand in. Chor Leng prompts us to remember the forgotten significance of the Singapore River, touching upon a piece of history when the Singapore River bustled with trade, commerce and financial activity.

Or laugh along with Vertical Submarine’s tongue-in-cheek investigations into the relationship between the word and image, the discourse of reading and their playful take towards the representations of text. Titled A View With A Room, it takes a playful and humorous stab at social norms and cultures and their short-comings. Snigger at satire present in every aspect of the exhibition piece, for exploring the artwork was like hunting for Easter eggs, a reward for your sense of adventure and playfulness like the artists themselves.

Finally, engage in a dialogue with Felicia Low in her series of performance workshops, The Stimulus and the Conversation. Explore your heightened senses and watch your contributions unfold into a new creation. Or check back to see how she has progressed with other people from all walks of life.

PYT unleashes the confines of society, so go on – embrace your senses, isolate them while moving through the exhibition with a heightened sense of anticipation. Your experience at PYT exhibition is based on your own experiences in your past.