The Unbearable Lightness of Being
Presented by The Culture Story
17 – 25 June 2017
“The Unbearable Lightness of Being” marked The Culture Story’s inaugural exhibition, drawing its title from Czech-French writer Milan Kundera’s 1984 novel. The exhibition reflected the founders’ belief that art serves as both a connector of people and a mirror of society. Just as Kundera’s literary classic captured the complexities of life in Czechoslovakia during the 1960s and 1970s, the founders saw artists as creators of works that embodied the spirit of their time.
The exhibition featured thirteen abstract expressionist artists from Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan, China, and the Philippines. At the heart of each work lay a personal narrative, shaped by decades of artistic practice. These artists, now in their senior years, are renowned for their abstract and mixed-media works. Representing the second generation of pioneering modern and contemporary artists in their respective countries, many had spent years studying and working abroad in cities such as London, New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Florence, Taiwan, Japan, China, and Malaysia. Some had witnessed and endured pivotal historical events, from China’s Cultural Revolution (1966–1976) to dictatorships in the Philippines and Taiwan, each experiencing their own version of Prague Spring (1968).
Artists:
Anthony Chua, Augusto Albor, Han Sai Por, Hong Sek Chern, Hsiao Chin, Iskandar Jalil, Leo Hee Tong, Jolly Koh, Liang Quan, Shi Jin Dian, Wong Keen, Yu Teng-Chuan, and Zhuang Sheng Tao.