Heirloom

11 March – 8 April 2017

Heirloom is a solo exhibition showcasing works by Adeline Tan. Born and raised in the garden city-state of Singapore, with its ever-changing façade and declining natural environment amidst the unremitting clangor of perpetual demolition and construction, the artist finds herself surrounded by widespread social geographical erasure and obsessive preoccupation with material progress, and consequently, witnesses to the deepening fault lines that have cleaved through communities as a result of widening class divides and other forms of social disparities.

This new series of works reflects the artist’s response to this looming social geographical debris tipping exponentially towards critical mass – a grim if unintended, consequence of humankind’s persistent assault on the environment and society that poses a real challenge to nature and the continued survival of the species. They depict a post-apocalyptic future where some species of flora have inexplicably annexed certain fauna, metamorphosing into tenacious beasts – mutants or botanical creatures, as the artist calls them, each vividly alive and distinct with their personalities.

Inspired by traditional Chinese arts and crafts, Heirloom is an exploration of the importance of memory, evolution, love, and familial bonds in bolstering us against the effects of further environmental and social degradation, and how they may well represent nature and humanity’s only real hope for salvation and the engendering of new beginnings