Literature in production of visual art.

• Main Author: Fun, Michelle Lai Ling.
• Other Authors: School of Humanities and Social Sciences
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2011
• Subjects: DRNTU::Visual arts and music::Visual arts
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/42893
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

With exposure to the past and experience of the present, a contemporary writer is able to create “senses” in his readers by referencing, either by language or by context, the reality we live in today. This suspension of reality is created in art appreciation as well. Fine art, spanning across a variety of media today has made exploration into the simulation of emotions in its audience as well, based on the realities they have been exposed to. For example, Ng Yi-Sheng’s “One Hundred Years of Solitude”, exhibited in the Bieannale 2008 is an interpretation of Marquez’s bestseller of the same title. A study into this art piece would reveal an entire glossary of references to the novel; to enhance appreciation, one would have to read the novel. Since fine art is no longer a means of depiction but expression, contemporary artists of today are turning into writers as well. The use of type on canvas or installation is a rising trend amongst artists overseas and in Singapore as well. The work of Zhao Renhui features photographs of blurred or unrecognizable objects, accompanied by stories behind them. Though the photographs can very well be computer engineered, the text that sets them into place references a reality not so far from the one we live in. By referencing literature, local contemporary artists have created multiple dimensions in their work. By the use of literature, they take their art through a different medium of expression. This paper will look into contemporary art in Singapore, inspired and realised by literature.