John Clang
So this is what it feels like to be free
FOST Gallery, Singapore
January 7 – March 4, 2023
In conjunction with the Singapore Art Week 2023, FOST Gallery is proud to present So this is what it feels like to be free, a solo exhibition premiering three new bodies of work by visual artist John Clang. The presentation marks a particularly introspective and productive phase in his artistic practice influenced by his recent foray into the realm of filmmaking.
Ever more cognizant of the complexities in the role of an image maker not merely as a passive witness, but a roving eye strategically gathering intelligence on his subjects, or even an interventionist partaking actively in changing the course of action, Clang extends his latest artistic explorations to the frontiers of privacy, self-knowledge and surveillance.
Traversing geographical boundaries, socio-historical milieus, and conventional ways of knowing, Clang contemplates on how one’s inner and outer subjectivities and realities are crystallised by an interplay between what is private, public and secret. Like majority of his past works, his new creations defy easy categorisation and stylistic uniformity, united not in similarity but in difference.
The exhibition title references a common utterance after one emerges from long periods of confined isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic to resume air travel, or even indulge in simple pleasures of taking a walk around one’s neighbourhood without restriction. It seeks autonomy and agency, even when these notions of emancipation are ultimately illusory.
