A state of suspension is something that can be considered in several facets. While it suggests a withholding or removal, it can also be the means by which something is supported. There is also suspense in narration, a hook before an inevitable ending. Melissa Tan's Under the Arched Sky focuses on the motif of the keystone in architecture, namely, a stone wedged at the very top and centre of an arch. It is usually the piece that completes a structure and locks all other stones in position, therein allowing the arch to bear weight. Instead of considering the keystone to be the final touch instrumental to an arch, Tan re-examines the keystone as an apex suspended as the foremost blueprint crucial to construction. Her narration's suspense is gathered in the detail of her work, a tribute to science fiction and its possibilities to alternate realms and universes.
Tan explores the motif of the arch coupled with her exploration into mythology and the attributes of goddesses, metaphorically transforming the imagery of an arch into a woman's unseen but indomitable strength. The identity of womanhood and mythology influences this series of works, with each piece named after a female goddess. Using seven goddesses as working titles and narratives for each work, namely, Proserpina, Hekate, Diana, Izanami, Nuwa, Isis and Tara, Tan selected the goddesses based on qualities of liminality. In response, Tan then captures the ambiguity in her choice of materials in these series, by introducing resin to create the illusion of a deceptively natural texture.
Tan's current series of work draws on the suspense and legacy of how stories are propagated. The details in her work lure the viewer to look for mythic chance encounters and contemplate another gateway or portal to sieve through time. In each narrative, the goddesses use resilient, humane facets in their personalities to overcome certain obstacles for a broader storyline to be set in place. Similarly, Tan attempts to showcase a patience and heralding of her craft to embody works that are abiding and persevering.
Proserpina
Proserpina is the Latin name for the Greek goddess Persephone. Pluto, king of the Underworld, was seeking a wife. Jupiter promised him Proserpina, his daughter by Ceres, the goddess of harvests. Proserpina was abducted by Pluto while Ceres, inconsolable in her grief, neglected her sacred tasks of giving grains to the world. Ceres appealed to Jupiter, and Proserpina was restored to her mother. However, Jupiter decreed that she would spend half the year in Earth and the other half in the Underworld. Proserpina is revered as the goddess of fertility, wine and agriculture.
Hekate
Hekate (or Hecate) is a goddess capable of both good and evil. She was especially associated with witchcraft, magic, the Moon, doorways, and creatures of the night such as hell-hounds and ghosts. She is often depicted with three faces and carrying a torch, due to her connection with the night. She is represented as the guardian of crossroads.
Diana
Diana was born on the island of Delos with her twin brother, Apollo, the god of light. Although primarily associated with hunting, Diana was also revered as the goddess of the woods, chastity and the moon. Interestingly, while Diana was a symbol of purity, she was also prayed to by women who wanted to conceive and by mothers who wanted an easy childbirth. Sometimes referred to as Lucina, Diana's reputation of Protecting mothers and children earned her a place of honour among women.
Izanami
In Japanese mythology, Izanami no mikoto ("she who invites") is a goddess of both creation and death.Izanami and Izanagi ("he who invites") are the primordial gods of the Shinto religion who are believed to have created the islands of Japan and given birth to many of the other Shinto gods or kami. The two gods used a jewel encrusted spear to stir the ocean. Withdrawing the spear, salt crystallised into drops on the tip and these fell back into the ocean as islands. The first island to be created was known as Onogoro-shima and the gods used this island to build a house and host their wedding ceremony.
Nuwa
Some scholars suggest that the female Nuwa was the first creative Chinese deity, appropriate for ancient Chinese matriarchal society, in which childbirth was seen to be a miraculous occurrence, not requiring the participation of the male. According to myth, Nuwa shaped the first human beings out of yellow clay, then grew tired, dipped a rope into the mud and swung it around. The blobs of mud that fell from the rope became common people, while the handcrafted ones became the nobility.
Isis
Isis has strong links with Egyptian kingship, and is most often represented as a beautiful woman wearing the hieroglyphic sign of the throne or a solar disk and cow's horns on her head. She was a principal deity in rites connected with the dead. As a magical healer, she cured the sick and brought the deceased to life. As a mother, she was a role model for all women. Images of Isis nursing the baby Horus may have influenced the early Christian artists who depicted the Virgin Mary with the baby Jesus.
Tara
Tara is the feminine counterpart of the bodhisattva ("buddha-to-be") Avalokiteshvara. According to popular belief, she came into existence from a tear of Avalokiteshvara, which fell to the ground and formed a lake. Out of its waters rose up a lotus, which bloomed to reveal Tara. She is a compassionate, succouring deity who helps men "cross to the other shore." She is the protector of navigation and earthly travel, as well as of spiritual travel along the path to enlightenment.
Melissa Tan (b. 1989, Singapore) is a visual artist based in Singapore and received her BA (Fine Arts) from Lasalle College of the Arts in 2011. Her works are based on nature, themes of transience and beauty of the ephemeral. Her recent projects revolve around landscapes and the process of formation. Interested in geography and textures of rocks, she explores to translate the visual language through different mediums. Employing processes such as paper cutting, painting and silk-screen techniques, she is interested in materiality and how the medium supports the work. Though trained as a painter, she also works with video, sound and objects. She was included in The Singapore Show: Future Proof, Singapore Art Museum at 8Q in 2012 and An Atlas of Mirrors, Singapore Biennale 2016, Singapore in 2016. She also participated in the National Art Council and Dena Foundation Artist Residency program (Paris, France) in 2013 and in the Facebook Artist-in-Residence (FB AIR) Programme (Singapore) in 2018.
Founded in 2005, with spaces in Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok and Singapore, Richard Koh Fine Art is committed to the promotion of Southeast Asian contemporary art on regional and international platforms. Centred around a core belief in developing an artist's career, the gallery looks to identify understated, albeit promising practices, and providing it opportunities to flourish. Through its regular exhibition cycles, print & digital publications and cross-border gallery collaborations, Richard Koh Fine Art engages the art community with the aim of developing regional and intercultural dialogue
For further information about the exhibition, please do not hesitate to contact Christiaan Haridas at +65 9788 4291, email: [email protected]