singapore art biennale 2011: teppei kaneuji

‘white discharge (figure / wrestlers #1)’ 2009 found action figures, white polyester resin, ink image © designboom

japanese artist teppei kaneuji‘s work comes from experimenting with the occupation and absence of space. presented at the 2011 singapore art biennale his assemblages of found objects and pop culture action figures are removed from their own context to create new forms and connections as a single shape. his aim is to ‘create paths for moving back and forth between things that are usually in opposition to each other’ and is rooted in the ‘mono-ha’ movement in japanese modernism of the 1960s and 1970s.

detail of ‘white discharge (figure / wrestlers #1)’ image © designboom

after sourcing his objects and separating them into piles of ‘things that can be stack high’, ‘things that look like bones’ or ‘transparent things’ he fuses them together and covers them in varying amounts of white polyester resin. the whiting out process of the objects is ‘a phenomenon. I see white as a color of things, but also as something that indicates void or space. white simultaneously means to be and not to be.’

the whole series image © designboom

‘white discharge (figure / girls)’ 2009 found action figures, white polyester resin, ink image © designboom

whole series image © designboom

image © designboom

‘white discharge (built-up objects #11)’ 2010 found objects, white polyester resin image © designboom

front view image © designboom

back view image © designboom

‘white discharge (built-up objects #10)’ 2009 found objects, white polyester resin, image © designboom

front view image © designboom

detail of construction image © designboom

‘white discharge (ourlines #42)’ 2009 ink on paper image © designboom

image © designboom

teppei kaneuji (b. 1978) lives and works in tokyo

— in its third edition, the singapore biennale (SB2011) is led by artistic director matthew ngui and curators russell storer and trevor smith, and is organized by the singapore art museum (SAM) of the national heritage board and supported by the national arts council, singapore. open to the public from march 13 to may 15, 2011.

as the leading biennale in southeast asia, SB2011 situates contemporary art from singapore and southeast asia within a broad international conversation. the title ‘open house’ is conceived not as a theme but as an invitation or ‘open doors’ onto contemporary artistic practice. artists’ practices are not simply grounded in describing or portraying subjects in the world, but are often actual attempts to exchange information, translate experiences and trade places and perspectives. ‘open house’ suggests the crossing of thresholds between public and private, where boundaries and borders are made permeable. it is in this fluid space that contemporary art often emerges, out of a need to bridge the gaps between the experiential and the psychological, and between social and political hierarchies.