Photographer and visual artist John Clang was born in Singapore in 1973 as 'Ang Choon Leng'. Clang acquired his current name during a national service as his name badge read 'C L Ang'. In 1999, he moved to New York where he was represented by Art + Commerce from 2002 to 2007. He held his first exhibition (which was a duo-show) at the controversial (and now defunct) Singapore art group 5th Passage Artists. In 2001 he held his first solo exhibition at the Dianne von Furstenberg Foundation in New York. Since this show, he has contributed to over twenty solo and group exhibitions internationally. Clang's photography features urban, city environments populated with everyday people going about their day-to-day business. He takes these images, and distorts them slightly to create a jigsaw puzzle effect on the surface of the work that lifts them from the flow of an ordinary existence. He says; "The commonplaces attract me—I resonate with subject matters closely related to my daily life. I often dwell upon urban and contemporary themes and landscapes; be it estrangement and intimacy in an urban space or our sense of identity and place in this world". An installation of his work is in the permanent collection of the Singapore Art Museum and his work is also collected by private collectors from around the world. He currently lives and works between New York and Singapore.
