WONG LIP CHIN

Stolen Moments revisits an earlier series of paintings from 2013 that took Wong an extended period of time to complete; the artist suffered from anxieties of choosing career in the arts, and after months of soul searching to rediscover his artistic voice. These works offer an almost diaristic glimpse of the artist’s mental universe at that stage in his life while reflecting on how his stylistic language has developed and evolved from his first solo exhibition in the early days Now You See Me in 2009. This pictorial style reminiscent of Pop Art and comic books continue to inform his practice today, as one is able to draw resonances between the works here and his most recent paintings at Yeo Workshop’s main gallery in Gillman Barracks.

‘It was when I went to Europe desperately seeking for this success when something SLAPPED me at the back of my head that woke me up. It has been a year. I remember crying in my own spell and with all the issues that I have been troubled with- seems so clear to me now. Why do I only prioritise my mindsets to a definite matter? To grow, I need to build. Why can’t I learn from my failures and combine my inspirations and finally execute it. Discipline. My final learning from Stolen Moment. At that moment, in Vienna, I didn’t wait one chance to absorb the beauty or enjoy my stay. I had to come home.’

—Wong Lip Chin