Presenting Portraiture Series | Lam Qua's Portraits: Looped

Two frames from Grieve Perspective's video 'Qua-Auq' sourced from Lam Qua's Portrait No. 60
Date: 9 April 2014, Wednesday
Time: 7.00pm - 9.00pm

Venue: NUS Museum


In the 1830s, the Chinese artist Lam Qua painted a series of portraits, the subject of which were the patients of American missionary Peter Parker. All bearing the visible sings of their conditions, these remarkable paintings have attracted much attention ever since they were made.

These paintings are the focus of the latest work by the Singapore-based art collective Grieve Perspective: 'Qua-Auq', which will be premiered during this event. This animated video oscillates the condition of Parker's patients: sick/not sick, sick/not sick, producing an effect that is disturbing yet compelling.

The evening will also feature a short talk by Martin Constable who teaches visual effects at the School of Art Design and Media, NTU. He will address the history and circumstances of the paintings and introduce some of the people involved in their making.

About Grieve Perspective

The Singaporean arts collective, Grieve Perspective, describes itself as an assembly of profoundly dark souls, whose mental recesses were moulded by their common experience in art schools of the west and by their current residence in Singapore. They reject personality and selfhood in favour of pursuing sudden whims to their obsessive ends. Forever a work in progress, their enquiry is a piecemeal one driven by whatever catches their capricious eye and they are proud that their sum may not be the greater than their parts.

Presenting Portraiture Series
Presenting Portraiture is a talk series conceived in conjunction with a two-part exhibition featuring portraits of Peranakan Chinese. The first part Dressing the Baba was held at NUS Baba House till 31 July 2013, whilst the exhibition, Inherited and Salvaged: Family Portraits from the Straits Chinese Collection runs till 6 July 2014 at NUS Museum. Peranakan portraits represent an emerging area of collecting interest and this talk series explores a range of themes, concepts and ideas surrounding the making, collecting and functions of such artworks, including artistic practice and studio processes; pictorial conventions; collecting patterns; technical conservation; iconography and artefacts; and reflections on the social milieu.

Event Photos
 

Video


Presenting Portraiture Series | Lam Qua's Portraits - Looped from nusmuseum on Vimeo.
  

Comments

Popular Posts