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Clifford Chance

Clifford Chance
Virtual Pride Art Gallery 2021 – Singapore<br />

Virtual Pride Art Gallery 2021 – Singapore

Our Virtual Pride celebrations

Clifford Chance Singapore is delighted to provide a platform for some of Singapore's brightest upcoming talent. Using a variety of mediums and methods our local artists explore queer themes including the infinitely faceted transgender experience, journeys of self-discovery, and the lived experiences of those whose identities may not align with social norms.

We invite you to enjoy and celebrate the diverse selection of art from artists who each share a unique perspective and lens on queer culture in Singapore.

Marla Bendini

Marla Bendini (b. 1986, Singapore) is a BFA Interactive Media graduate of School of Art, Design & Media (ADM), Nanyang Technological University (2013).

Marla Bendini is a cross-disciplinary artist and trans woman working in painting, text, sound and performance to articulate the infinitely faceted transgender experience on her own terms. Bendini's current painting practice uses the female gaze through a combination of writing, drawing, painting, collage and printmaking to create layered 'documentations' of her experiences. 

Marla Bendini is represented by Cuturi Gallery, Singapore. She will present her 8th solo exhibition in September 2021, in a duo show with Victoria Cantons. 

*All original artworks by Marla Bendini (IG: @marlabendiniart)

https://www.cuturigallery.com/artists/83-marla-bendini/

For enquiries, please contact singapore@cuturigallery.com

fairy-conclave

FAIRY CONCLAVE, 2021

Oil & pastel on linen 

Fairy Conclave (2021) encapsulates this idea in its ephemeral, translucent aurora of light blue and purple wisps that hover above a grassy field like a luminous halo. This iridescent sphere is the titular fairy circle which conceals a community of fairies and sprites from the naked eye, and viewers are enticed to cross this boundary into a new threshold brimming with possibility. The circle encourages viewers to access a different set of eyes and tap into their creative prowess to glimpse scintillating sights that are not part of our mundane reality.

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i-hope-the-grass-is-greener

I HOPE THE GRASS IS GREENER WHICHEVER PATH YOU MAY CHOOSE, 2021

Oil, acrylic, cardstock, magnets on canvas

I Hope the Grass is Greener, Whichever Path You May Choose (2021) makes use of the popular Pandora's Box image to reflect upon subjects of growth, transformation, and the freedom to choose our own paths. A velvet chest opens to reveal increasingly smaller chests like a Matryoshka doll, with each chest being surrounded by patches of verdant overgrowth, expressing a never-ending series of choices throughout life and a yearning for greener pastures. Gilded butterflies are scattered across the canvas, presumably fluttering out from the opened chests, acting as charming symbols of metamorphosis and liberation.

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follow-the-white-rabbit

FOLLOW THE WHITE RABBIT, 2020

Oil on canvas

Follow The White Rabbit (2020) is about following an unlikely clue, an innocuous, unbelievable (but also, frankly a bit ridiculous) sign, to find oneself in the midst of more or less extraordinary, marvellous, amazing circumstances that challenge one's fundamental beliefs, expand one's horizons &/or perception of realities, transform one's perspective, and change one's life. Sometimes you have to lose yourself in order to find yourself in the right place. As a queer person recovering from trauma and addiction, I'm so grateful for the circles and rooms that has saved me, loved me and changed me.

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Khairullah Rahim and Lunar Lucah

Khairullah Rahim (b. 1987, Singapore) is a multimedia artist working across art objects, assemblage, photography and video. Through critical thinking centred around the politics of appearance(s) and the crossroads between surveillance and safety, his research and practice brings to light the veiled narratives and lived experiences of those whose identities may not align with social norms.

Currently, he is a part-time lecturer at LASALLE College of the Arts, Singapore and a Master of Fine Arts (Visual Arts) candidate at Rutgers University, New Jersey. He is represented by Yavuz Gallery (Singapore/Sydney). For further information on the artist or the works please contact Yavuz Gallery at info@yavuzgallery.com.

Khairullah Rahim

Twinkling Fortress

Khairullah Rahim X Lunar Lucah

Twinkling Fortress extends the collaborative work between Khairullah Rahim and Lunar Lucah since they last presented 'Intimate Apparitions (Sightings)' at the 6th Singapore Biennale: Every Step in the Right Direction (2019) where Lunar Lucah was featured adorning head dresses created by Khairullah Rahim using ubiquitous everyday household objects. The series of photographs seeks to examine the tension between both formal characteristics of the headdresses and their material connotations; how the objects appear bright, embellished, and overly cheerful, seemingly offering the viewer an intimacy by proxy for approach and understanding. The photographs were documented in a bedroom setting.

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The Next Most Famous Artist

The Next Most Famous Artist is a digital artist based in Singapore that explores different artworks and mediums while spotlighting various social issues and highlighting the beauty of everyday life. The moniker was born as a reaction to the growing social media climate where virality and popularity have become the language of now. He is mostly known for reimagining classical paintings by re-staging their protagonists in contemporary settings.

For further information on the artist visit Instagram @thenextmostfamousartist

girls-at-the-club

Girls at the club

This work reimagines Simeon Solomon's work titled "Sappho and Erinna in a Garden at Mytilene". Arrested for homosexual offences, Solomon was shunned even by those who encouraged him to explore same-sex desire in his art. It is a reminder that love is love, and that we should support one another without hate or discrimination.

 

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alone-time

Alone time

This work depicts a quiet moment cherished by two men by being together. The figures were digitally manipulated from two different paintings by Henry Scott Tuke; "Boy on the beach" and "Green and Gold".

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Women having a heart-to-heart moment

This work depicts two women having a serious moment together at a bar. They could be lovers discussing their future together or they could be colleagues expressing their emotions after a long day at work. The figures were digitally manipulated from two different paintings by John William Godward; "The Letter. A Classical Maiden" and "A Dilettante".

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Moses Tan

Moses Tan (b. 1986, Singapore) is a Singapore-based artist whose work explores histories that intersect with queer theory and politics while looking at melancholia and shame as points of departure. Working with drawing, video and installation, his interest lies in the use of subtlety and codes in the articulation of narratives.

He was awarded the Noise Singapore Award for Art and Design in 2014, Winston Oh Travel Research Grant in 2016, and the LASALLE Award for Academic Excellence in 2016. He has exhibited across Singapore, Hong Kong, Australia, amongst others.

The intention for this selection of work were inspired by the idea of the inability to articulate. Using allegories, shapes, forms and parallels, the work came as a response to thinking through attempts of coming out, without the words for it.

This also came at a time during the pandemic when my parents finally accepted my partner and I and was actually the first show that they helped and visited, knowing the full context of the exhibition.

The works presented are from a show at Yavuz Gallery in 2020 titled borrowed intimacies.

All information and images are courtesy of the artist (Moses Tan) and Yavuz Gallery.

https://www.mosestanqy.com/

For further information on the artist or the works please contact Yavuz Gallery at info@yavuzgallery.com

Moses-Tan_Careless-whispers_Yavuz-Gallery

Careless whispers

Careless whispers is a drawing within a series where I re-think the concept of the closet as a glass box in contemporary times. Employing drawing and rendering of various plants, I also think of queer ecology, in which we think about the relations one has with nature. 

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Moses-Tan_Careless-whistles_Yavuz-Gallery

Careless whistles

Careless whistles is a drawing within a series where I re-think the concept of the closet as a glass box in contemporary times. Employing drawing and rendering of various plants, I also think of queer ecology, in which we think about the relations one has with nature.

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Moses-Tan_Unholy-Object-3_Yavuz-Gallery

Unholy Object #3

Modelled after various natural forms and re-fashioned in different ways, Unholy Object #3 came about as thinking about natural and unnatural forms. The addition of an earring comes from queer codes where gay men use in the past to identify themselves.

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Pride Art 2021: Change

Clifford Chance's Arcus Pride Art initiative is designed to challenge perceptions and provoke thought and conversation through works of art exploring themes including relationships, sexuality, gender identity and expression and the human body. 

We encourage you to take some time to explore these works. Please enjoy them and be empowered.

About Arcus

Arcus is our global inclusive employee network open to all Lesbian, Gay, Bi, Trans*, Intersex, Queer people and their Allies​​​. Arcus aims to encourage an inclusive and integrated culture within Clifford Chance that gives colleagues the choice to be open and out.

Learn more

Arcus archives

Explore some of our previous exhibitions to see how Arcus Pride Art has evolved in recent years.

Visit the archives