This exhibition will highlight some organic as well as ergonomic designed furniture such as chaise lounge, hammock, chairs and stools as well as lamps, shelves and tables that are totally and beautifully crafted from found wood of old tongkangs and abandoned homes.
Kim Chong, born in 1956 in Johor , trained at the renowned Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts in Singapore. He later furthered his training at the highly regarded Atelier 17 and also at L’Ecole National Superieure des Beaux Arts in Paris. He is an accomplished painted, potter and sculptor with several one man shows in Paris and Kuala Lumpur.
Whilst local decorative arts thrive in cottage industries, it is rare however to find artisans creating unique furniture to compliment their art. Western counterparts such as Mondrian, Yves Klein and Garret Rietveld in the 50s used ideas from their artworks to replicate into objects for everyday life.
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Yeoh Jin Ling’s admiration for Kim Chong’s well-crafted furniture designs sees a collaboration to bring awareness of the need for the preservation and conservation of our cultural heritage and also our environment.
Kim Chong’s use of recycled wood, some as old as 100 years, incorporates in his designs the grains and aged darken patinas to create shapes and forms. The wood itself in its raw state, has already its own characteristic and personality. Kim Chong simply carves what he sees. All of his works are made using the age old methods of carpentry without any use of metal joints.
This exhibition gives rise to a different kind of art, one which is functional and aesthetic and at the same time keeping our forest protected.
On show will be a collection of furniture, pottery and selected works by Kim Chong and an essay by Yeoh Jin Ling.
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