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to their home rivers after a life at sea. It is a metaphor adopted by the National University of Singapore, which likens its students to the salmon, going out into the world but always returning back home with new knowledge and ideas to share (Reaching Beyond, 2005, bronze and jade).
In abstraction, the sculptor is free to interact with his subject matter, the raw material itself. This fascination with his material lies at the heart of Fah-Cheong’s work. Take a perfect granite circle, plain and solid on the outside, yet rippling and undulating like stone made liquid on its interior face (Moon Gate, 2011, granite). Abstract work also frees the mind from the boundaries of pre-set metaphors or symbols. “Family” is an arrangement of four simply carved planks of teak, burnished with oil to highlight their carved surface (Family, 1985, teak). Does it speak to us as four unique shapes becoming a unit? Or is it simply there for us to appreciate the beauty of carved wood? Perhaps it is all of the above. It is this acute awareness which makes Fah- Cheong’s work so compelling and attractive. Whether abstract or figurative, he urges us,
the viewers, to find a common thread of understanding which ties us all together.
Currently, Fah-Cheong is working on new pieces for an upcoming solo exhibition in November 2011. Large-scale wood sculptures mix with marble, granite and jade in his signature flowing style. He engages with texture, shape and form as they are expressed in the different media. The exhibition will showcase key historical sculptures --the viewer will be invited to witness works that are the foundation of Fah¬Cheong’s style. Juxtaposed with these will be his newest creations. Together they give a perspective of how he has matured, long and painfully as years of carving and chiseling and moulding of materials that are, literally, rock hard have made possible. Thematically, the exhibition is the continuation of Fah¬Cheong’s journey of life. But this is not just a meditation upon the sculptor’s own experiences. Visitors to the exhibition are invited to join in the greater journey; a discovery of a common refrain in life’s varied encounters.
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