Face/Farce

*** Please click on the image for a clearer view of the effects, and read the accompanying synopsis below.

Face/Farce
Ink, Adobe Photoshop CS 6, Colour print on PVC
330cm X 140cm

Produced for an upcoming exhibition, 'Voice III: Change', held at Singapore Management University in September 2012.

"This piece of artwork, in exploring the interrelated themes of change and identity, draws its primary references from two sources in pop culture.

The first reference is the song 'Bittersweet Symphony' produced by the Verve in 1997. (Please refer to the lyrics below.) The song illustrates how every individual’s 'mold' is, in substance, spiritual, emotional and personal. It is this 'mold' that represents the true self of an individual – a self that transcends all physical forms and is absolute, permanent and completely invariable. Although different artificial appearances may be worn everyday to deceive others, it is virtually impossible for one to forget or escape one’s 'mold'. This 'mold', or the soul of a person in other words, can never be fully comprehended by anyone except the person himself, for its true face is something that no human eye can see and no length of written words can define completely.

The second reference is pop artist Roy Lichtenstein, whose most famous body of artworks explore the visual and textual conventions of comic book art.

Lyrics of 'Bitter Sweet Symphony" referred to:
Because it's a bittersweet symphony, this life
Try to make ends meet
You're a slave to money then you die
I'll take you down the only road I've ever been down
You know the one that takes you to the places
where all the veins meet yeah,

Y'know change, I can change
I can change, I can change
But I'm here in my mold
I am here in my mold
But I'm a million different people
from one day to the next
I can't change my mold
No, no, no, no, no

Well I never pray
But tonight I'm on my knees yeah
I need to hear some sounds that recognize the pain in me, yeah
I let the melody shine, let it cleanse my mind, I feel free now
But the airways are clean and there's nobody singing to me now"