Inertia

Produced for an upcoming exhibition, 'Code Switch', held at Singapore Management University from 2nd Mar to 30th Mar 2012.

"This piece of artwork was inspired by '2046', a Hong Kong film written and directed by Wong Kar-wai in 2004.

The stories within the film revolve around a man who is unable to move on from a previous failed relationship as he finds himself involuntarily reminded of the times that he shared with his ex-lover. To his dismay, and often the viewer's, these memories plague him endlessly, evoking a hopeless desire in him to recapture a lost love. He is left helpless and trapped in a perpetual state of emotional inertia.

In a similar vein, this piece of artwork serves to echo the emotions that pervaded the film, '2046', and 'Inertia' describes his enduring fixation with memory, time and longing. When one undergoes a failed relationship and thereafter becomes trapped in a state of emotional inertia, one is only left with teardrops and memories… and all teardrops are nothing but traces of memories.

Perhaps, the only comfort that one may possibly seek when trapped within a state of emotional inertia is in the commonly held notion that all memories fade with time. But as '2046' and this piece of artwork attempt to discover, do they truly fade?"

Text on the left was written by Anne Rice in 'Blood and Gold', which was the eighth book in the Vampire Chronicles.

The following text that I had originally written to accompany the artwork was dropped after considering that it is inconsistent with the style of art:

"Memory, an insidious drug

It haunts and takes by giving you
The graceful face of a fear you cannot resist
The endless want of a ghost in your mind

You can only forever chase but never recapture"