A Solo Exhibition by Esmond Loh

February 29, 2024 / News

CLIFFHANGER

A Solo Exhibition by Esmond Loh

9 March – 14 April 2024

Address: CT Hub 2, 114 Lavender Street, Unit 05-72, S. 338729

Gallery Hours: Tues – Sat, 12 noon – 7 pm

Sun, 12 noon – 5 pm

Wed by appointment only

Mon, Tues, PH: Closed

A city skyline with mountains in the background

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A quintessential cliffhanger is an example of a plot device in fiction. It features a main character in a precarious dilemma, confronted with a bombshell revelation during a significant juncture of its story. Usually, a cliffhanger hopes to persuade an audience to return to see how the characters resolve said dilemma. At the drop of a hat, any situation poses potential for risk, foreshadowing, or proclamation. We are immersed in societal cliffhangers, under rehearsed and overly scripted.

In Esmond Loh’s (b.1995) debut solo exhibition with Haridas Contemporary, Cliffhanger provides various alternate commentaries on a hyper-connected society at the brink of existential cliffhangers. Featuring fourteen paintings depicting scenes of climate dystopia, urban isolation, and the precious intimacy of mourning, Loh’s work concocts entities beyond human figures. Ranging from animals, trees, buildings, abstract forms, and enigmatic objects, an orchestrated interaction is fostered between his characters to heighten seemingly ordinary scenarios, teetering into surreptitious endings.

An opening reception will be held at the gallery on 9 March 2024, 5 – 8 pm. Artist will be present.

Haridas Contemporary is a gallery founded by Christiaan Haridas that aims to support and grow alongside Singapore’s burgeoning contemporary art scene. The gallery endeavors to create a home for emerging and mid-career Singapore and Singapore-based artists, while maintaining a satellite program with regional artists.

With 15 years of experience in the Southeast Asian art market, Christiaan hopes to advocate for promising art practices that are sensitively crafted and offer interesting entry-points into the stories and concerns of contemporary life.

The gallery is committed to supporting artists throughout their artistic careers by seeding opportunities for exhibition, dialogue, and professional counsel. Haridas Contemporary will rally for exciting local practices to be recognised across regional and international platforms.

A person wearing glasses and smiling

Description automatically generated Esmond Loh (b. 1995) works primarily in painting. His current body of work explores the theatrical. Taking inspiration from his memory and imagination, he creates dramatic and ambiguous scenes that combine both abstract and figurative elements. He graduated in 2019, with a Bachelor of Fine Arts (First Class Honours) from the Slade School of Fine Art in London, United Kingdom. He won the prestigious UOB Painting of the Year Award in Singapore in 2012 when he was 17 years old, for his first attempt at oil painting titled Just Let Me Sleep. He also won awards in the same competition in 2018 and 2020 respectively. Thus far, he has had three solo exhibitions, the latest being an online Artsy exclusive in 2018. His works are part of private collections in Singapore, Malaysia and the UK.