Cuturi Gallery is proud to present a debut solo exhibition, Hard To Say Goodbye, by local artist Casey Tan (b. 1994, Singapore). In Tan’s new series of works, human presence populates his paintings as he uses the medium of acrylic to capture scenes of the quiet, intimate, and gleeful moments of life around him.

Primarily inspired by people, Tan projects the fleetingness of memory and suspends his characters in time against local backdrops. Through paintings that chronicle between day and night time, at the heart of Tan’s works is the notion of lived experiences that turn into valuable memories which we try to hold on to. The artist captures this through both vibrant pulsing movements and the stillness of individuals portrayed in his paintings. In addition to this, Tan describes his intentionally unpainted figures in his works as “ghost characters” that serve as background or forgotten characters in our experiences. This is imbued in works such as Never Get Old, Tiger Always Cold (2021).

Through careful brushstrokes in his figurative paintings, he references familiar faces as a way of immortalising these characters and to create more meaning to his works. From friends to politicians and other artists, the myriad of personalities, emotions, and characters in his works all come together to give his works life.

More than just making playful connections in his works, Tan also exhibits his personal thoughts of class-divide in Singapore. This undercurrent is explored in Ding-A-Ling (2021) where he juxtaposes often overlooked working-class individuals such as the ice-cream man in the same frame as characters dressed in branded clothing.

Tapping into our simultaneously interconnected and isolated world, Tan reminds us of the duality of these realities. Continuing to explore his fascination with the human experience, Hard To Say Goodbye is an exhibition that portrays moments of euphoria and melancholy that can be found in everyday life.

Text by Allysa De Silva.

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