Melissa Tan – False Doors, Glass Skies

Richard Koh Fine Art (RKFA) is pleased to announce a solo exhibition by Melissa Tan (b.1989) in Singapore. Titled, False Doors, Glass Skies, it is slated to run from 5 – 27 November 2021 at Richard Koh Fine Art Singapore, Blk 47 Malan Road, #01-26 Gillman Barracks, Singapore 109444.

False Doors, Glass Skies takes on the question of survival as women in a world with dramatically higher stakes waged against powerful detractors determined to seize or subdue them. It pays attention to the intertwined destruction and self-preservation instincts at the heart of familiar myths and devotes a closer second look at the repertoire of diversions, actions, and rituals performed by different female characters in their varied attempts to assert and reclaim themselves from the people and circumstances who refuse them that right.

The exhibition features complementary sets of works — wall-bound metal works made from the trajectory maps of the asteroids named after various mythological women and an inventory of smaller resin sculptures that function as symbols of self-identification and protection, like amulets that these referenced figures may carry to gather strength, safety and live through their stories.

Melissa Tan (b. 1989, Singapore) is a visual artist based in Singapore and received her BA (Fine Arts) from Lasalle College of the Arts in 2011. Her works are based on nature, themes of transience and beauty of the ephemeral. Her recent projects revolve around landscapes and the process of formation. Interested in geography and textures of rocks, she explores to translate the visual language through different mediums. Employing processes such as paper cutting, painting and silk-screen techniques, she is interested in materiality and how the medium supports the work. Though trained as a painter, she also works with video, sound and objects.

She was included in The Singapore Show: Future Proof, Singapore Art Museum at 8Q in 2012 and An Atlas of Mirrors, Singapore Biennale 2016, Singapore in 2016. She also participated in the National Art Council and Dena Foundation Artist Residency program (Paris, France) in 2013. Public collections include Singapore Art Museum (SAM), Marina Bay Sands (Singapore), Government of Singapore nvestment Corporation (GIC) New York, Facebook (Singapore), CapitaLand (Singapore). Melissa’s solo exhibitions include Under the Arched Sky (2019) Richard Koh Fine Art, Singapore; Back to where we’ve never been (2018), Richard Koh Fine Art, Kuala Lumpur; Arc of Uncertainties (2016), Richard Koh Fine Art, Singapore; and The Darkest Hour is Just Before Dawn (2014), Richard Koh Fine Art, Singapore.