A.I. is pleased to present a group exhibition titled Ideal Standard. The show comprises works by three artists: Sarah Choo Jing, WeiXin Quek Chong & IDN which explore the notion of human fragility.

'Wear You All Night' by Sarah CHOO Jing is a 4min 38sec double channel HD video of two characters in a near synchronised performance- a woman & man inhabiting parallel spaces, both intimate & symbolic of isolation & solitude. It mirrors the alienated urban experience in a megalopolis such as Singapore- where CHOO is from. Referencing the aesthetic of commercials & commodification, the artist comments on socio-cultural norms through a voyeuristic image of self-design. The individual characters convey the trapped sense of being and belonging. This work was first premiered LOOP Barcelona 2017 & exhibited at SAM 8Q Cinerama.

WeiXin Chong’s works titled 'Beige Dreams, flesh skin surface' are photographic portraits of floral subjects wearing cosmetics such as foundation, rouge powder and nail varnish. The artist seeks to question the significance of the colour Beige in reference to skin tones, the surface versus perceived superficiality. In her artist statement, Referencing Yva Léro, an Afro-Martiniquais writer-painter and ardent feminist who was based in Paris in the 1970’s, Chong’s images are metaphors for the depiction of beauty whilst alluding to undertones of the fullness of life & decay.

‘There is a soothing and a screaming for Beige; words making flesh; the hunger of decay is never sated. Why is there almost nothing to be found of Yva Lero? ‘Peau d’ébène’ came out in 1979 . . . I want to read it but it is in French. Bandages come in a strange colour. We want to transcend the choice of foundation . . .This is the shade of the season; there is only one season under this sun.’

The series of works were exhibited at CCA Singapore 2017 & at UNSEEN Amsterdam 2017.

IDN’s gouache works on paper explore the relationship between self & nature. A tree sapling taking a personality, like meeting an equal: "Its presence both independent of me yet it had its own life force interacting, like a character, with me. Surrounded by nature, the transient experience is of a greater scale and permanence". In this series the energy within Nature saturates the image and the human figure is shown as smaller in scale, perhaps even fragile, but resilient in its presence.