An interview with artist Boo Sze Yang

Early last month, Utterly Art in Singapore showcased artist Boo Sze Yang's amazing exhibition of paintings in his solo exhibition entitled house of God. Utterly art's bimonthly flyer appeared in my inbox on the 1st of October, announcing: "Explore the majesty of the monumental in Singapore artist Boo Sze Yang's fourth solo exhibition HOUSE OF GOD". I gave the flyer a quick glance and liked the pictures of Boo's paintings so much that I decided I must talk to Boo and soon..Here is an excerpt from my email conversation with the artist.

Currently a full-time lecturer in the Fine Art Degree programme at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, Boo holds a Master of Arts in Fine Art from the Chelsea College of Art and Design, the University of the Arts London, UK. He has participated in exhibition nationally and internationally, including the Third ASEAN Traveling Exhibition (1993), Singapore Art (1997), the Asian International Art Exhibition (Japan 1999 / China 2001 / Korea 2002 / Philippines 2005), and Nokia Singapore Art (2001) and held his first overseas solo exhibition in Seoul, Korea in 2005. The underlining philosophy in his work is the notion of identity as a “performative” act, where one is engaged in a constant process of identification, de-identification and re-identification. The act of painting itself is performative. In his paintings, the paint builds and destroys simultaneously, concealing as much as it is revealing.

Boo:"I am not a Christian, but I have always enjoyed visiting cathedrals and churches whenever I travel to Europe. What strikes me most is the tranquility and inner peace I feel when I step into these spaces, bounded by monumental columns and huge arches. The interior is usually dim and lit naturally by rays of lights filtering through the vaults and arched windows. Strangely, the more run-down these cathedrals or churches, the stronger it evokes in me a sense of optimism in life. Maybe ruins are often romanticized to imply decline or decay, but I think the moment we encounter ruins, that is when we may begin to learn to act positively towards life. Man seems to act most spirit courageously and human when tragedy struck such as the Tsunami or the case of 911 in New York."

Boo: "House of God is a series of paintings on places of worship (cathedrals and art museums alike), which are executed in a most unflattering manner – expressive, gestural and chaotic, appearing more like ruins then a glorification. Here, the act of painting is central. It is very much like a sparring session between the artist and the image. The painting process is intensive, spontaneous, precarious and re-active. The rendered images are gestures of fleeting moments of our perception of reality - illusive and constantly changing."


Rajinder: Your choice of subject matter - was there any particular reason you chose to paint the interior of churches? What made you choose the churches you painted?

Boo: I was thinking about how we are never able to escape from the situation of negotiating with power and sometimes inevitably have to submit ourselves to it. Life is always about negotiation. Art provides a means to question and think about issues concerning life, faith and death. I do not subscribe to any religion, but I do feel that religion is important as a guiding light for most people.

Rajinder: Any anecdotes you can share with us trying to get permission to paint churches? What was the response of the crowd around you?

Boo: All the paintings were done in my studio using photographs I took during my trips.

Rajinder: How long were you in Europe? Did you paint the paintings for your HOG exhibition all in the one trip there? Did you paint them from photographs?

Boo: I spent 3 weeks in Barcelona, Toulouse, Nice, Venice, Florence and Rome sometime in August 2004, right after I completed my MA in fine art at Chelsea College of Art and Design in London. Most of the paintings were from photographs taken during this trip, one was taken from my trip to Brussels in 2003.

Rajinder: The underlining philosophy in your work is the notion of identity as a 'performative act'. You suggest that the act of painting itself is performative. Can you explain?


Boo: My earlier works basically tries to deal with the notion of identity – one that is constantly changing rather than being fixed. My approach to painting is also constantly changing, so much so that if I were to put all my paintings (1991-2007) together in a show, it would seem to be painted by 5 different artists. What I was interested was the notion that the personal identity is not something that is natural but one that is learned and acted out by an individual. When I think about painting, what one sees or think he sees on a canvas is never obvious and straight forward, but are interpretations performed by the viewer. A dancer performs on the stage; the painter’s stage is the canvas.


Rajinder: I look at your paintings and I feel myself transported. It seems your paintings demand the viewer's participation, for the viewer and the work to let go of themselves and meet. I am in your painting; in one of your churches and I want to look around the corners; behind the pillars. I want to interact with the work. A relation is established between the work and the viewer. The paintings are created in the exchange – somewhere between the artist, the painting and the viewer. I feel that the artistic process, the 'performance' in your painting plays a role in this exchange. Can you comment?

Boo: I suppose when we encounter an image that is ambiguous or less definite, it starts to demand more attention from the viewer to make sense of what he/she is seeing. The encounter becomes more intense and pleasurable as the viewer become more ‘involved’ in deciphering the image. What I have done is to make “suggestions” and create impressions; the viewer will have to complete the picture.


Rajinder: When I am in a church, a remarkable change takes place in me, however subtle. The cool somber and hauntingly quiet atmosphere of churches invariably forms a connection within me to the deep mystery of life without it taking the form of the frightening unknown. There is of course the knowledge that I am in a holy place, a place of worship for thousands for uncountable years. Looking at your paintings I experience the same quiet serenity. How have you managed this? What is it in the way you have painted your painting in expressive, gestural and chaotic brushworks that captures a moment if not more of lingering spirituality?

Boo: Not too sure how to answer this question but I think what I tried to do is to capture a moment of my experience. To me, that is what a painting can only do. What we see depend a lot of what we know and already experienced. What the painting does was to trigger the viewer’s memories of a particular space. The incompleteness and ambiguous quality of the images in the painting helps to maximize viewer’s participation. In this case, you have made the painting ‘complete’ by performing your role as an active viewer.

Rajinder: "The rendered images are gestures of fleeting moments of our perception of reality - illusive and constantly changing." There is no movement You are painting a 'still' scene. What changes? Are you referring to gradual sense in which we develop a relationship with a space over time?

Boo: Unlike a photograph which is capable of freezing a moment in time, our eyes are constantly mapping out the space we are encountering. Our relationship and experience with the space around us is constantly changing, is actually never still, unlike in a photograph.

Rajinder: Optimism and hope are two adjectives associated with your HOG paintings. Where lies the connection?

Boo: I was speaking about the ruins-like images of the cathedrals which I have painted. To me, the encounter of ruins somehow is capable of triggering the positive spirit in human. Just like whenever disasters such as the Tsunami struck, humanity seems most ubiquitous.