Queensland Art Gallery - Queensland Government

Cheo Chai-Hiang
Cash converter
Cheo Chai-Hiang is interested in the processes and practices of
making art. His exploration of the tradition of Conceptualism stems
from a personal commitment to independent critical thinking. Cheo
belongs to a generation of Singaporeans who could choose between
the English and Chinese education systems; he says he is ‘fortunate to
have been educated in the Chinese system’, one which encouraged a
world view informed by traditional Chinese ethical and philosophical
values. 1 A prolific writer in both Chinese and English, Cheo uses
linguistic cues, textual associations and idiomatic wordplay as the basis
for his work, which at first glance often appears deceptively simple.
Working with everyday objects as raw materials for his sculptures and
installations, Cheo defines his art by his own terms — terms he is also
not afraid to challenge. When he first left for the United Kingdom to
study at the Brighton Polytechnic in 1972, it was precisely to rethink
preconceived ideas of art. His early work 5’x5’ (Singapore River) 1972,
for example, consisted of a set of instructions for the exhibitors to
draw a square measuring five feet by five feet, partially on a wall and
partially on a floor. Its rejection by the Modern Art Society revealed
the conservative views of the local art world at the time. Art historian
TK Sabapathy has described Cheo as:
. . . among the first in Singapore’s art history to advocate cultivating
critical, questioning attitudes in the practice of art [and] advanced
these attributes as necessary, requisite conditions for developing
that practice. 2
of juxtaposing the two seemingly unrelated words ‘conned’ and
‘contemporary’ — who was conned, and by whom?
In Fei Chang Ku 2007, another element of Cash Converter, the artist
makes a pun on the pronunciation of the Chinese word ‘ 哭 ’ (ku,
which translates as ‘cry’) and the English word ‘cool’. ‘HuaYu Cool!’
(Mandarin Cool!) was the theme for the 2004 Speak Mandarin
Campaign to encourage English-speaking Chinese Singaporeans
to improve their Mandarin language skills. Initially launched in 1979
to encourage dialect-speaking Chinese Singaporeans to speak
Mandarin, the campaign has in recent years shifted its focus to Chinese
Singaporeans who grew up speaking English. Anxious to keep up with
the opportunities a global city presents, Singaporeans have embraced
the English language, which has become the default lingua franca for
many, widening the gap between the current and previous generations.
After living and working in Europe and Australia for almost two
decades, Cheo returned to Singapore to find a more anglicised
audience who did not always understand the Chinese expressions
used in his work. The ambivalent role of the Chinese language in
Singapore raises the question: are Singaporeans encouraged to speak
better Mandarin now in order to reconnect with their elders or to
simply improve the facilitation of business transactions? Cheo’s works
are rooted in contemporaneity (dang dai), but pay homage to the
previous generation (shang dai).
Cash Converter 2009, Cheo’s work for APT6, is comprised of six
sculptures from a series that Cheo has been developing for the past
five years. In this work, he evokes the sort of street scene which can still
be found in parts of Singapore, boxing it up neatly for the foyer of the
Gallery of Modern Art. The individual sculptures are pieced together
using seductive neon lights, found objects and polished steel fixtures,
suggesting shophouse signage, 3 reminiscent of an all-too-familiar way
of life — the raw hustle and bustle, glowing heat, shiny trinkets.
There is humour and play in Cash Converter, but underlying it is quiet
reflection and pathos. Perhaps Cheo is subtly alluding to the economic
agenda behind cultural policy, urging us to think about its real cost, or
maybe he is merely trying to entice us with his bright neon sculptures,
as any shop owner would a customer.
Yvonne Low
Cash Converter shows the layering of various disparate elements,
which, on the one hand, makes perfect material sense when placed
side by side, but on the other accentuates a competitive spirit as
each fights for space and attention. One component, Dang Dang
(Mirror Effect) 2009, is a commanding piece with its two iconic ‘ 當 ’
(dang) signs written in traditional Chinese, characters still commonly
used as signage by pawnshops in Singapore. Cheo draws attention
to the subtle relationships formed between individual characters
by strategically adding words before and after the sign — it now
reads shang dang (‘conned’) and dang dai (‘contemporary’). The
visual juxtaposition of the traditional script ‘ 當 ’ (dang) with the
simplified scripts ‘ 上 代 ’ (shang dai) is striking. Cheo grew up learning
traditional Chinese in school, and belongs to the shang dai (‘previous
generation’). 4 He encourages us to contemplate the significance
Endnotes
1 Cecily Briggs, ‘The thirty-six strategies: Thinking in the midst of things’, in Cheo
Chai-Hiang: The Thirty Six Strategies [exhibition catalogue], Casula Powerhouse
Arts Centre, Sydney, 2000, p.21.
2 TK Sabapathy, ‘Cheo Chai-Hiang: Agent of change’ in Cheo Chai-Hiang:
The Thirty-Six Strategies, p.15.
3 A shophouse is a terraced two-storey building with a shop or eating house on
the ground floor and living quarters above.
4 By combining the added characters shang ( 上 ) and dai ( 代 ), the phrase now
reads shang dai ( 上 代 ) (‘previous generation’).
Cheo Chai-Hiang
Singapore b.1946
Fei Chang Ku 2007
Stainless steel, perspex, neon / 3 parts: 53 x 55 x 13cm
(each) / Image courtesy: The artist and NAFA, Singapore
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