Charcoal Sketches of
Urban Transitional Spaces

Tang Ling Nah’s art practice focuses on the creation of imaginary spaces where she uses the effect of trompe-l’œil (meaning, to “fool the eye”) to heighten the introspection with architectural elements. In this project, she responds, for the first time, to the curvilinear wall of the niche that she intends to transform into a transitional space with openings and support structures. She proposes drawing directly onto the wall for greater interaction as opposed to drawing on paper that are later pasted onto a flattened surface. The work is thus made in situ (meaning, in its proper position) over a period of five days.

Like a “backdrop” for human drama, the artist offers her imaginary space to her viewers the opportunity for the creation of their own narratives or stories as to how they would interact within it. At the same time, she is conscious of the tension created in the juxtaposition of a constructed modernist space with its clean lines and minimal surface decoration that is the anti-thesis to the decorated neo-classical style of the Singapore Art Museum built in 1852.

Artist Statement

My artwork is essentially a response to city living through which it examines the relationship between humans and public urban spaces, in particular, transitional spaces. With my charcoal drawings of darkened architectural spaces, I seek to question the continual urban renewal and the transient state of the modern city.

I believe that architectural spaces can provide powerful backdrops to understand humanity. Through the darkened spaces, my work enacts a sense of fear that lurks in urban spaces, but yet, offers glimmers of life and hope through possible routes of escape. Viewers should question about ‘presence’ and ‘absence’; ‘the overt and the hidden’; what is ‘before’ and ‘after’; ‘there and not there’.