I Have A Pen. I Have An Art Exhibit

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I was at the National Gallery with Naureen Nayyar. I tried this experiment by putting a pen on the floor.
Soon, we’ve got audience wondering how this is a piece of Art and they started taking photos of my pen.
After a while, I pick up my pen and the people realised it was not Art.

This reminds me of a time I saw something similar happen, only in reverse.

We once attended a wedding held at the Art Gallery of Ontario. Since we were close family, we were allowed in well before everyone else and had to spend some time waiting around between bits of preparation.

While there, one of the guys in our little group spotted a bench. Being the reasonable sort, he walked over and sat down on it. But as he was directing us to join him, a polite security guard came over and said “Sir, please don’t sit on the art.”

Again, being the reasonable sort, our friend asked “This is art?”

“Yes sir it is,” was the response.

What made it art other than because they said so was never explained. It was literally just a big wooden bench.

The best part is that the sitter upon of art actually builds wooden benches, and based on my experience, any of his are nicer than that there display model was. It’s not close, either. Man puts pen on empty exhibit display in National Gallery, people assume it’s art

According to Sim, the display was an actual artwork titled 5’ x 5’ (Inched Deep), a recreation of a work that Cheo Chai Hiang had submitted for the Modern Art Society’s exhibition in 1972. The original piece had instructions for a blank square measuring 5’ by 5’ to be drawn over the wall and its adjoining floor, but ultimately was not shown.
It’s considered to be one of the earliest examples of conceptual art in Singapore, although it’s understandable that visitors would be a tad confused as to whether the empty space was an actual work of art or not.

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3 Comments

    1. I thought it might have had a post, but didn’t go looking for it.  Oh well.  It was like 10 years ago anyway so we’ll say it’s worth revisiting for all of the new people and the old ones who don’t devote themselves to remembering everything we say.

      I forgot the part where it had a name though.  And is the reason it’s called a sap sculpture that you’d have to be a fucking sap to pay money for it?

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