Is Art Necessary? - lee wen 李文

These questions are confronted everyday in my life.
Even now..
IS ART NECESSARY? WHAT IS ART GOOD FOR?  is a series of work I began in 1998 in Tokyo although I had used these questions in various other previous works. . Working in series is not that of “recycling of the same idea” as some may think. It is an exploration of a theme in different time, places and contexts. I felt that the situation in recent times require us to re-question the nature and function of art in our society. While working in the studio producing works I have come to a point where I felt the need to work beyond drawing and painting in the studio.

I saw it as a video project that will hopefully get people to fill the canvases with responses to the questions. The video made with the help of Heman Chong is in two parts. The first is like a dream where I found my arms strapped to two large blank, white canvases. The questions appear on them as I struggled to rise up with them strapped to my arms. They appear like wings that are supposed to help me take flight and yet they are also like weights I find myself leaden with. I moved through architectural spaces both indoors and outdoors. From the quaint surroundings of the older neighborhood of Joo Chiat, to public housing areas of the heartland of Singapore and taking a train to the new art center – the Esplanade. This led on to the second part, which is where I approached the general public around the Esplanade to write their responses to the questions on the canvases.

The canvases were presented again in the gallery and viewers are welcome to add on comments or drawings on them.

Lee Wen

Mixed-media / dimensions variable
Video collaboration with Heman Chong

Is Art Necessary? / What is Art Good For? [Performance]
Is Art Necessary? / What is Art Good For?, 2002
Event & Venue: ‘Everybody Should Be Happy’, solo exhibition at Utterly Art, Singapore (14 - 24 November 2002)

Today (Is Art Necessary?), 2003
Venue: Gallery 130, Tokyo, Japan (6 Dec 2003)