Guo-Liang Tan

Guo-Liang Tan (b. 1980, Singapore) completed his BA in Fine Art & Critical Studies at Goldsmiths College, London and his MFA at Glasgow School of Art. He was also a guest student at The Städelschule, Frankfurt am Main, Germany and an artist-in-residence at the NTU Centre of Contemporary Art. 

Lightness and suspension feature strongly in Guo-Liang Tan’s ongoing body of work encompassing paintings and installations (or, paintings as objects). In his paintings, figurative elements are decidedly absent and instead of direct mark-making, paint is thinned down and allowed to flow across the surface of stretched fabric. Gaps and overlaps, traces and fragmentation feature prominently in Tan’s making process as he explores how these frame and orientate our sense of time, body and memory. His recent works feature a new technique that he has been exploring recently: using found synthetic textiles to create mono-printed impressions. Fragments of this fabric are unwoven, layered and sometimes erased to form abstract compositions that unfold slowly during the process of making. The translucent layers and mark-making in Tan’s paintings highlight the effect of material surfaces and captures moments in time.