Dead Animals (Domestic Scene)
‘Dead Animals (Domestic Scene)’ is an installation that consists of various household furniture—a chair, a table, a bench and a shelf—with five sculptures resting on them that each resemble an animal—a dog, a parrot, a praying mantis, a squirrel and a lizard. The furniture, made by the artist out of pine, are interconnected by a series of wooden beams, roughly forming the layout of the artist’s home studio. The animals are all dead. Made out of burnt wooden blocks sawn to geometric shapes, they lay motionless in foetal positions taking the furniture as their final resting place. ‘Dead Animals (Domestic Scene)’ pays tribute to the animals that the artist has encountered and physically handled before, some of which are/were pets, some of which he had caught or fostered in his childhood. As with many of his recent works, ‘Dead Animals (Domestic Scene)’ references imminent catastrophes that will soon threaten both human and non-human inhabitants of Earth in times to come.
About the Artist
Lai Yu Tong routinely investigates notions of the mundane and adequacy in daily life by way of drawing, sculpture and photography. The artist’s practice relies on the conditions of observation (ie. what can be seen or heard from his apartment windows, wherein he also has his studio) and modest, ubiquitous materials like newspapers, cardboard boxes, and wood. From this perch, symbols of life emerge and are recorded, marking the innocuous as peculiar, sad, hopeful.
Lai has presented solo exhibitions at The Substation (Singapore), DECK (Singapore), Comma Space (Singapore), Temporary Unit (Singapore), and Barely Fair (Chicago, USA). His works have also been shown in group exhibitions and independent projects locally and abroad including NTU ADM Gallery (Singapore), SIngapore Art Museum (Singapore), starch (Singapore). Plaque Space (Russia), and YPC Space (Seoul, Korea). He received the National Arts Council Scholarship in 2017 for his undergraduate studies at the LASALLE College of the Arts, Singapore.
Besides his art, Lai publishes under Thumb Books, his self-founded art book press that makes children’s books for both children and adults. His recent curatorial projects include Frida (2023), an art space by his kitchen window; and Robin (2022), a series of group exhibitions in camping tents around Singapore.