Being Made: Brother Joseph McNally and Shui Tit Sing

Art Agenda is pleased to announce Being Made, a one-of-a-kind highly choreographed exhibition that will take visitors on a journey to discover the singularity of wood as an art medium and the span of creative possibilities in modern sculpture.

The exhibition will showcase sixteen sculptures by Brother Joseph McNally (1923-2002) and Shui Tit Sing (1914-1997), two of Singapore’s most accomplished 20th-century artists. The exhibition title typifies the act of transformation: an apt descriptor for how trees that have been felled and transformed into wood can reclaim and embody life under the hands of visionary sculptors.

Being Made builds upon a simple starting point – gathering to examine both sculptors’ productions in wood. Choreographed by young art director Gagandeep Singh Sidhu, this one-of-a-kind exhibition breaks away from conventional white-cube presentations of modern sculpture with a maximalist approach. Each of the sculptures features as a protagonist in a mise en scène comprising other elemental material such as soil, metal, mirror and fabric.

Wang Zineng, Founder, Art Agenda notes: “Brother Joseph McNally and Shui Tit Sing are less celebrated modern artists today compared to some of their contemporaries in 20th-century Singapore art. As sculptors, they had to overcome greater challenges compared to mainstream painters and their respective steadfastness to their chosen medium should be admired. We want Being Made to present a totally different experience of both sculptors’ works and challenge prevailing understandings and expectations of the art of sculpture as well as exhibition curating.”

The exhibition is supplemented by an archival showcase of both sculptors jointly curated by artist-archivist Koh Nguang How and Wang Zineng. Koh has presented the archive and collection of Shui Tit Sing in Singapore and Cambodia in the past ten years.

Being Made is an inventive and uniquely scenographic exhibition that all art lovers are invited to experience. All sculptures are available for acquisition.