Chong Boo Yee Angela, as was true of the generation of women artists before her, such as Suzan Victor, Amanda Heng, Simryn Gill, tends to work with a number of different media outside of the usual fine art conventions of painting or sculpture. Angela is more involved in the exploitation of mixed media, including found objects, in the creation of her artworks. Within the development of contemporary art, the strategy of using found objects, whatever they may be, results in a more direct artistic statement.

Angela's work titled Open Shower exhibits her tendency to use everyday objects as a method for exploration of the involvement of individual memory and experience more directly and firmly in the artworks she creates. There is no-one among us who is not familiar with the bathing apparatus that Angela presents in her work. Certainly, the apparatus itself speaks more of cultural aspects then it does of nature. For most Indonesians who live outside of the major metropolitan areas, who are still familiar with the natural environment, the shower apparatus may not be readily recognizable. However, this would not be true of anyone living in a big city, let alone in a place like Singapore. What is left of the natural in Singapore? Through her work, Angela pinpoints a situation and a location that relates to our everyday, ordinary experience: bathing. Bathing - a necessity - surely does not amount to an unusual activity. However, even though it is natural, the way people bathe is dictated by cultural habits. Open Shower points out a basic issue relating to this ordinary activity that fits within a cultural framework. However that may be, the work, Open Shower, depicts a situation totally outside of any cultural paradigm. We have surely never seen a person bathing in the middle of a crowded public place; in an art gallery, for example. However, this is exactly what Angela invites us to do.

Could we really experience taking a shower through Angela's Open Shower work? What is actually occurring in this piece is a simulation of a person in the midst of showering. This work is performed by a model who is simply going through the motions that occur when a person bathes, not actually bathing. We could even say that this piece is like a miniature of a depiction of habit. Angela, through this piece, is trying to show us something. Although what she wishes to reveal is not about a person taking a shower, but about the experience inherent in this natural or usual situation within a cultural model which she has deconstructed. Bathing, in this case, in no longer a private sensation, but rather a public event that requires rules, and protocol, as well as a certain kind of role model (will this be more effective or simply appear glorious?). Interesting enough, this artwork can be viewed as an interpretation of a kind of human experience within a dominant structural framework. In this, it is easy enough to imagine that an individual's experience can be solidified, as well as deconstructed. Open Shower also depicts the loss of the experience of bathing as an ordinary activity that can be enjoyed within a context of personal preferences and pleasure.

Rizki A. Zaelani

Born on June 20, 1977.
Studied at LASALLE SIA - College of the Arts (Diploma in Visual Arts ; 2002).

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
2001 'WEATHER' , LASALLE-SIA Gallery, Singapore;' ART & THE PUBLIC SPACE', in conjunction with ArtFest 2001; 'IN TRANSIT' , LASALLE-SIA BA Gallery, Singapore.
2002 FOOD ART 2002, in conjuction with Food Fest 2002, Raffles City Shopping Centre Atrium; ARTillery, 26th Fine Arts Diploma Show, LASALLE-SIA Fine Arts Block 2, Singapore.
2003 'LIMELIGHT' , LASALLE-SIA BA Gallery, Singapore.

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