Although she graduated from gold and silversmith studies and creates beautiful and seemingly functional jewelries, Tan Hui Ling's jewelries are actually born out of deep thoughts and concepts that go beyond practical boundaries. At the first glimpse, Tan Hui Ling's jewelries do not seem to have some special, characteristic styles. This is the consequence of Tan Hui Ling's intentions in creating her jewelry to represent some symbolical texts. In other words, the jewelries are not mainly created as mere decorative objects; moreover, they are meant to present matters regarding the jewelry's existence and its relationship with its wearer. In this case, the jewelry exists in relation with the wearer's perceptions and awareness about it. Such awareness becomes the essence of the matter that Tan Hui Ling presents through her jewelries.

Aside from working on the jewelry, Tan Hui Ling also creates video arts, which are mostly about the living spaces of the modern society especially in Singapore, as seen in Fish Film, a video art she once created. Fish Film builds a form of symbolical language that tells of a fish living in a jar, which is analogical with the daily living of a person in a small apartment unit, where most of his or her time is spent in front of the TV.

In the work displayed in CP Open Biennale, Objects, Tan Hui Ling merges her jewelry works with her video art. The two creations fuse harmoniously. The symbolic potentials of some of the jewelries, which might have been too personal, are explained via the existence of the video art that becomes the narrative construction of Tan Hui Ling's work. The video art also enlivens the problems she wants to convey: The relations and perceptions of a wearer towards the existence of the jewelry.

Tan Hui Ling's major strength is in her mastery in creating the works. She works with ease, using fine and correct techniques, and does not seem to be ill at ease in employing any of the technique. Her jewelries exist as real jewelries, they even appear almost as "found objects" that she uses in the interest of the text on the contemporary visual art. This is not to say that in this exhibition Tan Hui Ling's work "rises to the next level" as a contemporary visual artwork, because that had indeed been the intention since the beginning. That the jewelries can be functionally used and appear beautiful are exactly the result of the artist's thorough efforts in creating them. Should someone ever wear the jewelries later on, it does not mean that the jewelries thus gain some lower value. Instead, the jewelries have switched their function from works of art to decorative, functional objects with aesthetic and personal qualities. That is exactly the strength of Tan Hui Ling's jewelries.

Asmudjo Jono Arianto

Born on January 8, 1982.
Studied at LASALLE - SIA College of the Arts (2002).

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2001 "In Transit" BA Gallery, LASALLE - SIA.
2002 "Artillery", LASALLE - SIA.

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