Synopsis:

Serendipity is when action meets faith and the two seem to dance together to the beautiful symphonies that make up our lives. - Ashley Reign

Interconnectivity. Randomness. Imperfection. Contentment. Art offers us a means to discover the essence of what life is and the true nature of ourselves and the world we live in. Art stirs the soul, ignites our imagination, and entices us to pursue our dreams.

The fifth and final installation of Visions art series features works by April Ng Kiow Ngor, Ng Siok Hoon, Chua Hee Lai and Chor Mui Ling. The starting point of their artistic journeys may differ, but they share a common goal – in the search for serendipity.

April 's approaches in her artistic practice reflect her attitude to life – simplicity. Her works are inspired by nature; nature distilled to its simplest forms and shapes, re-imagined as abstract landscapes that exuberates an atmosphere of calmness and meditative silence. The incorporation of embossing techniques leaves almost non-visible marks and traces on the paper bringing forth the concept of interdependence. Here the mark of the absence presupposes a presence. To truly co-exist with nature, man needs to tune their sensory system to be more aware of the relative positions of their bodies to other non-visible organisms within the same space.

Siok Hoon's work is an extension of her drawing that focuses on the idea of constant flux experienced in our immediate urban and natural environment. The artist often combines different natural phenomena with fragments of map or urban planning to unveil the coexistence of a fluid urbanscape and an unstable natural environment. Rather than literally depicting nature, she presents these natural phenomena in an unexpected way to suggest a sense of uncertainty and unpredictability in our environment, such as the sudden outburst of wind currents, light rays, isolated downpours or melting clouds.

Hee Lai is a ceramist, watercolorist, urban-sketcher and engineer by training. His work is an exploration in structure, movement, flow, and feelings. He strives to create the coexistence of static and dynamic states in his sculptural works, at the same time expressing his thoughts through the meticulously constructed forms. He is fascinated by the complexity of wood-fired surfaces - rough, unpredictable, yet beautiful in many ways. Chawan is one of his experiments to realize the perfect imperfection, and the understated elegance of wood fired pottery.

Mui Ling never fail to find joy watching a lump of clay slowing spinning into shape. It brings back memories of those carefree and happy childhood days while playing in the field. Each of us has in our heart a happy bear. It is cheerful, pure, playful, with an intense curiosity of a child tirelessly exploring everything around it. She thoroughly enjoys the various stages working with clay, from wheel throwing to glaze firing. The anticipations and excitement before and after opening the door of the kiln after a firing, constantly remind her that happiness always comes in small packages of both failures and successes.

The artistic pursuit has not much to do with the exchange value of the physical art object but rather the contentment and fulfilment that one can derive from the journey of explorations and discoveries in the creation of the artwork. If we can keep our minds and eyes open, we may start to see the magic that each artist does, connect the invisible random dots in nature and realised that we are all living perfectly imperfect lives.