META-CHROMA

Andrew Ooi, Study 2, 2016 | 7 x 27.5 x 2 inches, 18 x 70 x 5 cm | Gampi, acrylic, ink

The body of work, Meta-Chroma, revisits the primitive vocabulary of shape and line, with the addition of structure and colour, in exploring the connotative attributes of a visual language.

Shape and line have throughout history been the mark-making at man’s disposal to not only communicate, but lend expression to that communication. So too like the mark-making, available surfaces – initially, sand, stone, bark; later, hide, textile, stoneware and more – served as the “canvas,” as shape and line entered the arena of art in communication’s shift of including feeling with function. In discovery of pigments, colour became a tool to emphasize the qualities of that which was depicted, while also differentiating the implementation of it among other mark-makings, and thus, giving way to the author, that is, artist.

Meta-Chroma continues to build upon the tradition of the first artists by applying the existing mark-making on a constructed surface that is both mark and “canvas” itself.

Andrew Ooi, 100, 2016 | 20 x 20 x 1.5 inches, 51 x 51 x 4 cm | Gampi, acrylic, ink, string, Ph Neutral glue, graphite, crayon, pastel

Andrew Ooi, Axis 2, 2016 | 10.5 x 10.5 x 1 inches, 27 x 27 x 2.5 cm | Gampi, acrylic, ink

Andrew Ooi, Axis 1, 2016 | 8 x 8 x 1.5 inches, 20 x 20 x 4 cm | Gampi, acrylic, ink

Constructing the surface for mark-making intensifies the nature of visual language in several ways. One, the surface (again) now acts as a mark itself: a line; a curve; even the “holes” become “dots” where no painted support exists. Two, the construction exaggerates the geometry of the marks, becoming a plural, or meta (connotative) mark. Three, constructed in high-relief or sculpture, the surface freely transforms to tool and material, subsequently expanding on the vocabulary of the art of paper folding (Origami).  Four, the multiple perspective and non-planar approach developed in Cubism and Minimal Art respectively (each with their own distinctive language) is pushed beyond the usual limit in absence of content and object. All that remains in the artwork is experience and feeling, and the experience of the feeling–also meta.

Andrew Ooi, Tangent 1, 2016 | 7 x 8 x 1.5 inches, 18 x 20 x 4 cm | Gampi, acrylic, ink

Andrew Ooi, Tangent 2, 2016 | 8.25 x 10 x 1.25 inches, 21 x 25 x 3 cm | Gampi, acrylic, ink

In combination with mark-making and structure, chroma – colour at its most pure form (without black, white or gray) – further emphasizes the meta- “reading,” experience, and feeling of the artwork. Articulation of chroma intensity is achieved through the recesses, projections and convexities of the constructed surface which allows for shadow and light to darken and brighten the employed hue. Colour becomes an agent of light, and in this way, composition mediates how much of what is exposed affects perception. The subjective inserts itself in the experience and feeling, creating the universal (meta- meta!) connotation of a visual language: the art of expression.

Andrew Ooi, Addition, 2016 | 7 x 7.25 x 1 inches | 17.75 x 18 x 2.5 cm | Gampi, acrylic, ink

Andrew Ooi, Expansion, 2016 | 10 x 10.5 x 1 | 25 x 27 x 2.5 cm | Gampi, acrylic, ink

Andrew Ooi, Vortex, 2016 | 7.75 x 7.75 x 1 inches, 20 x 20 x 2.5 cm | Gampi, acrylic, ink