Tatler Asia profiles Alvin Ong among three highlight artists at ArtSG 2025

16 Jan 2025

Alvin Ong is among three artists spotlighted by Tatler Asia showing at Art SG 2025, from Southeast Asia and beyond.

“I often see the body as a vessel and a vehicle for storytelling. Living between Singapore and London, I often feel simultaneously foreign and at the same time intimately related to both, and perhaps that could explain some of that surrealness.

I try to keep narratives as open‑ended as possible, even though some of the details and objects are very culturally specific or stem from some personal memory. It’s important that the works are true to life. Quite often the charge and absurdity stems from the narrative arc.

If a possible painterly resolution moves toward a direction that’s too kitsch, sentimental or obvious, I’ll attempt an about turn or start over. It’s a dance, animating the inanimate, orchestrating soundscapes without sound. And at the same time, because I’m also dealing with very formal elements such as colour and composition, I’m always looking for a solution that’s a fragile balance; so a suitcase morphs into a bed, a Chinese calendar becomes a doorway, and a reunion table transforms into a haloed being.

My figures manifest their desires and longings in familiar objects that momentarily ground them somewhat. They are extensions of their interior lives. They search for intimacy in unorthodox places. They participate in communal rituals in person or via their devices, but they are often lethargic, ambivalent, and at times alienated. Audiences are also often implicated too [as] voyeurs behind screens, mirrors and windows.”