Mr Liu Thai Ker

Chairman of the Singapore Tyler Print Institute

His Excellency, Folco De Luca Gabrielli

Italian Ambassador to Singapore

Ladies and Gentlemen

Good evening

I am delighted to join you this evening to launch an exciting series of prints by one of Asia�s leading contemporary artists, Zhu Wei.  Today�s event also celebrates the third anniversary of the Singapore Tyler Print Institute and commemorates the tremendous support that it has enjoyed during its brief history.

Contemporary Chinese Print Series

2          Today�s exhibition, titled �New Images of the Strikingly Bizarre�, presents a powerful series of etchings and woodcuts created during Zhu Wei�s residence at STPI in March and April last year.  It is the result of intense collaboration between the artist and the printmakers and papermakers of the Singapore Tyler Print Institute.

3          The imagery within Zhu Wei�s work is familiar to those who have followed his development.  But their execution and representation are new.  They reflect the artist�s constant movement with the times.

4          Zhu Wei is one of the leaders in the extremely vibrant world of contemporary Chinese art.  Like several others, his work is inspired by the realities and the tensions inherent in a society going through enormous transformation.  Yet Zhu Wei�s work stands apart from his contemporaries in many ways.  His work combines the aesthetics and artistic techniques of both Western and Chinese art forms.  Zhu Wei draws on everyday, mundane activities as well as the various episodes in China�s modern history.  His imagery may appear solemn and simple in nature, but conveys immense meaning.  I am told that the print series will be exhibited in Hong Kong and New York after this.

Global City for the Arts

5          I am glad to see the Singapore Tyler Print Institute developing well, and contributing to Singapore�s evolution into a global city for the arts.  The benefits that a vibrant arts scene confers on a nation are immeasurable.  The arts enrich our cultural experience.  But they do more than this.  The arts and creative disciplines are one of the principal trainers of our imagination.  They contribute to the spirit of boldness, the desire to do things differently, and the diversity that is the hallmark of all innovative cities.

6          That is why the Government is partnering with the arts community to develop Singapore into a place where local, Asian and international artists can present their works and forge new artistic collaborations such as what we see today.

7          Since its establishment in 2002, the Singapore Tyler Print Institute has brought together renowned artists from Asia for collaboration in printmaking.  Last year, the Institute went beyond printmaking.  In collaboration with the Singapore Tourism Board and various private organisations, the Institute arranged for the acclaimed Philippine artist, Pacita Abad to �paint� the Alkaff Bridge that spans the Singapore River at Roberson Quay.  I am also glad that the Institute is collaborating with local arts schools like the Lasalle-SIA College of the Arts.  The collaboration enables students to understand the workings of a print workshop and to train with STPI's printmaking facilities.