In 2001, I wrote a book called the Nethe(r);R. It was critically acclaimed but I think its the kind of book no one really has an interest to grasp. It was my attempt to absorb all the theoretical aesthetic ideas of the West, assimilate them, and then spear them on a canvas of literary aphorisms.

The new editions are now on sale at Room for Dessert, Blk 261 Waterloo Street. They are priced at 28 dollars.

Thank you for reading.
Kelvin

I am hopeless in technology. As much as I know of its importance and usefulness in the world today, I just can’t seem to get the hang of it. As much as I’m fascinated, I remain distanced from it.

So, when my good friends and partner at Room for Dessert Deborah Soh suggested she could do a website for me, I was puzzled by it. I didn’t really know the potential of such an undertaking.

Now, I do. Debs did a great job, putting in pictures, and adding information and quotes which everyone can have access to. I’ve gotten good responses through the years and I’m really grateful to her for having done it.

Wang JianBin (aka Bin) has continued her good work by creating a new site for me. An interactive artist I respect, Bin has managed to upload some of my music, and also put more graphic visuals and photos to it, and a blog, with links to different sites. Last I heard, he’s uploaded EX-TOIL, video artist Toh Hun Ping’s (also a good friend) visual creation of the remix of my music. I love Hun Ping’s work and am honored that he would even consider using my music for his work. I thank Bin and Hun Ping for their hard and beautiful work!

Through the years, I’ve taught at Lasalle College for the Arts, and have met and made friends with some of the finest artists that have come out from Singapore or any part of the world. Painters like Sia Joo Hiang, Rossalyn Tan, painter and musician Jeremy Sharma, artist and toy-maker Weng Pixin, and of course Hun Ping and Bin. I believe in the true power of friendship and Art put together, and that it can transform Art and communities as a whole.

Making Art in Singapore is a very surreal experience for me. When you are interested in reality, your own personal vision, and to plunge the depths of art, you are often greeted with disinterest, puzzlement and ignorance. Especially if you decide to be indifferent to the status quo, and to the upper echelon of bureaucracies.

50 albums, 2 books, and a few plays later, I held on to what I believe. Skeptical and questioning, I am also hopeful and determined to push the envelope and to be as uncompromising, if not more than before, in my Art, and in my life.

Perhaps this new website is an embodiment of those traits, and perhaps not. But whatever it is, it is here for your perusal. Check it out if you want. Don’t if you won’t. It may make no difference to you. We live. We die. But if it does, then it’s my gain, as much as it is yours.

STRAIGHT UP!
Kelvin

EX.TOIL embodies Toh Hun Ping’s transpositions of selected cover and sleeve designs of
Kelvin Tan’s music CD albums, and is gestured to one of Jeremy Sharma’s transliterations
of Kelvin Tan’s music. It is created using scanned images of scratched colour film strips.

EX.TOIL (excerpts) from Toh Hun Ping on Vimeo.

EX.TOIL (credits) from Toh Hun Ping on Vimeo.

EX.TOIL by Toh Hun Ping, Kelvin Tan & Jeremy Sharma is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 Singapore License.
Based on a work at www.vimeo.com.