John Clang

John Clang
Clang
Born	Ang Choon Leng 1973 (age 41–42) Singapore
Nationality	Singaporean
Known for	Photography, visual arts
Website
www.johnclang.com

John Clang, born Ang Choon Leng (Chinese: 汪春龙; pinyin: Wāng Chūnlóng), is a New York-based Singaporean photographer and visual artist. Clang's work has been exhibited in galleries and museums worldwide.^[1]^[2]^[3] National Museum of Singapore^[4] and Singapore Art Museum acquired his artwork as part of their permanent collection.^[5]

In January 2013, a showcase of over 90 works by Clang was exhibited at the National Museum of Singapore, together with more than 40 historical family portraits from the museum's collection.^[6]^[7]

Early years

Clang was born Ang Choon Leng (汪春龙) in Singapore. He earned his moniker while in the National Service in Singapore as his badge read C L Ang.^[8] At age 17 he enrolled in Lasalle College of the Arts in Singapore to study fine arts but left after six months to assist fine-art photographer Chua Soo Bin, who received the Cultural Medallion in 1988.^[9]

Work

Clang's work explores the commonplaces, mundane subject matters and common nuances that closely relate to our daily life. His work betrays his fascination with time, space and how one negotiate the human existences with these dimensions.

The Land of My Heart (2014) is a series of work which re-appropriates the icon of the Singapore Girl, Singapore Airlines’ air stewardess, to contemplate on vestiges of identity and personal memories encapsulated in nostalgic spaces of a rapidly evolving motherland.^[10]

Being Together (2010–2012) is a series of family portraits using Skype VoIP (voice over Internet Protocol) technology to do live recording of family members and project them across continents.^[11]

Installation View of Being Together, National Museum of Singapore

Clang started on the series by photographing his own family in 2010. From 2010 to 2012, he located Singaporeans around the world and travelled to cities such as London, Paris, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Los Angeles and Seattle to photograph these sitters with their families in Singapore.^[12] These forty family portraits were exhibited with his other works in the National Museum of Singapore in January 2013.^[13]

Time (2009) is a series of that involves recording a location, to show the passing of time in a montage style.^[14]^[15]

Exhibitions

Selected solo exhibitions

2001 Backs, DVF studio, New York City
2003 They Were in Color: 4 June 2001 – 27 January 2002, Galerie Colette, Paris, France
2003 Fear of Losing the Existence, Bank Art Gallery, Los Angeles, USA
2004 Clang. A Self Portrait, Jendela Gallery/The Esplanade, Singapore
2007 Clang: A White Book, The Substation, Singapore
2010 Con(Front), 2902 Gallery, Singapore^[16]
2012 John Clang: Self Reflection, Pékin Fine Arts, Beijing, China^[17]
2013 Being Together: Family & Portraits – Photographing with John Clang, National Museum of Singapore, Singapore^[18]^[19]
2013 When I say you are dreaming, so am I, 2902 Gallery, Art Stage Singapore, Singapore^[20]
2014 (Re)Contextualizing My Mind, Pékin Fine Arts, Hong Kong.^[21]

Selected group exhibitions

1993 Critical Framework, 5th Passage Gallery, Singapore
2002 Porn?, Proud Galleries, London, UK
2002 Fascination, Singapore Art Museum, Singapore
2009 (super)natural, The Tobacco Warehouse, Brooklyn, New York City^[22]
2009 TransportAsian, Singapore Art Museum, Singapore
2010 Through the Looking Glass, Annexe Gallery, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
2010 Through the Looking Glass, 2902 Gallery, Singapore
2010 HIDEntities, mc2gallery, Milan, Italy
2010 2nd Dali International Photography Festival, Human : Nature, Dali, Yunan, China
2010 Human Faces, National Museum of Singapore, Singapore^[23]
2010 The 2010 Sovereign Asian Art Prize, Artspace@Helutrans, Singapore
2011 The Open Daybook Exhibition, Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions (LACE), Los Angeles, USA
2011 ANGSANA: Southeast Asian Photographers Taking Flight, 2902 Gallery, Singapore
2011 The 2010 Sovereign Asian Art Prize, The Rotunda, Exchange Square, Hong Kong
2011 NOW or NEVER, ION Art Gallery, Singapore
2011 What's Next 30 x 30 Creative Exhibition, The OCT Art & Design Gallery, Shenzhen, China^[24]
2011 What's Next 30 x 30 Creative Exhibition, ArtisTree, Hong Kong^[25]
2011 Not Too Far Away, 2902 Gallery, Singapore
2012 The 2011 Sovereign Asian Art Prize, The Sands Expo and Convention Center, Singapore
2012 Crossing SEA(s), 2902 Gallery, Singapore
2012 I See China, Pékin Fine Arts, Beijing, China^[26]
2012 Paper Moon, KSU Art Museum, Kennesaw, USA^[27]
2012 Venti d'Oriente, mc2gallery, Milan, Italy^[28]
2012 W I T H ( O U T ), Brockspace, London, UK ^[29]
2013 Zoological, 2902 Gallery, Singapore ^[30]
2013 Ghost, Scupture Square, Singapore^[31]
2014 Family Matters, Centre for Contemporary Culture Strozzina, Florence, Italy^[32]
2014 Anthropos New York, Sundaram Tagore, New York, USA^[33]
2014 Afterimage: Contemporary Photography from Southeast Asia, Singapore Art Museum, Singapore^[34]
2014 Asuntos domésticos, Sala exposiciones Diputación de Huesca, Spain ^[35]
2014 War Room, Pékin Fine Arts Hong Kong ^[36]

Awards

On 19 November 2010, John Clang became the first photographer in Singapore to receive the Designer of the Year award at the annual President's Design Award. The President's Design Award is the most prestigious design accolade in Singapore.^[37]^[38]

He was one of the 30 finalists for the Sovereign Asian Art Prize 2010.^[39]