During the recently concluded Singapore Arts Festival, the Singapore Tourism Board invited journalists, including this writer, to watch some of the shows making their world premieres, as well as to visit buildings dedicated to arts and culture. One of them was the STPI, a printmaking workshop, an art gallery and a paper mill.
The idea of building a printmaking workshop in Singapore was first considered in the mid-‘90s by Kenneth Tyler, an innovative American printer and publisher of fine art prints.
"Tyler Graphics in New York is like the Cadillac of printing in the States," said Martin Tan, STPI head of marketing, communication and sales. "Tyler has worked with artists such as Frank Stella, Robert Rauschenberg, Jasper Johns, all the big names in America. He looked at Asia as the next step for the workshop. He wanted to position it in a place that is suitable for artists to go to, and Singapore is a sort of crossroads."
Thus the country became an ideal ground for the "amalgamation of Eastern and Western printmaking techniques, and artistic practices."
The institute collaborates with artists to develop techniques in printmaking and papermaking, and to create works that nobody in the world can produce. Also, the institute spearheads public lectures and workshops.
"We bring in six artists per year via our VAP or Visiting Artist Program. They are carefully selected. They spend roughly one month with us. They work with the printers and papermakers to produce prints, mono-prints or works on paper, which we call paper pulping."
Abstractionist Frank Stella had his first major exhibition in Asia in 2002 at the STPI. The Tear Up the Rule Books exhibit – which featured Stella, Johns, Roy Lichtenstein, Rauschenberg – was mounted from late 2002 until early 2003. Our very own Pacita Abad also exhibited at the institute. Her exhibit, Circles in my Mind, featured prints and paper pulp works embedded with objects and materials. Last June, Bencab was at the STPI, working with printers and papermakers, and collaborating on new methods to create art. (More on Bencab’s stint at the STPI in another article.)
"We try to make the artists do something they’ve never done before, and we’re not reproducing anything," shared Tan. "Everything they create here is started from scratch."
Fact is, the STPI is about making original workshop; it is not in the business of making posters. Tan added, "In reproductions, you start with an original and then go to the printer to have the colors separated. At STPI, we start off with the color separations. We work the other way around."
One method the institute uses is paper-pulp painting. Tan showed us the studio, which acts as the artist’s playground. Several of Bencab’s artworks lay on the floor. Not done in omnipresent oil, acrylic or charcoal, mind you. They were all "paper-on-paper" paintings.
"The marks that you see are not paint, but actually paper – fine particles of paper mixed with pigment. They are brushed on top of a paper deck that is not yet formed. We get the artist to brush pulp on top. So this is like painting paper on paper. It is a very difficult medium to work with," explained Tan.
Challenging, yes. Something that makes the artists reconsider their dusty, stock methods of making art, yes. But who says art is done by androids on autopilot?