New Releases Old Friends
22nd March, 2025 – 4th May, 2025
STPI – Creative Workshop & Gallery
41 Robertson Quay
Singapore 238236
STPI – Creative Workshop & Gallery presents New Releases Old Friends, a compelling group
show that brings together prominent international artists Angela Bulloch (Canada/Germany),
Richard Deacon (UK), Janice Kerbel (Canada/UK), Tobias Rehberger (Germany) and Pae
White (USA) for the first time. Running from 22 March to 4 May 2025, the exhibition spotlights
new facets of their respective practices, with fresh works by Bulloch, Kerbel and Rehberger
premiering in Singapore alongside earlier works by Deacon and White – all developed in
close collaboration with STPI’s Creative Workshop during their residencies with the esteemed
Visting Artists Programme (VAP).
Image courtesy of STPI – Creative Workshop & Gallery, Singapore.
In the exhibition’s title, Old Friends further highlights STPI’s creative ethos, which pulses
around the collaboration, camaraderie, and challenge of the artist-workshop relationship at
its heart. Empowered by the workshop team’s “never say no” attitude, invited artists would
propose radical ways of using printmaking and papermaking processes to achieve their
vision, leading to intense experimentation and breakthroughs that push the boundaries of
the mediums. STPI continues to stand as a valuable institution in the vibrant regional art
scene, championing Singapore as a vital hub for artistic exchange with international players.
“New Releases Old Friends is an ode to community, and the longstanding friendships
STPI has made since our establishment in 2002. The exhibiting artists who have
crossed paths with the Gallery and the Creative Workshop are not just challenging
the boundaries of printmaking and papermaking, but also weave new narratives into
Singapore’s art scene.” – Emi Eu, Executive Director, STPI
Highlights from New Releases Old Friends include the 53rd Venice Biennale’s Golden Lion
awardee Tobias Rehberger’s “stained” tablecloth series, which will be draped over a table
with chairs, inviting the audience to sit and gather. He used 3D modelling to produce 2D
cross-section images which look like stains, as part of his broader practice to disrupt our
initial perception of everyday objects and their functions.
Image courtesy of STPI – Creative Workshop & Gallery, Singapore.
1997 Turner Prize nominee Angela Bulloch and the workshop pioneered a “laser-off” technique
for her Non-Euclid Intercontinental series, where a digitally manipulated image by the artist
was fed through a laser-cut machine. The machine removed layers from a paper primed with
ink to produce images that tease at the interplay of the digital and the material, the two- and
three-dimensional, which are recurring themes in her practice.
As an extension of a project working with synchronised swimmers to choreograph a pool
performance, 2015 Turner Prize nominee Janice Kerbel examines the “language” of swimming
pool designs by shaping papers to various pool shapes that sits between visual and type. The
artist catalogues the “typology” of pools, reimagining the ways we can read the visual forms
surrounding us.
1987 Turner Prize awardee Richard Deacon first did a residency in 2011, where he experimented
with “printing” on water through the process of creating large-scale marbled paper, which
were then fashioned into three-dimensional sculptures. Inspired by Housing Development
Board (HDB) flats, the public housing blocks found in Singapore, these structures demonstrate
the artist’s sculptural sensibilities while also pushing paper to exceed its surface purpose to
become an art-making material in its own right.
Part of the exhibition’s title is inspired by San José Museum of Art’s honoree Pae White’s
solo show, Friendship is Magic with STPI in 2021. During her residency, she allowed herself to
wander around Singapore and be guided by her relationships formed with the workshop team.
This created UNLOST, a series that comes from a larger series of flocked works simulating
multicoloured, overlapping threads, inspired by White’s notable thread installations where
she would criss-cross the material throughout the exhibition space to create density.
The exhibition continues STPI’s worldbuilding as an established institution for print and
papermaking experimental practices since 2002, while emphasising the gallery’s commitment
to foster long-lasting connections between Singapore and the international art community.
Coinciding with the opening weekend of New Releases Old Friends, STPI’s annual Open
House on 22 and 23 March 2025 invites members of the public for an exclusive insider’s look
of the Creative Workshop and a chance to experience various printmaking and papermaking
techniques under STPI’s expert guidance.
New Releases Old Friends opens on the 22nd of March, 2025 until the 4th of May, 2025 at STPI – Creative Workshop & Gallery
©2025 STPI – Creative Workshop & Gallery
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