Acquaintances at the Bank
2018 - 2019

Presented as part of at second sight, held at Coda Culture, Singapore. Curated by Samantha Yap.

Conceived during his recent residency at Salzburger Kunstverein in Salzburg, Austria, this series of mixed-media assemblages titled Acquaintances at the Bank, continues the artist’s sustained engagement with intimate spaces. The formation of these assemblages draws visual cues from recollections of close, transient encounters along the Salzach riverbank, a popular landmark known for its expansive views of the city, bird-watching spots, and its association with the Love Locks Bridge.

In this series, the works bring together found materials and readymades that collectively establish a provenance of intimacy. Subtly embedded within the work is the recurring presence of waterfowl frequently observed along the river, whose patterns of movement, congregation, and return register as a quiet ecological rhythm within the site. Neither foregrounded nor symbolic in any fixed sense, these avian presences operate as ambient witnesses to the unfolding of human interaction, mirroring the provisional and episodic nature of social contact along the bank. The resulting assemblages gesture toward an affectionate annexing of feelings, sights, and memories, piecing together fragments of lived experience that speak to the tenderness and impermanence of the artist’s time in Salzburg.