Peace Time Ng Eng Teng Nationality: Singaporean. Year: 1993. Medium: Earthenware, oil paint. Size: 62 x 41 x 42cm.

Peace Time, 1993 (Fig. 7), composed of contrasting rounded or oval shapes within a rectilinear grid, is ironic in meaning. "There is a kind of bullet shape on a semi-circular form, and then the whole is contained within some extruded geometric clay grid which resembles a cage. It has a 'camouflage' colouring like that on our army uniforms, but this is in very bright colours. I call this Peace Time, for in peace time, all war weapons are 'caged', temporarily held in check, put there to be used at any time." A commentary on the conflicting aspects or inconsistencies of present-day existence, it belongs to Eng Teng's War and Peace series of which Portrait, 1986 (Fig. 8), with its bullet-like forms, is an earlier example. Apart from this series, political overtones are rare in his work.

--Bodies Transformed ch. 2

References

Constance Sheares. Bodies Transformed: Ng Eng Teng in the Nineties. Singapore: NUS Museums/ National University of Singapore, 1999.

This document is part of a joint project of the NUS Museums and the University Scholars Programme, National University of Singapore. This image and accompanying text appears here with the kind permission of the NUS Museums.

Last updated: 11 January 2001