KAYLEIGH GOH

ARTIST

PAINTING | INSTALLATION

Artist Statement

Image courtesy - HGallery https://www.hgallery.com.my/

ARTIST STATEMENT

Interested in the psychological and emotional healing qualities in paintings and spatial experiences,
Kayleigh's art practice draws on poetic, meditative, auto-ethnographic reflections of urban architectural environments.

Biography

(b.1993, Johor Bahru, Malaysia)
Currently based in Naarm Melbourne, Singapore, and Johor, Malaysia.
Kayleigh is a graduate of VCA, the University of Melbourne with a Master of Contemporary Art 2021

and received her BA (Fine Arts) from Singapore Lasalle College of the Arts in 2016.

She had her solo debut in 2018 with Singapore Gajah Gallery
and has since actively shown in solo and group shows around the region.

Exhibitions

EXHIBITIONS

Salutogenesis - Gajah Gallery, 2023
Cement, cement strengthener, acrylic paint, gesso on wood
TimeOut Interview: Artist Kayleigh Goh artist uses cement and wood to create contemplative spaces in her paintings (timeout.com)

"Salutogenesis represents wanting the core of my art practice to revolve around questioning how visual arts, particularly paintings, can contribute to a person's health." - Kayleigh Goh

In recent years, art has become increasingly linked to healing, therapy, and overall well-being. Undoubtedly, engaging with art, whether through observation or creation, provides effective stress relief and an enjoyable experience. Scientific studies have also demonstrated that art can stimulate the brain's reward pathways, leading to reduced stress, decreased anxiety levels, and an enhancement of our overall mood.

Singapore Melbourne-based artist Kayleigh Goh’s third solo exhibition, Salutogenesis, explores just that. In our conversation with her, we delve into the inspirations driving her artistic focus, the meditative quality her work offers not only to the audience but also to herself during the creative process, her initial encounter with unconventional materials in her paintings, and other intriguing aspects of her artistic journey.

by - Mingli Seet

S.E.A FOCUS - Gajah Gallery, 2023

KAO SHAN 靠山
Cement, cement strengthener, acrylic paint, gesso on wood

Kayleigh Goh’s signature cement on wood paintings contain quiet, imagined spaces for audiences to escape amidst chaotic urban life. Through the combination of exposed wood and cement, Goh strives for balance – the warmth of the wood and the coldness of the concrete work together to achieve a dissonant, yet comfortable sense of harmony.

Goh views cement as a homely material. To her, the concrete jungle has become so infused in our lives that its negative reputation no longer holds relevance. The hard lines present in her work similarly challenge the general impression that geometric designs hold no emotion. The 90-degree angles in urban design, the flat color of our walls, and the abundance of cement have all become elements of familiarity to the city-goer. Her works thus protest against long-held notions and instead, embraces the city as her space for healing.

In these pieces, for the first time, Goh incorporates serene mountainous landscapes within her architectural spaces – capturing the healing, comforting qualities of the distant outdoors against these cold, grey structures.“
- S.E.A FOCUS Kayleigh Goh – S.E.A. Focus (seafocus.sg)

GLOSSOLALIA, 2022-2023 Group show

by NOTFAIR + Conpendium Gallery

with stories by
Bernhard Sachs, Talitha Kennedy, Shanrah Austin, Ash Coates, Darren Tanny Tan,
Donna Kendrigan, Rowan E. Cassidy, Trinh Linh Chi and Kayleigh Goh.

Editors: Tony Lloyd, Sam Leach, Ashley Crawford

Images courtesy - Simon Strong ( Images 4th-8th )

"Kayleigh Goh’s paintings, sculptures and installations are poetic meditations on architecture and urban environments. For her the physical nature of the constructed world is rich with panpsychic agency. In Goh’s work, objects participate in the process of art making and her installations reveal a less human-centric perspective on reality. The forms are recognisably architectural and yet they have an intriguing strangeness, reminiscent of Borges’ short story The Immortal where a man explores a labyrinthine city which was seemingly not built with humans in mind."

A City Orchestra, 2020 - Ongoing

Glass, wood, cement, stone, canvas, plants, ceramis, foraged items,
A New Materialist Psychogeoprahy project

Master of Contemporary Arts, VCA,
The University of Melbourne Graduation Show.
VCA ART 2021 | Kayleigh Goh (unimelb.edu.au)

This project draws on auto-ethnographic reflections on quotidian urban environments and is particularly driven by a curiosity for architectural spaces’ psychological and poetic meditations.

The environments that surround us continually influence a fluid sense of identity, itself interwoven with a rhizomatic, ever-changing material environment. Our identities are composed of complex, intricate unfixed elements, through which we experience a state of constant ‘becomings’.

A City Orchestra flows with this fluidity, opposed to a fixed state, as an unbound multi-faceted installation within and external to the white cube. The work is equal parts performance, process and residue, responding to the traditions of psycho-geography. It sees the city as a living organism, recognising seemingly inanimate elements and structures as living agents, acknowledging the various ‘voices’ in both coalescence and guidance of the Orchestra’s composition.

To Draw a Line: Reflections on Drawing as Form, 2021

School of Art, Design and Media, Singapore.
Curated by Marc Gloede
Images courtesy - ADM Gallery
To Draw A Line: Reflections on Drawing as Form - ADM Gallery

"The question of what drawing is today - how it can be understood or redefined in the age of so-called post-media conditions-can be recognised as one of the most interesting discussions in art over the last 60 years. But, as much as the foundations of an understanding of drawing may have been shaken, room has been made for new perspectives and approaches.

To Draw a Line is an exhibition that pays tribute to these developments and takes a close look at the changing status of drawing. It combines historic works with those of a younger generation of artists whose approaches to drawing expand the discipline into other forms of representation, revealing an increasing independence of the form. The works highlight drawing as its own artform, along developments in minimalism and conceptual art, as well as non-Western discourses.

Drawings, as seen in this exhibition, connect these different fields as rational calculation and subjective expression, concept and materiality; and point to its relationship to sculpture and architecture in ways that further open up discussions of the gesture and the act of drawing. " - ADM Gallery

A Room of Thoughts, Bedroom Instagram Show, Online, 2020

“A Room of Thoughts”, 2020 Online Solo Instagram Show Kayleigh Goh Variable Dimensions

A Room of Thoughts is a solo show presenting a series of paintings in her room.
This show is a curated as a compilation of thoughts that has emerged from the point of her room.
Similar to a personal dairy, the show is a journal of personal introspective thoughts.

The show will be published online in her own social media platform,
showing only “Traces” of the “Room of Thoughts”.

Like our individual introspective minds.
We are all fundamentally separated and one cannot truly fully understand another person.
No matter how deeply thoughts are shared there will always be a gap of understanding.

The Scent that Lingers, Yogya Art Lab Show, Indonesia, 2020
Pengalaman Aromatis dari Kayleigh Goh di Gajah Gallery (dewimagazine.com)

"Just as particular scents can transport us to the intimate moments of our lives, so do the spaces she creates. Marked by delicate, significant details, Kayleigh’s work mirrors the disjointed nature of memory – giving the viewer the agency to tell their own story. Despite this, Kayleigh is profoundly aware that these experiences can only be absorbed when we become present to the wonder of our everyday. She asks the audience to closely observe these small moments, giving them the power to linger just a little bit longer."
- Nicole Soriano

What are we Seeking to be, Shaping Geographies: Art, Women, Southeast Asia, Singapore, 2019
Curated by Dr Michelle Antoinette and Dr Wulan Dirgantoro

"Focusing on architectural forms and objects, Kayleigh Goh’s cement paintings on wood prove that women’s art is not and should not be a defined style and is most definitely no longer restricted to the body-oriented art that dominated earlier works of female artists. In her current practice, Kayleigh uses cement in place of paint, and together with found objects picked up from actual locations referenced in the title, she constructs artificial urban environments. Devoid of human figures, her work depicts blank walls and empty corners, and sometimes windows and doorways that look out into further emptiness. Jalan Tebrau (2019), depicts an artificial space in shades of grey with some play of light and shadows. The work feels ‘cold’ and evokes a jarring sense of loneliness and solitude."
-Noorshidah Ibrahim ( Art+Australia Online)
https://www.artandaustralia.com/online/discursions/women-artists-southeast-asia-strength-and-unity-diversity

Just another Paralleled Day, Placing Home Woodlands, Singapore, 2019
Curated by Dr Wang Ruobing
https://artsforall.sg/events/arts-in-your-neighbourhood-placing-home-woodlands.aspx

While a place is defined by its historical and cultural identity, and a space can emerge when a physical area is imbued with social meanings, home is created when place and space meet – it is a habitat for humanity associated with a piece of soul.

Drawing from this concept, Placing Home: Woodlands presents 5 artworks in the neighbourhood that invite all to look at our surroundings with a fresh perspective and ask questions about the world in which we live.

A commission by the National Arts Council’s Public Art Trust.

"Just Another Paralleled Day is a site-specific installation exploring Kayleigh's Goh experience of living in a border city. Though she has never lived in Woodlands, it is familiar to her as she commuted between Johor Bahru and Singapore almost daily from 2014-2016 while studying in here. (Singapore) The artwork draws inspiration from her journeys - from places to spaces, home to school, and room to studio - and reflects the psychological state of living between cities that often feels akin to living two parallel lives.

The artist's choice of location underlines her concept: a circulation space, this void deck is used by residents of Block 823, park users of Fu Shan Garden, and students of the school nearby en route to their destinations. It too, is a place of transit."
- Public Art Trust, Arts in your Neighbourhood

Gold Gold Real Estate, Oh! Emerald Hill by OH! Open House, Singapore, 2018

"The Gold Gold Real Estate Agency invited audiences to look for their dream homes in Emerald Hill. A conservation neighbourhood, each home in Emerald Hill has its own distinct architectural features, some of which were represented in the paintings displayed at the agency. Each painting of the facades of Emerald Hill shophouses is a tidy, easily consumable representation of our culture and heritage. They were contrasted with a series of paintings placed by the door, which depicted anonymous interior spaces that are contemporary in their colour palette and composition – there is no heritage to be found there."
- Oh! Open House
https://ohopenhouse.org/OH-Emerald-Hill-Buy-Empire

"Malaysian artist Kayleigh Goh presents a real estate shop with “listings” of shophouses from Emerald Hill. The shop hangs many delicate, textured paintings. Each work focuses on the distinct architectural features of the facades of shophouses in this conservation estate, which are often the only parts of the houses that are actually conserved. Each is a tidy, easily consumable representation of culture and heritage."
- Akshita Nanda (The Star Newspaper)
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/lifestyle/emerald-hill-oh-open-house-art-walk-colonialism-9973398

And Yet, If Only, Solo-Debut, Gajah Gallery, Singapore, 2018

"Goh expands on a burgeoning visual practice begun in Lasalle College of the Arts, from which the artist graduated in 2016. Her works are rooted in the all-too-familiar disaffection of construction materials appropriated from the realm of functionality to create serene, balanced spaces of contemplation. Whilst the typical architectural experience requires its viewer to be entirely enveloped in its art, Goh’s two-dimensional architectural transcriptions discount physicality from the experience. These illusory spaces cannot and will not have or hold any actual thing. As such, the planarity of Goh’s works prioritizes the metaphysical; in the artist’s own words, they act as portals for escape – escape from the cacophony of life, escape from the corporeal and into the mind."
- Gajah Gallery

Gajah Gallery Presents Malaysian artist Kayleigh Goh — Art & Market (artandmarket.net)

And Yet, If Only: A Solo Presentation by Kayleigh Goh | Art in Singapore (timeout.com)

And yet, if only: A Solo Presentation by Kayleigh Goh – Singapore Art & Gallery Guide | Art Events & Exhibitions in Singapore (sagg.info)

Lost in Amidst of Time, Noise Art Mentorship Programme, Oh! Open House, Singapore, 2017
Kayleigh Goh - OH! Open House (ohopenhouse.org)

"Proposals for Waterloo challenged 12 young artists to create site-specific artworks for the underused and overlooked spaces of Waterloo Centre – from the kopitiam on the first floor, to the empty cells along the stairwells of the residential floors. Their works transformed the entire building into a ‘vertical gallery’.

One artist wrapped a structure stretching across the plaza in black fabric. Another constructed a cave using objects discarded by residents. A painter played with the aging textures of the building’s architecture. Each work proposed a new way of encountering everyday these everyday spaces.

This programme was commissioned by Noise Singapore, an initiative of the National Arts Council. Noise Singapore is dedicated to making noise about the creative talent of young people aged 35 and below. Through the Noise Art Mentorship, Noise Singapore hopes to encourage young people in Singapore to actively participate in and nurture their relationship with the arts."
- Oh! Open House

Proposals for Waterloo begins on the 15th floor with Kayleigh Goh’s painting installation. Visually inspired by the cracks and peeling paint around Waterloo Centre, she incorporated construction materials and debris as both canvas and paint. Adopting the language of aging architecture, combined with a soft palette, the artist invites us to contemplate the impermanance of the structures around us.

Days Living in a Lullaby 子守唄のような優しい日々
Japan Art Residency Show, Studio Kura, Itoshima, Fukuoka, Japan, 2017

Announcing Kayleigh Goh’s Exhibition “Days Being in a Soft Lullaby 子守唄のような優しい日々” | Studio Kura

We are pleased to announce an exhibition Days Being in a Soft Lullaby 子守唄のような優しい日々
by Kayleigh Goh on October 26 (Thu) to 28 (Sat), as a result of her activity during her stay at Studio Kura.

She is interested in the psychological and poetic implication of place, a specific locale or environment that has its character on its own. With everyday construction materials as her paint and canvas, alongside her soft palette, her works often, speak more about the quiet places.

In Itoshima,

Of the scenery, architecture and encounters,
I felt as if I was put into a repeating Lullaby playlist

Soft and Quiet

Like a Newborn
Embarking a journey experiencing a variety of new experiences

Like a Newborn
Sprouting conscious
Learning about one’s individuality

A simple state of calm and joy.

CV

EDUCATION

2023-present Master of Nursing Science, University of Melbourne, Australia
2020-2021 Master of Contemporary Art, VCA University of Melbourne, Australia, First Class Honours

2012-2016 Bachelor of Honours Fine Art, Lasalle College of the Arts, Singapore

2011-2012 Foundation Certificate in Visual Art, Lasalle College of the Arts, Singapore

SCHOLARSHIPS

2023 Melbourne Global Graduate Scholarship - University of Melbourne, Australia

2020 Stuart Black Memorial Scholarship - University of Melbourne, Australia

2015-2016 Dou Yee Company Scholarship, Singapore

AWARD & SHORTLISTING

2019 Nominated Entry for Sovereign Art Prize 2020

2018 Final Prize Winner for 2017 VADA - Untapped Emerging

2017 Finalist UOB Painting Award - Malaysia

2017 Finalist Clifton Art Prize - Singapore

2016 Selected Mentorship - Noise Mentorship by OH! Open House

ART GRANT
2019 Asia-Europe Foundation Mobility Grant

2018 Singapore Public Art Trust “Placing Home: Woodlands”

ART RESIDENCY
2019 Yogya Art Lab, Yogyakarta, Indonesia

2017 Studio Kura, Itoshima, Japan

ART EXHIBITION
SOLO SHOW
2023 Salutogenesis, Solo Showcase - Gajah Gallery, Singapore
2022 A City Orchestra, VCA Master of Contemporary Art Graduation Show
2020 Soft Whispers of the City, Instagram Online Show
2020 A Room of Thoughts, Instagram Online Show
2020 The Scent that Lingers, Yogyakarta Art Lab, Indonesia

2018 And Yet, If Only, Solo Showcase - Gajah Gallery, Singapore
2017 Days Being in a Lullaby, Studio Kura, Itoshima, Japan

SELECTED GROUP SHOW
ART FAIRS & ART FESTIVALS

2024 Art Fair Philippines, Gajah Gallery, Philippines
2024 Art SG, Gajah Gallery, Singapore
2024 Chronic Compulsions, The Private Museum, Singapore

2023 Which is Which? A Survey of Artists from LASALLE & NAFA, Gajah Gallery, Singapore
2023 Le Lendemain, George Paton Gallery, Australia
2023 OH! Benefit Gala 2023, Oh! Open House, Singapore
2023 Art Kyoto, Gajah Gallery, Singapore
2023 S.E.A FOCUS, Singapore, Gajah Gallery, Singapore

2022 National Gallery Singapore - Gallery Benefit | Past. Future. Present - Online Auction by PHILLIPS

2022 GLOSSOLALIA, by NOTFAIR & Compendium Gallery, Australia

2022 Gajah Gallery Jakarta Opening Exhibition, Indonesia
2022 Art Moments Jakarta Online, Indonesia
2022 Reframing Roots, Singapore Art Week, Gajah Gallery, Singapore

2021 Voices Underneath Our Feet collaboration with Melanie Cobham, VCA Art Space, Australia
2021 A Window Orchestra “Coming from- Going to", VCA Art Space, Australia
2021 To Draw a Line - Nanyang Technological University Singapore, ADM Singapore
2021 TWENTYFIVE – Gajah 25th Anniversary Show, Singapore
2021 Art Moments Jakarta Online, Indonesia

2020 The Humanity of Small Things, Gajah Gallery, Singapore

2020 ERASURE, Centre of Visual Arts (CoVA), Melbourne

2020 GENSET, Gajah Gallery, Singapore

2020 Nothing to hide, LNR Warehouse, Singapore

2020 EMERGING Selections from the DUO, The Private Museum, Singapore

2019 Shaping Geographies. Gajah Gallery, Singapore
2019 ASIA NOW, Paris Asian Art Fair, Art Season Gallery, France
2019 ArtExpo Malaysia, Gajah Gallery, Malaysia
2019 ARTKyoto, Gajah Gallery, Japan
2019 ArtJakarta, Gajah Gallery, Indonesia
2019 Wine Night, Gajah Gallery, Singapore

2019 Art Moments, Gajah Gallery, Indonesia

2019 Monumenta, Gajah Gallery, Singapore

2019 Taipei DangDai Art Fair, Gajah Gallery, Taiwan

2018 Placing Home: Woodlands, Singapore Public Art Trust, Singapore

2018 Malaysia Art Expo, Gajah Gallery, Malaysia
2018 Wine Night, Gajah Gallery, Singapore

2018 Oh! Emerald Hill 2018, Oh! Open House, Singapore

2018 Art Stage 2018 - Gajah Gallery, Singapore

2017 Johor Bahru Arts Festival, Painting the sound of JB collaboration with sound artist ESCURI, Malaysia
2017 The New Now, Gajah Gallery, Singapore

2017 Asian Students Young Artists Art Festival, DDP Plaza, Korea

2017 Untapped Emerging - VADA, ChanHori Shophouse 5, Singapore

2017 Noise Art Mentorship Showcase: Proposals for Waterloo, Singapore

2016 Art Moves II, TCC Cafe, Singapore