Singapore painter Andre Tan has developed a clear Pop Art style for his commentary on consumerism and its popular culture. Juxtaposing disparate images and often including brand logos or advertising, Tan’s works consider the reverential attitude shown towards luxury goods and popular culture, while also referencing well-known artists from Andy Warhol and Yayoi Kusuma, to Damien Hirst and Bansky.
His latest solo exhibition, “Popcorn Combo,” now showing at The Cathay Gallery, continues this theme, framing it this time in the world of Western and Asian movies. The artist continues to draw from his library of pop icons (Marilyn Monroe, Bruce Lee), but he’s at his most successful when he cheekily subverts designer brands for example, in “Wrecking Paris,” he shows Superman lifting the Hermes’ chariot from the famous luxury French brand logo, while its horse is now bolting and its top hat-wearing driver is running away or in “Space” where the Hermes logo is the scene of a battle between Luke Skywalker and Dark Vader.
Tan also introduces a new visual vocabulary (blue and white porcelain and red papercuts) from “In the Mood for Love,” referencing the famous 2000 film by Hong Kong director Wong Kar-wai, further accentuating a nostalgic feel.
The exhibition, organized by Utterly Art, is on until November 1.