Ibu Megawati Sukarnoputri,

　　Mr. Michael Koh,

　　Mr. and Mrs. Budiardjo Tek,

　　Mr. and Mrs. Li Xianting,

　　Mr. Feng Zhengjie,

　　Excellencies,

　　Ladies and gentlemen,

　　A very warm welcome, especially to our friends from Indonesia, China and other parts of the world. Thank you for being at the Museum this evening.

　　At this historic moment when history presents itself as a chronology of events and personalities, and with our gathering here this evening graced by the honourable former president Ibu Megawati, we ask ourselves what has art to do with historical trajectories? Feng Zhengjie’s paintings suggest a condition of life, and are hence related to history. In appreciating Feng Zhengjie’s art, two words are important. They are: “colour” and “pop”. “Colour” suggests decoration and surfaces. Feng’s work is about not being able to access what is interior, the inner self of a person, what Professor Wang Min’an in his essay in the catalogue calls “the face without flesh”, a commentary on the state of our existence. As for “pop,” although Feng Zhengjie insists that, strictly speaking, his art has little to do with popular culture, it is through first responding to a popular visual language of apparent elation, intoxication, glamour and superficiality that we enter into a sense of misgiving, unease and loss: “What lies beneath the surface?” Feng’s art uses a new visual language to draw us into psychological tensions between the surface and the beneath that may not be accessed in-between the seemingly familiar, glamorous and superficial popular imageries, only to be soon reminded of our own desire in search of meaning and depth. Feng's work is indeed about history.

　　The Singapore Art Museum is proud to present “Feng Zhengjie: Primary Colours”. We thank all who have supported the exhibition and who have worked hard to realise the show. Special thanks go to Mr. Budiardjo Tek, Ms. Michelle Ho, Mr. Li Suqiao, Mr. Tazran Tanmizi, Mr. Tedy Djuhar, Ms Debbie Lee and all of you who have contributed to make this exhibition possible. We thank our sponsors, media and supporters, and many friends who have travelled from afar to be here this evening. At this juncture, I’d like to introduce the many artists from China in this room today with the artist of our exhibition, Feng Zhengjie. Other artists present here include Fang Lijun, Zhou Tiehai, Lu Hao, Qiu Zhijie, Wu Mingzhong, Zhong Biao, Yu Ji, Yang Jingsong, Cai Qing, Ren Jianfei, Feng Zhengquan, as well as Mrs. Yue Minjun.

　　As you entered into the Museum you would have received an angpao of Feng Zhengjie, which looks like this. We had a dinner party last evening for our overseas guests during which we auctioned for charity the angpao with the serial number 888888. Of course, the winning bid was 88 thousand 8 hudrend and 88 dollars – Singapore dollars, that is – and the generous Mr. Cheng Xindong contributed this amount. The proceeds will go to the Federation of Art Societies of Singapore.

　　We thank the honourable Ibu Megawati for gracing tonight’s opening. Mr. Li Xianting, the eminent critic who coined the terms “cynical realism” and “political pop” – two terms the international art world knows Chinese art of the 1990s by – and who oversees the Songzhuang artist village developments, will tell us more about the significance of Feng Zhengjie’s work in the current exhibition, as well as our intention to collaborate in a new Songzhuang project to be announced later on by Mr. Michael Koh, CEO of the National Heritage Board, as well as Mr. Budiardjo Tek, who is the donor to this project.

　　28 JANUARY 2008, 7.00PM, AT SINGAPORE ART MUSEUM